Lotsa catchy melodies, brash shouted voices, tons of fun. Those are the ingredients that make Benefit Sesh, the new 7″ from Philadelphia’s The Holy Mess totally great. For those who need comparisons, think of The Menzingers or The Lawrence Arms and you’ll be pretty close. Yeah, it’s East Coast punk filtered through the cold gruff Midwest with a little bit of East Bay thrown in as well. On my first listen to Benefit Sesh, I thought, “Hey! I’ve written those chord progressions before,” and while there is a degree of familiarity that makes these songs so very welcome, they’re anything but generic or clichéd. My wife actually remarked, “Who are we listening to,” and upon hearing the band’s name she said, “That seems about right.” Really, it seems that The Holy Mess is another in a long line of good working-class punk bands that does what they do really well. I also bet they drink… a lot. Still, I’ll agree with everyone else and say that my only issue with this record is that (with the bonus digital song included) there’s only three songs. Three stinkin’ songs. I just want a little more lovin’. For now, you can get this tasty wax from Evil Weevil Records and the band’s first EP Dismount free over at If You Make It
MP3:
The Holy Mess - A Soulful Punk Tune About A Working Class Dreamer
