In our game you get sent an abundance of music, all of which come with tags and genres attached to them. With that said you’ll often begin listening to an album with a pre-conception already in place as to what you think it will sound like. One of the genres thrown around far too much is ‘Punk’. What is Punk? How do you define punk? Well, it is certainly a word which triggers immediate awareness of what an album should sound like, and to an absolute tee, the unit from Mersyside Violent Reaction have nailed the ‘Punk’ vibe, something so many other bands fail to do when tagged under the same bracket. Part of why they’ve nailed this idea so much is the fact that, attitude wise, they really couldn’t give a fuck, it’s in your face and aggressive and they don’t care.
They’ve got quite an old school Hardcore Punk edge to them – almost like early Madball, but mashed with The Ramones. Each of the tracks just flash by in such a whirlwind of chaos it almost forces repeat listens – it clocks in at only just over fifteen minutes, yet it is fourteen tracks long. The opening couple of tracks, ‘M1 Stomp’, ‘Leave Me Out’ and ‘No Pride’ will leave you breathless, but from there it is all pretty much the same thing.
Honestly on first listen you wouldn’t even notice if someone played those three tracks on a loop. It does all have quite a standard feel to it, they’ve not reinvented the wheel or anything like that but again this doesn’t fault the band’s attitude and approach. If you’re after no frills snarling in your ears as a bit of an escape then you can’t really go wrong with Marching On (Revelation), it’s worth checking out.
7.0/10
TOM DONNO