Architect of Lies

This is another one of those posts where I talk about an album I love. Just like most of the time.

Danish band Mercenary ranks up there with Wintersun and Scar Symmetry in terms of combining power metal and melodic death metal to create an interesting blend that is both brutal and accessible to lovers to less extreme metal. (Particularly their previous album The Hours That Remain, during which they didn't have a harsh vocalist and went entirely with clean vocals) Architect of Lies is still more on the melodic side of things than their earlier albums, with some thrash and prog metal influences thrown in. The produced, reverb-heavy dual guitars and keyboards give it a very dense, "boomy" feeling, almost like a somewhat more laid-back, melodious Kalmah album. The album feels unified like a concept album, musically rather than lyrically.

The first two tracks, "New Desire" and "Bloodsong", are both pretty standard and unremarkable, like if you took the average of the rest of the album. Harsh verses, cleanly sung choruses and NWOBHM-esque guitar solos abound. "Bloodsong" features somewhat slower, laid-back drumming, a hallmark of this album that is different than lots of melodeath. No blast beats for these Danes. "Embrace the Nothing" is slower still, with fairly quiet, almost plaintive verses. The keyboard takes part of the solo, making this song more of a breather than anything else.

And then it's on to the nearly six minutes of intensity in "This Black and Endless Never". (All the songs on Architect of Lies are excellent-length--the shortest is 4:50) The relentlessly pounding bass drum and guitar riffs are somewhat strangely contrasted by the lack of harsh vocals in this song similar to The Hours That Remain. It's great fun to listen and headbang to, but feels a bit monotonous as if they could have done more with it.

"Isolation (The Loneliness in December)" is virtually a ballad, another breather song before the metallic whirlwind that is "The Endless Fall". The heaviest song on the album, it has harsh vocalist René Pedersen turning his death growl into a ferocious roar, with the clean vocals only coming in during the chorus. The chorus riff, by the way, is excellent, with a synchronized guitar and bass drum attack that sounds quite epic. There's also the nearly two-minute instrumental section (including a solo) that, despite (or because of) its aggression is great fun to listen to

"Black and Hollow" is much slower, keeping an almost lumbering pace but a dark atmosphere throughout. Like "This Black and Endless Never" it has largely clean vocals. "Execution Style" is another fast, aggressive song, one of the thrashiest, but with an extremely expansive-sounding chorus that turns out to be pretty epic. In lieu of a solo it has a furiously chugging pseudo-symphonic section with vocal samples.

The last two tracks tie the album together and give it the musical feel of a concept album. "I Am Lies" has a fairly standard beat with some seriously catchy rhythms and riffs layered on top of it. The chorus has musical callbacks to "This Black and Endless Nothing" and the extended bridge is definitely the climax of the whole album, culminating in the title being shouted to make your skin crawl. After that, it does seem to drag on a bit long, awkwardly sticking around after hitting its awesome peak. Finally "Public Failure Number One" feels like an epilogue, starting aggressively but tapering off into a keyboard-laden, almost ambient and dreamy melody that carries you out of the album. After all its fury, the album goes out more with a whimper than a bang--strange but beautiful.

Overall, a solid piece of metal from a band at its peak. (Read: half the band left after it) They manage to make music that sounds huge and furious, but at the same time melodic and inviting (at least to fans of the genre). Some of the slower songs turned out a bit ridiculous and borderline-emo at times, but metal gems like "The Endless Fall" and "I Am Lies" make up for these moments of weakness. Recommended for fans of melodic death metal, or power metal fans looking for something heavier. (In this case, The Hours That Remain might help you get acclimated to Mercenary)