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| Buy this album |
Only recently opting to absorb the beginnings of this danish powerhouse and already tied an immense connection to 2004´s “11 Dreams”, Mercenary has been growing to become an alltime favourite with this reviewer. Reviving all hope for the whored about term “modern metal” on their fourth album, the band around up´n´coming vocal icon Mikkel Sandager rip things up in style with their newly worked out meshing of Nevermore titanium rhytmics, dreamy keyboard shadings and swedish melodic finesses amped up with a lot more breakdown sections and reoccuring hints of progressive flair easily matching their acclaimed predecessor. “Redefine Me” (features a guest performance from Bjørn “Speed” Strid of Soilwork fame) brings about a new blueprint in metal with sophisticated songwriting and passionate atmospheres as does the super epic eight minute journey of “Lost Reality”. A brief tribute goes out to the mid ninties Swedish Metal sound in the thrashtastic “Soul Decision”, not that exciting but just crunchy enough to make the listener headbang in honour of this still influential type of riffing. Their first album without Kral, the band´s bassist, growler and primus motor since the beginning, many changes are bound to be heard but somehow the Mercenary sound stays intact albeit a bit more refined and progressive even evoking parallels to Dream Theater´s “Awake” album when looking into tracks like “This Eternal Instant”, “Obscure Indiscretion” and “My Secret Window”. Kudos to vocalist Mikkel for pulling everything from screams, growls and his harmonic singing, and while we´re at it, the lead guitar playing of Martin Buus puts the final touch to an orgasmic sound, clearly a technical schooled player yet he never goes into too much wankery, tasteful stuff. “The Hours That Remain” is fully capable of leaving your jaw dropping several times throughout its hourly duration, what we have here is a sound with serious relevance in today´s scene and a name that´s become synonymous with quality metal. Highly recommendable!
| Tracklist |
| 1. Redefine Me |
| 2. Year Of The Plague |
| 3. My World Is Ending |
| 4. This Eternal Instant |
| 5. Lost Reality |
| 6. Soul Decision |
| 7. Simplicity Demand |
| 8. Obscure Indiscretion |
| 9. My Secret Window |
| 10. The Hours That Remain |
: 62.18
| Buy other Mercenary albums |
