Everblack

Everblack is the follow up release of their first album First Breath, which set them among the rising Danish bands in the heavy metal scene, and also it was the turning point where they started to vie with the other Danish pioneers in the genre such as Illdisposed, Iniquity and Konkhra. Though, First Breath was unique because they didn’t play only melodic death as they combined it with great poisoning amounts of brutality. Everblack continued in the sense of their previous work, meaning there is some awesome brutal melodic death. In this release, the production is good enough, and therefore enjoyable to hear. The sound is clean and clear for the ear, back in that times for such good production, it is hard to say nothing merely it was professionally made.

Mercenary kept their sound the same; I can understand that, since their first release made a significant success. Although, there was some changing in the lineup, including the first appearance of the Sandager brothers, and also the addition of the guitarist Signar. However, this gave a new fresh blood to the band, thus it reflected on the music. It can be clearly seen that they increased the substance and the value of their old sound effectively. The vocals of Mikkel, unlike the later releases, were much more extreme and aggressive, combined with the great growls of Kral, made it an impressive duo.

Signar, the lead guitarist, was a monster creating powerful solos and great melodies. We have here some memorable riffs spread all over the songs offering great variation in the sound. I would like to mention the great solos in the tracks Everblack, Darkspeed, Screaming in the heavens and Alliance. The brutal side of this release is done by the high bass lines provided by Kral; they match very well with the procession of the guitars and the overall music. The drums are very competent; the last appearance of Rasmus with mercenary left indeed a great impression, filling in the technical and double bass duties, with some remarkable patterns throughout the album. The keyboards aren’t much of a presence here, actually that was due to the plain dominance of the other instruments, but they still can be heard from time to time like in the track Screaming in the heavens. Though, I wished if they were more around, but anyways, it is not something to affect this great masterpiece.

In final conclusion, the second effort of the mercenaries was capable enough to show the skills of these guys. Though, this was the last album where they played this kind of style, because they evolved their sound Into more progressive power influenced melodic death with more clean vocals in the following releases. I urge you to check this album before you go through the later ones, because this is a necessary classic to hear, and to please your ears with some kick ass extreme melodic death metal. Recommended for mercenary fans and melodic death metal maniacs, I’m pretty sure you’re going to enjoy this brutal gem.

Written for Encyclopaedia Metallum 19-03-2010
© Kimiwind

It's not really easy to make such an enjoyable album when it is just your sophomore effort, but Denmark's Mercenary nearly do it with Everblack.

There are some changes between this album and the first album "First Breath." Whereas previously Mercenary were a pretty decent death/thrash band, you get
a lot of genre hopping with this album. That, is due to the introduction of the Sandager brothers Mikkel and Morten. Mikkel Sandager shows his skills with
some of the best clean vocals you can hear these days, and Morten Sandager adds in some fantastic keyboard parts, helping to lend to the already dark atmosphere.

Musically, this band really succeeds. Kral throws in some damn good, and actually worth reading lyrics, with a really good death growl and bass parts. Rhythm
guitarist Jakob Mølbjerg is responsible for creating the riffs. Lead guitarist Signar Petersen also showcases some amazing shredded solos throughout the album. The praise already given to the Sandager brothers above says it all. Producer Jacob Hansen also deserves some praise as he keeps the production clear, yet with a crunch, just like those Swiss chocolates :)

Now, here is why one mark gets docked off from this really fantastic album, and that is the drumming. I really love it when a drummer is very aggressive and just crashes cymbals, blast beats and double-basses throughout a song, and unfortunately for Everblack, that is the only drawback. That's not to say Rasmus Jacobsen is a bad drummer, he is pretty good, for a rock drummer. Thankfully the band has now got Mike Park, his drumming is exactly what this album needed, and if the band re-issues this album with his drumming overdubbing Jacobsen's parts, I would gladly pay to hear it all over again.

There's nearly something in this album for everyone. Want to thrash out? Listen to the title track, or "Alliance." Want something more dark? "Bloodrush" is what you want. Epic? Go for "Screaming from the Heavens." And if you want a showcase of the vocal trade-offs between Kral's death growls and Mikkel's clean vocals listen to "Bulletblues," which also includes a really good guitar solo near the end. The way Mikkel sings "We’re all inside a dream, we’re still waking up" just before Kral does his death growl is just fantastic.

This is, in short, an album every open minded metalhead should hear because of the genre blurring. Most people only got to hear of Mercenary for the album they made after this, "11 Dreams," and for them it's pretty much where the Mercenary discography begins. But I would urge those people to shell out the cash and buy this album because this is pure, unadulterated metal bliss.