MID CARSON JULY “Wessel”
I saw these guys at the St. Andrew’s Church in College Park almost two years ago, and I had not one fucking clue who they were. But subsequently, I had quite the learning experience. While playing on the floor of the church instead of the stage, these four guys absolutely ripped the place apart in their 20 minutes of power punk fury. MID CARSON JULY feature nearly every element of what makes a good band (to me at least): heartfelt lyrics, strong group choruses, monstrous guitar attack, and an unrelenting amount of aggression and fury. Imagine AVAIL, old BOUNCING SOULS, a dash of HOT WATER MUSIC’s grittiness, and even a little bit of RANCID coming together in a hot boiling pot of ooze. The amount of energy on “Wessel” is honestly outrageous, and it only takes this band 26 minutes to leave you absolutely floored. The style of recording helps MID CARSON JULY reach their emotive objectives, though there are a few interesting sound quirks, namely the thin drum sound. But the almost overwhelming power of the dual guitar attack more than carries the sound, and if these vocals don’t want to make you go through the lyric sheet line by line, I don’t know what will (check out “Dear Old Dad,” and “Some Things Never Change”). Also of note is the wicked cool packaging that has brillantly vivid artwork and some sweet pictures inside. Everything about MCJ screams out in a blazing trail of colors. This isn’t MID CARSON JULY’s debut disc, as they’ve had some previous stuff on the defunct Workshop Records label, but this is their first for a good size label, and there is no doubt in my mind that this band deserves a grand introduction to the world at bay.
Fueled By Ramen
