Mercenary | METALSITES.net

Biography

2006
Established in the mid-‘90s with a simpler death-thrash style, MERCENARY have continuously expanded creating ominously sinister music that resonates with a unique Scandinavian coldness. Vocalist Mikkel Sandager and his brother, keyboardist Morten, joined Mercenary on 2002’s “Everblack”. Therein the band’s compositions became increasingly sophisticated, with their third full-length album and Century Media debut, 2004’s “11 Dreams”, hailed as “perfect…10/10” by Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles and crowned “album of the month” in Germany’s Metal Hammer magazine upon release, amongst other remarkably positive worldwide press. Its success secured the band multiple European tours supporting bands like Evergrey, Brainstorm and Nevermore, as well as summer festival appearances at Wacken Open Air, Summer Breeze, Earthshaker Fest, Dynamo, Inferno Festival, Roskilde and many others.

Returning to expertly and powerfully record and mix “The Hours That Remain” is Jacob Hansen (Communic, Maroon, Hatesphere, etc.), who already successfully worked with the band on the previous “11 Dreams” release, and with cover art by esteemed artist Travis Smith (Death, Opeth, God Forbid, Katatonia), the album also includes guest vocal appearances by Soilwork’s Björn “Speed” Strid and Heaven Shall Burn’s Marcus Bischoff. Throughout the album’s recording process the band has announced René Pedersen as replacement for their longtime bassist/vocalist Kral, who parted ways with the band some months earlier. The bass duties on “The Hours That Remain” were executed by producer and Invocator singer/guitarist Jacob Hansen. Already having debuted their revamped line-up to much acclaim at Germany’s Rock Hard festival and as supporting King Diamond on some recent European dates, MERCENARY are scheduled to appear at both the ProgPower festivals in Europe / USA and the band will soon be adding more dates all over the place to present their incredibly high-quality and fresh-sounding new album.

Where “11 Dreams” first raised awareness within the global metal scene for these unique, inventive Danish metal hopefuls, “The Hours That Remain” is destined to result in MERCENARY’s deserved ultimate breakthrough. Songs like the pounding opening ‘Redefine Me’, the extremely catchy and straight forward ‘Soul Decision’ as well as the epic and profound ‘Lost Reality’ are prime examples for the band’s perfect blend of musical complexity and irresistible catchiness to equal terms. From magnificent guitar melodies topping drivingly aggressive rhythmical passages up to Mikkel Sandager’s brilliantly performed catchy hooks, “The Hours That Remain” is an impressing musical entity which is likely to become one of this year’s most remarkable metal albums!

2004
Emerging from the nineties as a mid-pace melodic death-thrash fourpiece, centered around songwriters Kral (bass/vocals) and Jakob (guitars), 2002 saw Mercenary taking a giant leap forward with the release of the album "Everblack". Recruiting additional heavymetal-style singer Mikkel Sandager and his brother Morten on keys changed the band's sound drastically towards a new and rather unusual combination of melody and aggression. Mercenary gradually evolved their sound into a fusion of diverse inspirations ranging from progressive and ‘classic' metal to (Swedish) melodic deathmetal.

Balancing memorable atmospheric passages and choruses, with equal amounts of drive and aggression, the band took a definite turn towards focusing on songwriting rather than riffing. This "trademark" mixture earned the band wide attention and praise, along with appearances at festivals as diverse as ProgPower USA and the Norwegian Inferno Festival. After releasing "Everblack", Mercenary recruited drummer Mike Park and leadguitarist Martin Buus, whose skills can be heard in the added energy on Mercenary's new release "11 Dreams", produced by Jacob Hansen.

Following up on the band's new-found diversity, the new material draws upon the members' widely different inspirations and personal musical backgrounds. The mixture of these individual different approaches into an integrated whole, displays the band's development as songwriters and defines the uniqueness of Mercenary's sound. The new album adds originally arranged multi-layered vocals and intricate ideas to simple but catchy song-structures, while delivering by far the band's most aggressive and powerful expression and production yet. By weaving a touch of almost symphonic Scandinavian melancholy into their particular blend of the atmospheric with the aggressive Mercenary has, however, taken their trademark expression even further...

2002
Having been around since 1991 and now kicking it harder than ever, Mercenary is one of Denmark's most persistent metal acts. After the release of their debut CD "First Breath" from 1998, the band released the internationally acclaimed follow-up CD "Everblack" in 2002 through Hammerheart Records. Despite dominating trends of either playing extreme metal, with all the familiar clichés of the black/deathmetal scene, or trying to write MTV-friendly NU-metal like Korn and Limp Bizkit, Mercenary sticks to playing their very own blend of metal which is intensely dark and melancholic, yet in-your-face, aggressive and heavy as hell. Their new material displays much more skilled and deliberate songwriting than ever seen before in the bands career, and while keeping the heavy groovy rhythms and the melodic guitar parts, the songs have been cut down in complexity to give place to more essential, purer and focused forms of expression. What the new songs might have lost in technical complexity and inspirational diversity, they have definitely gained in atmospheric intensity and musical honesty. With the release of "Everblack" the future is looking blacker than ever...

Source: website

Line-Up:
Mikkel Sandager - Vocals
Jakob Mølbjerg - Guitars
Martin Buus - Lead Guitar
Rene Pedersen - Bass/Vocals
Morten Sandager - Keys/Vocals
Mike Park - Drums