The titular and opening track to Mannequin Pussy’s I Got Heaven might be one of the strongest openers to an album that I’ve heard in quite some time. It’s bleeding that heavy punk rock sound that isn’t afraid to say something about the bullshit of the church, politics, and personal self-loathing, pushed forward by the vocals and prophetic whispers of Missy Dabrice. The riffs are heavy, the drums and bass thicker than a syrup stew, and the album never really gets to that explosive again, besides a few moments of “Sometimes,” and the hardcore punk of “OK? OK! OK? OK!,” which feels like a continuation of a band like Bad Brains.
The rest of the album still has a lot of teeth and musically dabbles in shoegaze, pop punk, and noisy indie, and is mostly about interpersonal relationships, and though I do crave more sounds like the lead track (I could listen to that song for hours), there is not one skip on this entire album. Because of this incredible mix, Mannequin Pussy could be a poppy shoegaze band ala Alvvays or bounce between the punk pub rock of someone like Amyl and the Sniffers but it’s rare to have an album that does both incredibly well. It’s a hugely enjoyable listen demanding repeat listens.
