ALBUM REVIEW: Songs For The Deceased – Meryl Streek
As we approach the back end of 2024, the quality of new punk releases is still setting a high standard. As ever, punk music is always there to help us channel our anger through music. This year alone has seen some excellent albums grace our ears as they tackle a whole plethora of issues in the world today. This time it is the turn of producer MERYL STREEK up to bat with the release of his second album, Songs For The Deceased. There’s no beating about the bush, by the end of this album, your blood will be boiling as you make your way through a collection of stories about betrayal, murder, injustice and corruption. The album itself feels like a spoken word record backed up by scintillating punk music that speaks to your very soul. It isn’t the most cheerful of albums that we’ve heard this year, but it’s arguably one of the most important records you’ll hear all year.
Up first is track Welcome which features a sinister and foreboding beat alongside a banjo as it reels off a number of headlines and news reports regarding the struggles of the working class particularly in Dublin. As the song builds and builds, it sets the tone of what this album is going to be tackling throughout before launching us into the album proper. Fine Jail launches us into the fray with an intense droning guitar sound that has a great juxtaposition alongside the banjo that features once again, the track itself is mostly instrumental before ramping proceedings up toward the end of the track with a blistering rant from MERYL STREEK himself bemoaning how it’s the wrong people making decisions for those who struggle the most instead of letting people take life into their own hands with, the opening line of “I’m surrounded by dick heads!” is one that we can all relate to. Bertie instantly follows which is a scathing attack on controversial Irish politician Bertie Ahern, throughout this track you can truly feel the frustration in Streek’s voice as he lists off a pile of problems that Ahern himself caused.
If This Is Life is an emotional sucker punch of a listen. MERYL does an expert job of being able to create that feeling we all feel when life hasn’t quite gone the route we expected it to and serves as a rallying cry to the young people who have been affected by policies gone wrong and more than one once in a lifetime economic crisis by purely making us question what life is and is this as good as it can get. It does offer a glimmer of hope by the end by essentially saying take what we have currently and hold it close. Counting Sheep is one of the heavier tracks throughout the record, a raucous punk offering that sees Streek venting his anger at the repetitive nature of life, by trying to get to a point where you can succeed but being held back time and time again.
Yet another emotional song arrives around the half way point of the record, By One’s Own Hand, a track focusing on the harrowing issue of mental issues resulting in suicide of the protagonist the song is about which will easily create an electrifying atmosphere when performed live. The emotional moments don’t hold back either, the track Paddy is by far one of the best tracks on the record. Focusing on Streek’s uncle Paddy who decided to live life on his own terms, it’s a hopeful ode to a loved one who sought knowledge and a glass of wine. The delivery in the way Streek talks about him makes you feel like you’ve known him your whole life, there’d be no shame in admitting there’s a tear or two down your cheek by the songs ending particularly with the lyrics “you’ll always be missed, you’ll always be loved”. We all know people like this who are important to us and everyday life that make it worth living.
After the barn storming track, Gambling Death, the song Terence rears its head. If there’s ever a song to make your blood boil, it’s this one. Taking aim at the mysterious circumstances of the death of Terence Wheelock who allegedly hung himself whilst in custody. Throughout the track Streek’s fury and emotions truly make it tick, it’s yet another song that batters you emotionally on this album at how expertly crafted it is, by the time you’ve finished the song, you’ll have read about what happened and if you aren’t the same levels of anger that Streek is exhibiting, then you need your head checking.
Following on are the tracks The Industry and Murder, both excellent in their own right but by this point of the album, you’re almost feeling battered and bruised by the continuous misery. However, this is entirely the point of the whole record. MERYL STREEK has done an excellent job of exhibiting the fact that it isn’t just Irish people who are suffering, it’s a problem that is operating on a global scale. The final track on the record offers us one final emotional knock out blow. The Stardust is yet another harrowing track that demands justice for those killed at a nightclub fire in Ireland in 1981. Streek’s anger in his voice as he lists off the forty eight people who died is infectious and will make you almost reach a critical mass of fury by the time the record comes to a close. By the end, you feel bruised, upset and angry.
Songs For The Deceased is excellent. It helps us see problems that are happening all around us and genuinely make you see life from a different perspective whilst listening to it. By no means is it cheerful, but it is packed with meaning, emotion and almost begs you to be kinder to others come the end. You’ll be forgiven by seeing this album as the equivalent to those films that you only need to listen to once or at least a handful of times over the next few years. If by the end you’re not affected by the stories you’re listening to, what will?
Rating: 9/10
Songs For The Deceased is out now via Venn Records.
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