Through hard work and fine music, Mercenary have propelled themselves over their 20 years of existence from playing small gigs in their native Denmark to becoming a European headlining band. Memorable melodic hooks and deep, driving Metal are their trademarks. On the band’s forum, contributors argue whether their music is commercial or not. Personally I think it is, but what really matters is that they are a great band whose output has always managed to get into my head with their distinctive and appealing combination of Death, Thrash, Power and Progressive Metal. Things change, and last year the keyboard player, clean vocalist and drummer left, leaving three members who played on the 2008 album “Architect of Lies”. A drummer has come in to complete the line-up. Knowing the original members, my expectation of “Metamorphosis” was of less Progressive and more traditional Metal. If previous albums were anything to go by, this one would be going through my head constantly and I would hardly listen to anything else for weeks. Since 2002, when I first come across the band through the “Everblack” album, for me Mercenary has been a synonym for musical excellence.
“This is better than Mercenary” declared my wife, recognising the style but not realising that in fact it was them, as I played the opening track “Through the Eyes of the Devil” for the first time. I’ve now listened to “Metamorphosis” 8 or 9 times (and counting) and I’ll be amazed if I hear a better opening track all year. It engages us straightaway with a heavy melody. We’re off to the races. Growler Rene leads the way. Punch is packed aplenty. Although it’s hard-edged, it’s also expansive, colourful and exudes life in the manner we have come to expect from Mercenary. It slows down and hangs on to us in a way I’ve not heard before. There’s a confident control there. It sucks us in. “Through the Eyes of the Devil” gives us a good taste of what’s to come.
My initial reaction to “Metamorphosis” was that it is more aggressive and intense and less commercial than previous works, but I’m not so sure about that now. Mercenary seem to have stepped up in every department. What I am finding with each listen are new twists and turns. There are so many of them that it’s impossible to describe them all. The heaviness is controlled and at the base of it but it’s fluid, sophisticated and above all crowd-pleasing. It’s mostly fast, guitarist Martin’s solos are less stand-alone and blend in better but what surprised me most of all are the versatility of the vocals. The growls and the clean screams that we associated with the previous singer are there, but even on the meatier tracks like “Through the Eyes of the Devil” and “Memoria”, feelingful vocals feature to capture our senses before we resume the engaging hostilities. Another impressive feature is the carefully structured and powerful choruses and catchy clean harmonies, which take us into higher planes. Even a slower track like “Velvet Lies” is vivid as the harmonies mix with the customary heaviness and flamboyant guitar work. The new drummer meanwhile provides the backbone. This is a rich-layered work.
Is there anything I don’t like about this album? The simple answer is no. Well, the only minor disappointment was the ending of “Memoria” which launches into a thunderously deep and exciting guitar passage and instead of developing it just stops. I wanted to be indulged some more. Otherwise, I have no complaints. Each track is crafted skilfully and individually to delight us. There’s great control of intensity and mood on “The Follower”. It’s fast dark, and catchy with echoing, distinctive vocals. “In a River of Madness” is also intense, but it’s more of a technical Death/Thrash juggernaut with clean vocals and particularly interesting keyboard theatricals in the middle. The variety is impressive. While tracks like “On the Edge of Sanity” and “In Bloodred Shades” are rumbustuous and have a head-banging thrashiness, others have a softer centre. “Shades of Gray” is the album’s heavy melodic pop song and the smoothest track, with similarities to the title track of “The Hours that Remain” (2006). The closing track “Black Brigade” has strains of Soilwork in the opening riff. The clean harmonies are there again but as usual there’s loads of action and it has a great groove line. Its main riff has been going through my head for days. In amongst it all, just as right across the album, there are subtle touches, constant motion, layers of aggression and harmony complete with lashings of sophisticated guitar work and melody.
How do they do it? Once again my life stops while a Mercenary album is playing. They just get better with each album. “Metamorphosis” is like a winter soup, it’s heart-warming, full of fresh ingredients and rich flavours. It is mature, sophisticated and sublime, an album of abundance. It’s running through my head but I must listen to it again. Progress has been made where I would not have thought it possible. What’s the next step up from excellent?
http://www.mercenary.dk
http://www.myspace.com/noiseart
