By – Jackie Lo

If you like: Screaming Females, Hotline TNT, slutever, Bully, Ovlov

Look. Listen. I live in Alabama and it hasn’t been a great few weeks for those of us that have to worry about reproductive issues. Let’s be honest, we’ve been pissed off and pissed on (nonconsensually) for a long time and this is just another devastating blow. I always think it can’t get worse or weirder…yet here we are.  So, if you’re in the same state of mind about anything in your life, if you need something that you can scream along to in rage, something cathartic to get you through the “what the fuck?!” moments in your life, then I’m prescribing the Mannequin Pussy I Got Heaven album to you. You deserve it.

“I Got Heaven” was the first single off this album that was released back in August and it was one of my very favorite songs of last year. The album opens with “I went and walked myself / like a dog without a leash”, with a snarl that Marisa delivers maniacally and it sets a tone for this album that will make you lose your goddamn mind. There are so many great lines in this song “I am spiteful like a god / I seek a vengeance like the rest / For what they did to you / I will never lay to rest” and a few other favorites that happily had to be edited to play on the radio. If this was my album, this is the song I would have opened the album with as well.  Ferocious.

With 4 tracks released off this album that I already loved, I couldn’t wait to hear the rest including the second track on the album “Loud Bark”. It opens with another fantastic opening line “I see the motherfucker who’s tried to lock me up” that builds to a bombastic chorus of “I got a loud bark, deep bite”. This line chanted and screamed over and over again is such a beautiful response to the old phrase “all bark and no bite”.  Nah, they actually have a loud bark AND a deep bite, motherfucker. Try not to scream along to this one. I dare you.

“Nothing Like”, “I Don’t Know You”, and “Sometimes” were already loved and released singles off this album and fall consecutively on the track listing. “Nothing Like” gives me The Jesus and Mary Chain vibes when it kicks into the chorus “I kept you waiting” and “I Don’t Know You” brings a softer Feist-like vocal delivery and melody with haunting “I know a lot of things but I don’t know you” throughout. “Sometimes” is still one of my favorite songs on the album. I love when the guitars kick in on the chorus with the backing vocals “come and leave your lonesome ways behind” layered sweetly in the background while “Oh sometimes!” is sung desperately overtop.

“Ok? Ok! Ok? Ok!”, “Of Her”, and “Aching” are perfect additions to any hardcore playlist. Vocals shared by bassist Colin add a whole new dimension to the album that I wasn’t expecting and loved. There’s so much live energy captured on these recordings. I can feel the sweat, smell the room, feel my ears blow out from the overrun PA, and I can’t wait to see what these feel and sound like live.

If you loved Mannequin Pussy’s “Perfect” EP you’ll feel right at home with “Tell Me Softly” and “Split Me Open”. From this 2021 release, “Control” made my song of the year with “Perfect” shortly behind it. Loud/soft/loud, fuzz, guitars, catchy melodies and perfect vocal deliveries make these songs perfection and everything I love about Mannequin Pussy. The album ends with pleas, “I’m asking for time. I’m begging for space. Cause nothing’s gonna change”. That longing ends the album and leaves you wanting more.

“I Got Heaven” is one of the best albums I’ve heard recently and is now my favorite Mannequin Pussy album. I didn’t know how much I needed to hear this album this week, but it hit so many spots. I felt full, like I’d eaten my favorite meal and I became an unapologetic glutton going back for seconds…and thirds. It’s the perfect mix of anger and longing. It’s full of rage and ferocious deliveries. It makes me want to bark louder and bite deeper which might have to be my personal mantra for 2024 now.

“I Got Heaven” releases today on Epitaph. Go grab a copy from your local record store and if you’re in the 205 Seasick Records