BumZen
04 September 2004, 11:22
Okay... so now I have taken my time to really get into the depths of this album.
To put it mild... excellent piece of music, unlike ANYTHING I have heard. The same counted for Everblack, but here I really get the goosebumps over and over again, and I even caught myself crying to the songs Loneliness and 11 Dreams. What a supreme mix of so many genres. The genres I found was NU (limited, but the weird high guitarsound in Supremacy really reminds me of Disturbed), power, thrash, death, black and simply traditional metal. But it still screams that Mercenary have made a more or less style of their own, which is like impossible today.
The album starts of quite good, but I must admit that it just didn't give me the boner like the Everblack intro did. Fortunately it doesn't matter because then World Hate Center just comes in and kicks you hard in the nuts for 4.59 seconds. This song is really amazing, and already here you can hear what an amazing drummer Mike Park is (at least in my opinion). He does everything I like about this style of drumming. And Mikkel Sandager really proves what an amazing voice he has, and that he is 110% fit for the sound on 11 Dreams, I cannot in my wildest dreams ever imagine how anyone else could do a better job.
The atmosphere on this album is also on of the REALLY amazing things, this is how keyboards were meant to be used. The occasional solo doesn't matter though ;).
But we find a lot of different songs, and especially the song 11 Dreams stands out, where only clean vocals are used. Normally I would be like "NOOO... don't go that way..." but you know´what? This gotta the most emotional thing I have heard this year. Or so it affects me.
When I first heard the song Firesoul on the album i was like "what the fuck?", and I immediatly looked up in the booklet to see who the singer was here... and I was amazed to find out it was Mikkel himself. Mikkel... I am in awe! All hail you.
But what happens with track no 8? Is it just me or is this a REALLY misplaced song? No bashing on Kent, but what the hell does that pop song do there?
Fortunately we have Falling right after it so that we can forget all about that strange moment.
The album closes excellently with Loneliness. and when it is done you just sit with this weird feeling and think " Beautiful, impressive... I need words". I have only used the word beautiful about agressive metal like this twice, and that in connection with Death's Symbolic and and Sound of Perseverance. Truly amazing piece of work there Mercenary guys.
Production wise this album is really killer. and again I can say that the atmosphere is really shining through here. I must admit that I at a few times was a bit confused about what was happening since it sounded a bit... you know... a lot of sounds at the same time and you don't know what is happening.
The album is very experimental, but it is done with such excellence that you just know that Mercenary really knows what they are doing (looking aside from "Music Non Stop"[xx(];)). I do miss a bit more of Kral though... just so you know... I love the vox of Mikkel, but just don't freeze out the vox of Kral... it would such a shame. His growl was the thing that got me into Mercenary in the first place.
Overall I would rate this album 9/10 (it would probably be a 10/10 if that Kent song was not there)
Mads
NP: Mercenary - 11 Dreams
From rivers of sorrow
to oceans deep with hope
I have travelled them
- Chuck Schuldiner (RIP)
To put it mild... excellent piece of music, unlike ANYTHING I have heard. The same counted for Everblack, but here I really get the goosebumps over and over again, and I even caught myself crying to the songs Loneliness and 11 Dreams. What a supreme mix of so many genres. The genres I found was NU (limited, but the weird high guitarsound in Supremacy really reminds me of Disturbed), power, thrash, death, black and simply traditional metal. But it still screams that Mercenary have made a more or less style of their own, which is like impossible today.
The album starts of quite good, but I must admit that it just didn't give me the boner like the Everblack intro did. Fortunately it doesn't matter because then World Hate Center just comes in and kicks you hard in the nuts for 4.59 seconds. This song is really amazing, and already here you can hear what an amazing drummer Mike Park is (at least in my opinion). He does everything I like about this style of drumming. And Mikkel Sandager really proves what an amazing voice he has, and that he is 110% fit for the sound on 11 Dreams, I cannot in my wildest dreams ever imagine how anyone else could do a better job.
The atmosphere on this album is also on of the REALLY amazing things, this is how keyboards were meant to be used. The occasional solo doesn't matter though ;).
But we find a lot of different songs, and especially the song 11 Dreams stands out, where only clean vocals are used. Normally I would be like "NOOO... don't go that way..." but you know´what? This gotta the most emotional thing I have heard this year. Or so it affects me.
When I first heard the song Firesoul on the album i was like "what the fuck?", and I immediatly looked up in the booklet to see who the singer was here... and I was amazed to find out it was Mikkel himself. Mikkel... I am in awe! All hail you.
But what happens with track no 8? Is it just me or is this a REALLY misplaced song? No bashing on Kent, but what the hell does that pop song do there?
Fortunately we have Falling right after it so that we can forget all about that strange moment.
The album closes excellently with Loneliness. and when it is done you just sit with this weird feeling and think " Beautiful, impressive... I need words". I have only used the word beautiful about agressive metal like this twice, and that in connection with Death's Symbolic and and Sound of Perseverance. Truly amazing piece of work there Mercenary guys.
Production wise this album is really killer. and again I can say that the atmosphere is really shining through here. I must admit that I at a few times was a bit confused about what was happening since it sounded a bit... you know... a lot of sounds at the same time and you don't know what is happening.
The album is very experimental, but it is done with such excellence that you just know that Mercenary really knows what they are doing (looking aside from "Music Non Stop"[xx(];)). I do miss a bit more of Kral though... just so you know... I love the vox of Mikkel, but just don't freeze out the vox of Kral... it would such a shame. His growl was the thing that got me into Mercenary in the first place.
Overall I would rate this album 9/10 (it would probably be a 10/10 if that Kent song was not there)
Mads
NP: Mercenary - 11 Dreams
From rivers of sorrow
to oceans deep with hope
I have travelled them
- Chuck Schuldiner (RIP)