Mercenary is a band that was incredibly influential on my metal development. Their albums 11 Dreams and The Hours That Remain were the ones that opened my ears to metal that was powerful and epic without being silly. After 2006, my attention was drawn away from them. I cannot put a finger on why, but I just forgot about them.
The next I heard of the band, they lost half of their line-up and since then they've apparently put out two albums that I just didn't hear at all. I sought them out for the sake of this though. Well the band is back, and they sure are…back, I guess.
Again, I LOVED 11 Dreams. At first listen, Through Our Darkest Days sounds like Mercenary trying to relive that greatness. However, there was also an element of self-awareness to this fact that was driving the band towards slightly different tricks than you'd expect from them.
For example, the title track could have fit easily on any album by the band from 2006 or earlier. It was a good song in all the ways you'd expect from the band. Every part of it is big and soaring, while remaining just the right amount of death metal. This is a song that just reeks of throwback appeal.
A different song for the band that really worked was "Generation Hate." It opens with blasting, then morphs into a fucking cool riff. The chorus remains an epic anthem-like explosion you'd expect from the band, but it doesn't take away from the overall experience.
The same could be said for "Welcome To The Sickness". It also opens with an unrelentingly heavy intro, followed by a cool chunk that goes against your expectations. It also eventually goes where you'd imagine, but getting there is fun.
On the contrary, "A New Dawn" was a new trick that didn't work so well. It sounds like any recent All That Remains song, just with some keys thrown in. The vocals sound JUST like Philip Labonte (sans the chorus) and the main riff sounds like anything post-Overcome. It's a very misleading way to open the album.
"A Moment of Clarity" was also an adventurous departure, but it just sounded like something that's fifty percent from the new Soilwork album, The Living Infinite, and fifty percent from the latest Mutiny Within, Synchronicity. Mind you, I love the new Soilwork album, but I could just listen to that instead. It has twenty tracks to choose from, after all.
There is actually a lot of good here. One thing that never really did it for me on the old albums was the CONSTANT dual vocals of Mikkel Sandager's singing and Henrik Andersen's screams. it was fine in doses, but it was all of 11 Dreams. René Pedersen is in an unfortunate position and will always be compared to a previous band member whom he replaced, but I enjoy his work. I suppose he's not technically as good of a singer as Sandager, but he offers a more diverse range, and has a better scream than Andersen.
The album is good, but it is ultimately plagued by the band's predictable nature, cliche lyrics, and parts that just make you think of other bands that have been going down this path for a long time already. Diehard fans with probably dig this release a lot. It's better than what I wound up skimming from Metamorphosis, but probably on par with what I checked out from Architect of Lies.
It is sad, but likely that I will wind up forgetting this band again.
6.5/10
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