I have vaguely heard of The Mekons before. So, going into this album I was expecting a hardcore punk album, especially with a name like Fear and Whiskey. I was totally thrown off when the album started and I discovered that they have more of an alt-country sound to them. But, as the album progressed, I heard punk creeping into these country songs and really the album does an excellent job of merging the two genres. After doing a bit of research, I found out that their previous albums had more of a punk sound to them. So, I was not totally off base. They changed up their sound a little bit for this record.

There are great songs all throughout this record. "Hard to Be Human Again" and "Darkness and Doubt" are two early ones that caught my ear. Later in the album, I really liked "Country" and "Last Dance." They close the album with a great cover of "Lost Highway." I think this is an album I can spend more time with to fully appreciate, but for now I think it is a great listen.

8.6 out of 10

709 albums to go…