Mr. Charisma – “Evil in This World”

Mr. Charisma’s debut EP Evil in This World is four songs long and doesn’t waste a second of that runtime. Daniel Austin (Die Young) and Chris (Will To Live) have been close since they were 14, played hardcore together for over 15 years, and somewhere along the way figured out they’d been saving their quieter instincts for a project like this. Good call.

The record is unique and Austin’s lyrics have always pulled from philosophical pessimism, and here that thread runs right through the title track, where he maps the Jungian Shadow and Schopenhauer’s concept of Will onto a pretty blunt acknowledgment: there is evil in every person, and the honest move is to stop pretending otherwise. That’s a heavy thing to say over acoustic folk music.

“Mind Don’t Work” is the one that sticks in your head all week, “Cold Feelings” is a Social Distortion cover that fits so cleanly into the EP’s mood you might not catch it at first. My favorite is “In Another Time”, and I’m sure you will love it as much as I did. The whole thing sounds like music made by people who have listened to this kind of music for years and just finally decided to make it themselves. Personally, I think that’s the best reason to start a band.

Do yourself a favor and dig into what Austin and Chris have done in Die Young and Will To Live before this. And follow Mr. Charisma now to catch whatever they put out next this year.