Sheffield quartet Fierce Morgan are that increasingly rare beast, a melodic punk rock band with something to say beyond “that guy/girl hurt my feelings”. Their latest EP, ‘Misanthropy’, sets a commentary on the socioeconomic impact of austerity on UK industry and the knock-on effects of that deprivation on the current generation of young adults, to an upbeat, melodic pop-punk soundtrack.
Owing more to Drive-Thru Records and the 90s/00s skate-punk scene than to the current crop of mic cable-strangling, double-time abusing TSSF knock-offs, ‘Misanthropy’ could have been an entertaining, if derivative, addition to the UK’s burgeoning pop-punk scene, and ‘Sweat and Tears’ could have been a Summer anthem for the disaffected, yet optimistic, youth.
We say ‘could have’ (twice), because Fierce Morgan’s efforts are almost ruined by some strange production choices. Guitars, bass and vocals frequently sound like they were recorded from the outside of a submerged submarine and the drums have been sample-replaced beyond any semblance of sounding like a human being hitting stuff, resulting in snare rolls (particularly on opener ‘Elders’) which sound like rattling lego bricks. With the caveat that this may be the fault of a highly-compressed Soundcloud stream, we found it made the EP’s songs – which are really quite strong – somewhat laborious to listen to, and put us off going back to it.
One person’s muffled sound is another’s punk grit, though, so don’t let our subjective views put you off checking out this ode to post-adolescent freefall. Sound issues aside, Fierce Morgan have the raw materials to build something that could really stand out from the pack.
ROB BARBOUR