Matt Tonelli from the DMACC Campus Chronicle Staff 1/23/2002.

A relatively new local band, Mere Civilians (MC's) is making a statement in central Iowa with their brand of punk, funk, and metal. This is a band with mucho technical support and a large local following. Their new CD titled "Civilized," greatly reflects both.
The MC's land a knockout punch with the first track titled "Porn Star." Personally, I think that this tune is quite worthy of "Radio" play. It starts slow and then quickly developes into a very catchy song that sounds a little like Kid Rock. The guitar work in this song is truly outstanding; the excellent use of tube, distortion, and wa-wa pedal left me drooling.
Track two is "Good Christian Cannibal," which sounds like a mixture of "Soil" and "System of a Down." This tune leaves no doubt about the tight instrumental-syncronicity between the bass player and the drummer. It's head-banging material for sure.
The third track, "Happy Day," is more of a dark ballad that sounds like the older, pre-suicide "Nirvana." Track four is "Fence of Bodies." a freak show tune in a "Marilyn Manson" fashion. The next track is "Sister Sarah," which is MC's own version of speed-metal.
Track six is simply titled "For Karen." It's an all-instrumental done on acoustic guitar (somewhat rare on the new, local CD's) that I found refreshing. There were were no major highlights in the remainder of the fourteen tracks, but I found the rest to all be listenable. The remaing tracks are mostly speed-metal and grunge.
On the whole, I think "Civilized" is an excellent CD. It's well rounded, which directly reflects the musical diversity of the group. This CD also comes complete with a four-page foldout cover with lots of info and some very nifty art-work....(BLA, BLA, ........) by Tim Miner....(BLA, BLA, ......) Mere Civilians support an excellent web-site. (....Bla, Bla<....) Have at it!