Blessed be the land that cannot quite decide whether it is belonging to continental Europe or rather to the Nordic countries. One thing however is for sure: lately Denmark is continuously sending over good bands of various metal styles: Urkraft, Hatesphere, Raunchy, Mnemic, As We Fight, Saturnus... and certainly MERCENARY! Others seem to have risked an eye and decided to hide again, be it for good or just for now (Aurora, Withering Surface, Konkhra, Lipid...). Either way, I am actually intending to write about MERCENARY and The Hours That Remain.
Dear fans of Powermetal of the non-generic, playful and tight kind, this album is an absolute must-have for you!
The Hours That Remain is lasting for more than one hour and grants quality entertainment. There is not one minute or passage that you would find unnecessary or boring. 5-6 minutes is the average playing time of each song, two last over 8 minutes. Contrary to 11 Dreams, The Hours That Remain is quite soon (if not immediately if you happen to listen to it in a good mood for the first time, like me) catching your attention and then pulls you in und wins you over. Kral's grunting is missing on this album, since he left the band before the recording process had started. So the remaining band had to take care of the songwriting on their own. And this they did extremely well! The song structures are still demanding, multi-layered, and well thought. And yet you always meet this outstanding catchiness. The vocal lines are as good as always, except for the missing growls every here and there. Fluently expressed musical ideas, a perfect Powermetal voice without the cheese factor, good lyrics, and brilliant guitar solo - The Hours That Remain is simply a grand piece of musical expression. Mike Park - drummer - is adding or rather keeping up a large amount of roughness throughout the album and among MERCENARY as a musical band, which keeps MERCENARY away from comparisons to all other Powermetal bands there are nowadays (and of course the lyrics do not apply to that genre either).
You will even find a song that incorporates or perhaps is even built upon a Samba rhythm: Obscure Indiscretion. This Samba rhythm is wrapped up and stuffed by such an incredible MERCENARY content and coat that I am having troubles to gather myself again! Introduced by a massive Powermetal Scream, continued by this immense riff, strong vocals, a good refrain - any more questions?
Lost Reality and the title track The Hours That Remain contain some of the most beautiful melodies and riffs that you can imagine these days without sounding cheesy or being too shallow.
Soul Decision starts off with a true haedbanging riff, which will kick your ass live royally, I'm sure; with a refrain that will keep stuck in your brain for the next 20 years at least. A great amount of drive is packed into this song, as is in every song on The Hours That Remain.
Basically, on The Hours That Remain bass and drums deliver a perfect example of how drive, dynamic, denseness are brought across and should be sounding. Guitars do the ornamentation and this in an perfectly balanced way and amount. The vocals I cannot praise enough, to me this is a most recommended example of a really damn good Powermetal voice.
Simplicity Demand shows such a bitter sweetness, especially when these devilish piano sounds are added! You won't admit it at first because of the melody at first (which reminds of a certain Nordic gothrock all-star band. Luckily only at first, it turns out to be totally different then.). But yeah, this song is just so damn good, if you're honest to yourself.
The album lineup (!) is as follows:
Martin Buus - lead guitar
Mikkel Sandager - voice
Jacob Hansen - bass (just for the recording process. Rene Pedersen is going to pick and slap the fat strings from now on)
Mike Park - drums
Jakob Mølbjerg - guitar
Morten Sandager - keys, background vocals

Two guest vocalists are participating at certain spots on The Hours That Remain too: Björn Strid (Soilwork) and Marcus Bischoff (Heaven Shall Burn).
The Hours That Remain - a masterpiece of the Danish house of MERCENARY.