Mercenary: Melodic Death From Denmark Options

[Todd Simpson]

From the land of ice and snow comes MERCENARY! A "Melodic Death" outfit that I just ran across recently and I like em

DISCLAIMER: If you don't like "Melodeath" just skip it.

It doesn't break any new ground at all really, so not "new" as such, but I'm a fan of the genre and these guys do a fine job of it IMHO Sort of like In Flames when In Flames used to sound like In Flames.

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[Slavenko Erazer]

Sounds good ! Like when Children of Bodom would met In Flames!

Btw Children of Bodom are coming here in december!

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[bleez]

not bad at all, todd, I like that. I'll definitely check them out

Todd, do you listen to Be'lakor? I recently got into them and they have become my new favourite melodeath band. They have a bit of a progy vibe to them as well. Really cool band.

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[Ulrik]

Newest album

http://www.decibelmagazine.com/featured/st...r-darkest-days/


I've been a fan since 1999




My favorite old ones:

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This post has been edited by Ulrik: Oct 22 2013, 07:02 PM

[Todd Simpson]

Thanks for the vid! Killer band! They've got a really hard edge and nice proggy vibe. Good pull!

not bad at all, todd, I like that. I'll definitely check them out

Todd, do you listen to Be'lakor? I recently got into them and they have become my new favourite melodeath band. They have a bit of a progy vibe to them as well. Really cool band.

WOW!! Nice collection of vids there. Some really great tunes. I can't believe I'd never heard of these guys before.

Newest album

http://www.decibelmagazine.com/featured/st...r-darkest-days/


I've been a fan since 1999




My favorite old ones:

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[Todd Simpson]

I've been listening more to these guys and I think I"m starting to get what I"m liking

1.)Actual singing.
-They do some grunts/screams/growls, sure, wouldn't work without it IMHO. But they also actually incorporate actual singing and harmony/melody in the vocal lines. Soooooooo many bands seem to think they can't be "Heavy" unless they do nothing but scream/growl, the entire time. It takes all kinds, sure. But non stop scream/growl just starts to sound so similar after about two songs that it turns me off a bit. I can't make it through an entire MARDUK album for example.

Actually now that I think about it, this is a good example. Here is the Marduk Album PANZER DIVISION MARDUK in it's entirety. Hit play and jump the play head forward and listen again. It's 30 minutes of music and literally sounds like it could be one song

http://youtu.be/mP897M7JuII

Not to dis Marduk, they it's a great demo for what I'm talking about.


2.)Rythmic Diversity
-They don't spend all there time going Mach 5. Again, I love going Mach 5 now and again And enjoy listening to fast stuff. Just not non stop or it runs together. I hate to keep picking on MARDUK, but they use the BLAST BEAT so much, as do COUNTLESS other "Extreme Bands", that I'm starting to wonder if some drummers know how to play anything else? MERCENARY manage to incorporate a wide range of beats and still sound HEAVY. Well done

3.)Melodic Diversity
-True, they are fond of the Minor Keys but so am I They manage to use Dissonance and Harmony as counterpoints making the music very dynamic. Again well done


In short, the word "BALANCE" comes to mind yet again. They manage to balance many elements together and derive a cohesive sound from it. IT's never so crazy/prog that it just loses you and it's not to blast beat/drone that it gets boring. In short, it's almost Goldilocks Deth. Just right

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This post has been edited by Todd Simpson: Oct 24 2013, 09:40 AM

[Slavenko Erazer]

What about Dark Tranquility Todd? They are considered pioneers of Melodeath metal.

It seems like it's trendy nowadays btw i don't preffer "actual singing" on choruses as you say, as most of bands (mostly American ones) make it sound EMO and it lose balls of the song . It's probably a industrial trick to gain more variety of fans.

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This post has been edited by Slavenko Erazer: Oct 24 2013, 10:25 AM

[Ulrik]

In short, the word "BALANCE" comes to mind yet again. They manage to balance many elements together and derive a cohesive sound from it.

Spot on!
And what is music without melody (IMO not worth listening to because it gets boring).

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[Todd Simpson]

I'm a HUGE Carcass fan and they don't EVER do clean singing. I think you may have missed my point. I said I liked THIS band (Mercenary) for their actual singing I'm not saying I think ALL bands should engage in in. Not by a long shot. As for Mercenary being "TRENDY" you have got to be joking right? An obscure band doing really heavy music like this is not going to be selling lots of records and gaining a big audience any time soon. I really don't get at all how you could think them in any way "trendy" Unless of course, your thinking any band outside of Mayhem and Marduk and Darkthrone is Trendy


Dark Tranquility RAWK!!! But it would have been hard not to hear about them. Hard to miss Mercenary on the other hand, I'd never heard anybody mention them ever to be honest. Just ran across them come to find out, they already have some fans here on GMC which makes sense, as they are a spiff band

What about Dark Tranquility Todd? They are considered pioneers of Melodeath metal.

It seems like it's trendy nowadays btw i don't preffer "actual singing" on choruses as you say, as most of bands (mostly American ones) make it sound EMO and it lose balls of the song . It's probably a industrial trick to gain more variety of fans.

Spot on!
And what is music without melody (IMO not worth listening to because it gets boring).

I have to agree this is a very personal thing though as some bands who eschew melody altogether have substantive following and fans who enjoy their work. But personally, I do find it a smidge boring after a few songs if there is nothing resembling a melodic line of some kind even if its' just the guitar.

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This post has been edited by Todd Simpson: Oct 25 2013, 09:24 PM

[Slavenko Erazer]

I'm a HUGE Carcass fan and they don't EVER do clean singing. I think you may have missed my point. I said I liked THIS band (Mercenary) for their actual singing I'm not saying I think ALL bands should engage in in. Not by a long shot. As for Mercenary being "TRENDY" you have got to be joking right? An obscure band doing really heavy music like this is not going to be selling lots of records and gaining a big audience any time soon. I really don't get at all how you could think them in any way "trendy" Unless of course, your thinking any band outside of Mayhem and Marduk and Darkthrone is Trendy

I don't say thay they are trendy , but they surelly are aiming at some commercial succes by their song structure.Their riffs are heavy, but also a very catchy and "listener friendly" , as most of "todays bands" are trying to SOFTEN their music to GAIN more audience, which by some point , reasonable...They are Ok, but not so "inovative" or at least in same quallity as the older Gothenborg melodic death metal school or UK have made..
Maybe you in the USA are not exposed to this genre to much, but here in Europe there are zillions of kids trying to play in this "melodic Death metal" genre, and it's kinda hard to find any inventive among them all...moist of them sound the SAME , and it's kinda boring listening to simmilar bands over and over...

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