Mercenary "The Hours That Remain" (Century Media)
By Taylor Green
Monday. Sep 25, 12:03 AM
Growing ever more consistent and excellent.

Mercenary have returned after their critically praised debut 11 Dreams. But 11 Dreams this is not. However, that's not a bad thing.

The Hours That Remain plants itself firmly as a more straightforward album, delivering a harder punch than its predecessor. In no ways does that make it a less ambitious album, but fans looking for a repeat of 11 Dreams’ grand atmosphere won't find as much playfulness in the tracks on the new release. Instead, Mercenary plow through their prog-death, speed driven style without any lack of focus. This consistency makes The Hours… a stronger overall album.

While musicianship is as strong as many of the band’s peers, my major concern with the album is the vocals. While many do prefer the double layered assault of heavy, operatic vocals in the vein of power metal with shrieks and shrills, the combo seems to fall flat here. However, unlike most contemporaries of this approach, Mercenary's clean vocals are miles above the boring shrieks, which sound more like a failed attempt at falsetto than death metal vocals.

Vocal issues aside, The Hours That Remain stands as one of the subgenre’s best, and Mercenary are leading the next path for power metal while others stagnate. Fans of power metal giants Primal Fear or various melodic death metal acts like Soilwork (whose vocalist, Bjorn "Speed" Strid, guests here), Scar Symmetry, and Kalmah should eat this record up. In all, Mercenary continue to prove that they are treading a new path as well as leading the way.
www.mercenary.dk
www.centurymedia.com

Listen to a song from this album in our Radio section!

Click here to buy this album on iTunes!

Click here to download the iTunes jukebox application for Macintosh or Windows!

Taylor Green

Got something constructive to say? By all means, rant away. Gonna blab about something unrelated and/or talk shit? Don't expect your comment to stick around.