"Architect of lies" CD by Mercenary

by Björn Thorsten Jaschinski (15.02.2008) By the time of the band's formation in the early 90s, they were still following their ideals. Meanwhile, the name Mercenary is misleading: the Danish sextet is no troop of mercenaries, it's a bunch of libertines. The pioneers of the approach to combine melodic Death Metal with massive keyboards and Prog elements were the Swedes, Godgory with their second album, "Shadow's dance". But Mercenary have progressed and refined this basic idea by generations. By adding even more brutal vocals, the fifth album is heavier again than "The hours that remain", further confirmed by some Thrash-elements ("The endless fall"). The changing of the two contradicting moods is not really innovative but the – despite the height - extremely powerful voice of Mikkel Sandager perfectly contrasts the screams of the new bass-player, René Pedersen. Winner in the internal contest are the two favourites of the listening-sessions last November: the Finnish, melancholic "Embrace the nothing" and the often ballad-like pathos-hit, "Isolation (The loneliness in december)".