The St Louis quartet draw inspiration from their roots on album three!
The cheerily-titled ‘Death & The Miser’ is the third album from Fight Back Mountain, and if lyricist/guitarist Anjelica Aquilino’s musings on the state of life in the Midwest are to be believed, then it remains true that troubled times can inspire great art. There’s plenty of soul-searching on display here; a sense of faded glory in the here and now, plus uncertainty ahead, and it’s a large part of this record’s appeal.
Fans of bands like Hot Water Music and Latterman will definitely enjoy vocalist/guitarist Adrian Barnello’s raw-throated delivery, which gives the songs a ‘lived’ feel. Listen closely, and you can almost hear the empty whiskey bottles and late night interstate drives in a battered old tour van. No? Ok, maybe that’s just us. Anyway, he sounds suitably deranged as he damn near yells himself hoarse on the grunge-tinged ‘P Is For Psycho’.
Musically, they’re also mining similar territory to Chuck Ragan’s crew, with elements of melodic punk rock and post-hardcore. ‘Scot-Free’ is an early highlight, with the immortal line: “if you want mercy, find Jesus, because I ain’t got the time” and a chorus custom-built for an epic roar-along. Y’know, at a packed-out basement show, right into the singer’s face, because he’d totally love that? No? Damn, tough crowd. There’s also an addictive alt-rock/power-pop twist to ‘Sticker Book’ and ‘Trouble And Havoc’; like much of this record, these are songs that linger long in the memory, and believe us, they’re welcome to stay.
There’s also a surprise in store in the form of ‘No Recourse’, a 1:20-long blast of hardcore fury which shows the band with their teeth bared and makes for one hell of a jolt for anyone mesmerised by their knack for catchy melodies. Apparently a nod to their roots in the St Louis hardcore scene, it’s awesome stuff, and a side of the band we’d like to hear more of in the future.
St Louis itself may have seen better days, but with songs like these, it’s hard to imagine anything other than a bright future for Fight Back Mountain. Like so many of us, they’ve realised that much of what they were told growing up is no longer true, and they’ve channelled that frustration beautifully into ‘Death & The Miser’. Treasure it – and them.
‘Death & The Miser’ is available from February 13th on all streaming platforms and on vinyl – order it HERE
Main Photo Credit: HOLLY KITE
- Like Poets Do
- Death And The Miser
- Scot-Free
- Foreman
- Sticker Book
- A Long Winter
- P Is For Psycho
- No Recourse
- Crowd Funded Surgery
- Trouble And Havoc
- Arranging A Funeral
- The House Where No One Sleeps
Follow Fight Back Mountain on Their Socials:
Need more Punk In Your Life?
Live review: Chelsea / Desperate Measures / Rage DC at Facebar, Reading 28/08/26
Tonight, the indomitable Mannie of Shake Some Acton heads west to bring together local, national and international Punk bands to entertain us; Rage DC, Desperate
Shake Some Acton gig #172, London Hope & Anchor, 2nd Sept 2026
Putting on small-scale gigs mid-week can be a somewhat daunting task, but Shake Some Acton seem to have it down to a fine art. Ok,
Album review: Slaughter and the Dogs are on ‘White Heat’ in this long-awaited return!
Guitarist Mick Rossi and his cohort of punk rock veterans have a new album coming out, ‘White Heat’, the first under the Slaughter and the
EP review: BE N!CE reveal ‘It’s Getting Harder’
London four-piece BE N!CE return with ‘It’s Getting Harder’, a six-track, fan-funded and independently released second EP. BE N!CE sound like a band finding strength
Album review: Southpaw (UK) map out their ‘Longitude’
Norwich DIY Punks Southpaw are back with their seventh album, ‘Longitude’. Sharper and more direct, the new songs mark a small but significant gearshift yet
Bad Wolves honour Dolly Parton with their version of ‘Jolene’
Joining millions of fans around the world mourning the sudden passing of the Queen of Nashville, this is the perfect rock tribute from Bad Wolves
I spend my days teaching English to foreign students, and my evenings attending as many gigs as possible. Raised mainly on a diet of 90s third-wave punk, my tastes have grown to include just about anything from trad ska to thrash metal. The Ramones are my musical gods.
Did you know that we are 100% DIY? We run our own game. No one dictates to us, and no one drives what we can or cannot put on our pages – and this is how we plan to continue!
