MERCENARY — The Hours That Remain (review)

MERCENARY — The Hours That Remain album cover

Album · 2006 · Melodic Death Metal

4/5 · 2021-12-18
UMUR

"The Hours That Remain" is the 4th full-length studio album by Danish metal act Mercenary. The album was released through Century Media Records in August 2006. It´s the successor to "11 Dreams" from 2004 and there´s been one lineup change since the preceding album as Kral (growling vocals and bass) has left Mercenary. Kral´s departure has a significant impact on the sound of "The Hours That Remain", as the use of extreme vocal styles is heavily reduced on the album (there are a few parts doubled with shouted aggressive vocals, but that´s it). As the band didn´t manage to find a suitable replacement before the recording of the album, producer Jacob Hansen recorded all bass parts.

The music on the album is melodic and quite epic metal. A kind of power metal/melodeath hybrid (without death metal vocals). Lead vocalist Mikkel Sandager is given a lot of space to showcase his vocal arsenal and he generally has a dominant role on this album. He has a strong voice and is a skilled vocalist, so the fact that he has taken over most of the vocals (there are a couple of songs with guests vocalists who provide harsher type vocals. Björn Strid from Soilwork is one of them) isn´t necessarily a minus. Personally I miss the variation that Kral´s growls gave the music but I´m sure that´s an aquired taste.

The music is generally very melodic and keyboard/synth heavy and the listener is treated to strong melodies and a wall of epic and layered harder edged power metal. The album is consistent in style and in the quality of the material, but the tracks have a tendency to sound a bit too similar. It has much to do with the constant loud wall of sound and layering of vocals and instruments. It´s a relief the few times the band strip the whole thing down to guitars, bass, drums, and a single vocal track (which they do very seldom), because then when the epic keyboards/synths, vocal layered/choir/harmonies come in they feel more intense and effectful. When everything it cranked to 11 at all times, it loses effect because of lack of dynamics, and that´s what happens when you listen to "The Hours That Remain". Although it´s completely different music, it´s actually the same effect you get from some brutal death metal albums, where after a few tracks you don´t really feel the impact of the brutality anymore, because of the constant pummeling brutal energy and lack of dynamics.

When that is said "The Hours That Remain" is still a high quality power/melodeath album and tracks like "Redefine Me" and "My World Is Ending" are for example powerful and memorable tracks, and that actually goes for all the material on the album. Pick any song from the album and you´ll be met by high level musical performances, professional songwriting, and a well sounding clear and polished production, which suits the material well.

"The Hours That Remain" is arguably a more streamlined and professional sounding release than "11 Dreams" (2004) (or any of the other preceding releases), but personally I prefer the more gritty, varied, and sometimes anarchistic sounding predecessor. That album featured a dark magic and a more dynamic writing approach, that are not present on "The Hours That Remain", and which this album could have prospered from. So when it comes to rating "The Hours That Remain" I´m strongly biased, because it is a high quality release on all possible parameters, but the lack of dynamics makes it an exhausting listen to me, but a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating isn´t all wrong.