| Mercy | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Planes Mistaken for Stars | ||||
| Released | October 3, 2006 | |||
| Genre | Post-hardcore, heavy metal, emo | |||
| Length | 38:04 | |||
| Label | Abacus | |||
| Producer | Matt Bayles | |||
| Planes Mistaken for Stars chronology | ||||
| ||||
Mercy is the third studio album by American rock band Planes Mistaken for Stars released in 2006, and was the final album of new material before the band's 2008 disbandment. After several releases on No Idea Records, the band signed to Abacus Recordings — a short-lived heavy metal imprint of Century Media Records that also featured Ion Dissonance and Sick of It All. Guitarist Gared O’Donnell commented on the transition between labels, stating: "Right after Up in Them Guts [2004] came out, other labels expressed interest. We made the decision to do something different, and No Idea backed us up. They said, 'Listen, you've hit the ceiling with what we can do for you. If you want to go to another label for the next record, you have our blessing.'" [1] Mercy was produced by the Seattle-based producer Matt Bayles (Botch, Isis, Mastodon) and was officially released through Abacus on October 3, 2006. [2]
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the early 1950s, and developed into a range of different styles in the 1960s and later, particularly in the United Kingdom and in the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, a style which drew heavily on the genres of blues, rhythm and blues, and from country music. Rock music also drew strongly on a number of other genres such as electric blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical and other musical styles. Musically, rock has centered on the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass, drums, and one or more singers. Usually, rock is song-based music usually with a 4/4 time signature using a verse–chorus form, but the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political.
Planes Mistaken for Stars is an American rock band formed in Peoria, Illinois in 1997. Working with several different labels, they released three studio albums and four EPs before breaking up in 2008. While rooted in the post-hardcore and emo scenes of the turn of the century, Planes Mistaken for Stars developed a distinctive musical style strongly influenced by heavy metal and rock and roll. Reuniting for live performances in 2010, they went on to release their fourth album Prey in 2016.
No Idea Records is an American independent record label based in Gainesville, Florida which focuses on punk rock and its sub-styles and produces both vinyl records and compact discs. The label also organizes The Fest, an independently operated annual festival known for featuring over 250 punk, pop punk, country, heavy metal, indie rock, avant-garde and other musical acts across many venues for 3 days in Gainesville each fall.
In 2015, Converge vocalist Jacob Bannon's hardcore label Deathwish Inc. reissued Mercy. This version was remastered by Brad Boatwright (Bane, Old Man Gloom, Code Orange) with the original 1/2-inch tapes and features revamped artwork and packaging. [3] [4]
Converge is an American hardcore punk band formed by vocalist Jacob Bannon and guitarist Kurt Ballou in Salem, Massachusetts in 1990. During the recording of their seminal fourth album Jane Doe, the group became a four-piece with the departure of guitarist Aaron Dalbec and the addition of bassist Nate Newton and drummer Ben Koller. This lineup has remained intact since. They have released nine studio albums, three live albums, and numerous EPs. The band's sound is rooted in both hardcore punk and heavy metal, and they are considered pioneers of metalcore as well as its subgenre mathcore.
Jacob Bannon is the vocalist, lyricist, and graphic artist for the American metalcore band Converge. He is the founder and owner of the record label Deathwish Inc. and the author of many visual works for independent punk rock and heavy metal musicians. Bannon has also composed and performed experimental music as Supermachiner with Ryan Parker and more recently as Wear Your Wounds.
Deathwish, Inc. is an independent record label founded by Jacob Bannon of Converge and Tre McCarthy. The idea of the label was conceived by Bannon and McCarthy in 2000. Their first release was Deeper the Wound, a split album between Converge and Japanese band Hellchild on April 23, 2001. Deathwish established itself quickly, working with a diverse group of bands and eventually becoming one of the most respected and innovative labels in contemporary hardcore punk and aggressive music in general.
Upon release in 2006, the album was met with generally favorable reviews. Sam Sutherland of Canada's Exclaim! magazine said the album is, "Gritty, unrefined post-punk that trashes around all over the lines that separate punk, hardcore, and good old rock'n'roll, Mercy is awash in spastic drumming, off-kilter riffs, and some of the finest throaty bellowing this side of Gainesville." [5] Ned Raggett of AllMusic said, "[...] the compelling impact of this album is not merely what it synthesizes but how it delivers the results — whatever their emo roots were, lumping these guys in with Panic! At the Disco would be pretty ridiculous." [2] Among other tracks, both Sutherland and Raggett praised Mercy's opening and closing tracks, "One Fucked Pony" and "Penitence" respectively. Sutherland noted "One Fucked Pony"'s stylistic change from the band's usual screamo sound on past records to stoner rock similar to Kyuss or Fu Manchu set a tone for the record, while observing that "Penitence" was "one of the most interesting sonic departures" on the album. [5] Raggett described Gared O'Donnell's vocals on "One Fucked Pony" as "barking in a tortured but defiant rasp while the band finds a good intersection between sprawling boogie and tense, trebly riffs, not to mention just slowing down to a total crawl at the drop of a hat," and that the acoustic closer "Penitence" helped Mercy to "seem like a massive epic." [2]
Exclaim! is a monthly Canadian music magazine that features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and cutting-edge artists. Content is based on the monthly print publication, which publishes 9 issues per year, distributing over 103,000 copies to over 2,600 locations across Canada. The magazine has an average of 361,200 monthly readers. Their website, exclaim.ca, has an average of 675,000 unique visitors a month.
AllMusic is an online music database. It catalogs more than 3 million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musical artists and bands. It launched in 1991, predating the World Wide Web.
Screamo is an aggressive subgenre of emo that emerged in the early 1990s, emphasizing "willfully experimental dissonance and dynamics." It was pioneered by San Diego bands Heroin and Antioch Arrow and developed in the late 1990s mainly by bands from the East Coast of the United States such as Orchid, Saetia, and Pg. 99. Screamo is strongly influenced by hardcore punk and characterized by the use of screamed vocals. Lyrical themes usually include emotional pain, death, romance, and human rights. "Screamo" has often been mistakenly used as an umbrella term for any music that features screamed vocals.
