With the release of the 7” Benefit Sesh, The Holy Mess gives traditional punk a turn. These three songs are heavy, North-East style punk songs, with soulful, almost bluesy rock riffs complimenting the heavy rhythm chords. There are no shortage of good punk bands out there right now, but The Holy Mess rise above by tweaking the conventional sound of punk, and making it their own.

In the song “Goodbye 3713”, contemplations of death are belted out over rapid-fire chord changes. The bass line slows for the bridge while the guitars emit eerie-sounding feedback, removing the song from the rigidity of those punk chords for just long enough to let the feedback make music of its own. From there, the song jumps back into speed-mode for one more round through the chorus, and then ends with a breakdown reminiscent of early 90s alt-rock.

“A Soulful Punk Tune About a Working Class Dreamer” is a song about failed dreams. It is fast and heavy, and the vocals are fantastically loud, the kind where you can’t help screaming along, especially with the line “Take those pills/ don’t call me in the morning.” There are classic punk riffs here, but like the last song, the bridge breaks down into something completely different. The bass becomes heavy and descending, accented by wails of despondent guitars, again not unlike the sounds of hopelessness heard in grunge-era rock of the early 90s. This song is deliciously heavy and the best of the three songs on Benefit Sesh.

While the first two songs explore a bit with the punk style, “I Think Corduroy is Making a Comeback” is a straight-up, two-minute punk song. This is a good song, but because they don’t experiment and allow themselves to deviate from the conventional style, as they do on the rest of the album, there doesn’t seem to be a reason for this song to rise above the others, though it certainly does holds weight of its own. The title suggests a sense of humor that is always refreshing to hear, but the lyrics are you’re typical “get fucked-up and fall down” lyrics, which, though fun, can become redundant.

Everything you could want from a punk album can be found in these three songs. The riffs are heavy, the vocals loud, and it has that energy that’ll have you thrashing around in your favorite dive. If you like your punk heavy and are looking for something new and different, The Holy Mess’s Benefit Sesh is definitely worth checking out.