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Mercenary

Architect of Lies

Written by: CR on 30/08/2008 10:21:32

Even though I would really love to get through this review without discussing Kral, it's simply impossible. Being the first album with Rene Pedersen on bass and vocals, it's quite the challenge not to compare him just a bit to the first mentioned. Luckily Rene does a good job and the end result is not at all the failure I first feared. This is mostly due to the fact that Mercenary has come a long way since the release of "11 Dreams" and the new sound they started to develop on their last album is much more suited for a voice like the one belonging to Rene Pedersen. No more Kral in this review.

But now let's get on with what this is really about: "Architect of Lies". The band continues down the road they started on with "The Hours that Remain", giving "Architect of Lies" a more progressive sound than their last album. Unfortunately the album sounds like it's made mainly from THTR leftovers. There simply isn't a lot of differences between the two albums. Mikkel's vocals are still very dominant, the sound is still massive and all the songs are all in all very Mercenary-ish.

So what is different, you will probably ask. First of all, the songs are shorter. AOL has a run time of 52 minutes, compared to THTR's 62 minutes. Both albums have ten songs - you do the math. The catchy-ness has also been turned up a couple of steps, although this doesn't sound all that bad, Mercenary is at a point of being very close to crossing into Raunchy territory, and since Raunchy do it best, Raunchy-land shouldn't be entered; here be monsters. Even though these elements are few and far between it needs to be mentioned, because this is actually one of the only things that really differentiate AOL from "The Hours That Remain". That and the small things you find in between the very Mercenary sounding verses and choruses. There you can find some real gems of musical craftsmanship, but they are all too few and so far apart that they don't really make a difference in the end.

All in all, Mercenary delivers what they did on their previous album. If you loved THTR you will probarly like AOL. If you're new to Mercenary i would suggest you spend your hard earned cash on THTR instead, not because it's a much better album, but because you get 10 minutes more music. If this was the first album Mercenary released since "11 Dreams" and Kral's departure, I might have given it a much higher rating. But it's simply just more of the same. Damn, I mentioned Kral again.

Download: New Desire, I am Lies.
For the fans of: Raunchy
Listen: Myspace

Release date 25.03.2008
Century Media