What makes The Hard Aches such a strong band to relate to is their honesty. In a music scene still very much dictated by hyper-masculinity and mental health-as-conversational-taboo, The Hard Aches sit firmly with a message strong enough to drown out both.
“We’re not burning out,” Ben David delivers on the album’s title track. It’s a theme built upon throughout Mess. ‘Happy’ sees Camp Cope’s Georgia Maq complement David on vocals, making a powerful tug back and forth on the topic of battling demons while maintaining a healthy relationship.
‘Warm Blooded’, ‘Grinding My Teeth’ and ‘Family’ are incredibly engaging doses of unfiltered strength. Shining with raw honesty, The Hard Aches prove that they’ve found their unique rhythm.
What Mess articulates perfectly is that even when things seem to be crashing down around you, there is a light at the end of it; whether it’s found within the embraces of friends and loved ones, or within the euphoria punk rock can conjure, there is always something waiting to pick you back up.
8.5/10
