What comes to my mind when Mest first appear onto the scene?
Another band trying to surge on the bandwagon of the massive pop punk attacks that we have received over the past years. They do sound like your typical normal pop punk band with the simple 3 chords, but they do add a little bit spice of the ska tune into their music.
Musically, it’s a good start to kick off your pop punk taste, but not for a long run. Though I know lots of people here hate this band.
10 years it has been since, and news have finally been announced that this band will be splitting up after the tour and promoting of Photographs. The news was announced during the tour of Japan. But after all is said and done, this album is sure to pull off some eyebrows and I do mean it in a depressing way.
Expect nothing much from their first and second album of tunes here. Though they still have the ingredients, the catchy tunes and the “Girl, I love you “ lyrics. The album has definitely taken a turn at least for the better. This album does sound a little darker and the vocal department has been rotated much more. I will go through this album by two parts. Tony led vocals, and Jeremiah Rangel lead vocals.
Jeremiah has a much deeper voice than Tony and the songs written on this album suits his vocals much more. Second track “ Kiss me kill me “, though the title irks me right now, starts off with electric drumming before the guitar kicks in. Nothing really special right here, with the very irking chorus of
”Kill me
Your kiss is torture
But killing me would be too easy “
The drumming though does its talking by carrying the sound through. “Cursed”, the second song fronted by Jeremiah has a much better tune with clean plucking before kicking into the song with distorted guitars. The song talks about a dead person only to be awaken by someone he loves.
“Graveyard” starts off with a very clean high pitch guitar that is reminiscent of “All that I’ve got” from The Used. Another dark lyric fronted song with Jeremiah talking about his nightmare experience. At least, there is something different in the lyrics department, rather then the usual “ blood, wrist, kill”. The bridge then breaks down into a drum double strokes and distorted guitars. Then it kicks back into the chorus.
“Tonight will last forever”, one of the standout tracks from this album. Right from the start, it starts off with electronic drums and burst right through the verse. Jeremiah shines in this song with his vocals, fronting both the chorus and the verse, and then the song breaks down at the bridge. The drum and guitar work hand in hand at here. It could have been a good finish to the song but they went back into the chorus.
Onto Tony Lavato, the front man of the band. First off the two ballads from the album,
“This Time” and “Cant take this”. “Can’t take this” uses the repeated drumming for effective use in a ballad. It talks about someone that believes no one believes in him. Though the chorus does have the reminiscent of “Toy Soldiers”, it does it a job with what a ballad has got to do. “This Time” starts off with an acoustic guitar, till only when the second verse kicks in, when the drums come in. This song is backed up with the piano playing right behind though it is used sparsely.
The first single off the album, Take me away, starts off with the very catchy yet and infectious tune that keeps your head nodding. It’s a good way to kick off the album, and Tony does his job in bringing out the song to let people know about he felt. This song was written when he was going through a very tough time, when he had to have an emergency surgery, later and he would have passed away. The song brings out the emotion that is written with the appropriate lyrics
“Nightmare” starts off with heavy distortion but goes slack when into the verse. The bass for once could be heard throughout the verse, which is a rarity for any pop punk song. Vocals switch between Tony and Jeremiah and they do their jobs well. “Photographs”, the other only standout track from this album. It starts off with a very groovy guitar tune,
Breaks into pre-chorus with the drums backing up. Then zooms straight off to your “Mest” chorus with the typical pop punk infectious tune.
Overall, Jeremiah vocals were put to good use in this album with the type of music that they are playing. The lyrics department does get depressing with the entire killing, missing, and slitting, and more missing girls. But overall musically, they did improve, and I don’t mean by sweeping solos or outstanding guitar playing. It just sounded nicer, though was depressing at times. It is a much improvement from their last album, and though is the last we see from this boys, it’s time at least they did a little better in their sending off album.
“Audible” tracks
Tonight will last forever
Photographs
Nightmare
