Mercy Killers / Enemy Rose

This split CD starts off with a four-song offering from the Mercy Killers, a three-piece comprised of Craig Fairbaugh (vocals/guitar), Sam Soto (bass/vocals) and Colin Berrill (drums). These three all hail from impressive musical backgrounds and their experience and life-long commitments to music culminate in a tight, straight-ahead sound. Fairbaugh has played guitar with the Transplants and Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards; Soto’s CV includes Sluts for Hire and Original Sinners; and Berrill was a long-time fixture in the Gurriers. Together, their talents form a seamlessly searing wall of sound. Highly charged with all the stamina and destruction you could ever hope for, these four tracks have a new and exciting feel but at the same time are firmly rooted in the Mercy Killers’ combined history and classic influences like the Damned, T.S.O.L., and Generation X. The other four tracks of this disc are the debut from Belgium’s Enemy Rose, who turn out to be the perfect compliment to the Mercy Killers. Comprised of Tommy X (vocals), who comes from Belgium’s Heartaches and Poor Boys; Seven O (guitar, vocals), also drawing experience from the Heartaches and Poor Boys; Rik Oldman (guitars, vocals) of Berlin’s Radio Dead Ones; Kerry Martinez Andru Bourbon (bass), also from Radio Dead Ones; and Martellotoo (drums), Enemy Rose bring a densely woven realm of talent together. Paying homage to the likes of the Stooges and the Dead Boys in spirit but flailing ahead with contemporary leanings at the same time, Enemy Rose, like the Mercy Killers, fashion a sound that is steeped in punk’s earliest history but with a slick, contemporary style, giving Enemy Rose the momentum their music needs.