Bristol's Mea Culpa are one of those bands that you hear about a lot but they seem to go under the radar. That's been the case with me, I've seen them live once and read about them in Rocksound a few times but that's about it so I was pretty surprised when this CD arrived on my doorstep as their 
debut full length.

From the first track this album sounds absolutely huge with roaring guitars and vocals that could probably strip paint off walls. The overall persona of this record is just massive soundscapes of vocals and guitars followed by crushing riffs that make the record pretty dynamic and hard hitting in places. Also, the album really flows right the way through. I was listening to it and suddenly realised I was on track 8 which just tells you how absorbing this album is. But while this is a good thing I also thing there is a negative side to it as well. It's difficult to differentiate between the different tracks as one soundscapy bit becomes another which rifles into another killer riff. In hindsight though, this suits the album really well.

One problem I had with this album was the production on it. As much as the songs are really good I think the production both lets it down and aids it. By that I mean that in songs like "When is no one watching" and the start of "Pheromones" everything clicks together and sounds completely massive but in some instances the tracks become a little bit messy and the vocals begin to get lost in a sea of feedback and various noises. Together in one flowing album it sounds mint but I think as separate songs their impact is questionable. Another thing that was disappointing was the vocals, I think they could have been slightly louder but as a fellow vocalist I'm slightly biased. My final gripe was the end of the song "Pheromones" as it breaks down into a fancy bit with super distorted vocals; the guitars in that bit are incredible and are a bit lost within the noise of the vocals.

Overall this is a top notch release by one of the best British bands around at the minute. Buy it.

8/10 dieshellsuitdie