Monday, July 7, 2014

Game Changers #1

Think of all your favorite music, not just casual fly-by-night one off songs you love. I'm talking about music that has changed your life, albums that completely define a point in your life, a sonic scrap book of memories if you will. I call them "game changers", though I also use this term to describe albums that completely changed the flow and pace of whole genres in their wake, but that's for another day.

I'm going to do a post every now and again where I list one of mine because I'm arrogant like that and want to show off my taste! No but I just want to talk about certain albums and where I was in my life and what they meant to me.

Part #1

                                             Mercenary - The Hours That Remain (2006)

This is a band from Ã…lborg Denmark that plays a dynamic blend of crushing groove, power and melodic death metal. Two types of vocal styles, one being an almost operatic? type of soaring singing in synergy with typical metal vocals (growls, screaming ect), however the hard vocals are very conservative and fit well. Don't be expecting Cannibal Corpse here, it's palatable to non-metal fans.

In the mid 2000's, this band was BIG BUSINESS in the metal underground, but at the time I was arrogant and stubborn to check out anything with the power metal label. A friend of mine kept preaching the gospel, but my foot was on the ground, no way! Well winter 2007/2008 came around and I was dealing with a lot, I had just turned 20, was suffering from the first real heartbreak of my life, and the awful, colorless New England winter certainly wasn't doing anything to improve my mood. I guess through sheer boredom and mind numbing depression, I finally decided I'd bit the bullet and give this album a shot. I needed to give my mind something to digest other than my whirlwind of defeatist internal dialogue. What I found was a melodic, emotional powerhouse of an album. This shit floored me right here, hell track 1 features a guest spot from my favorite metal singer ever! I felt so foolish that I was so ignorant and for no good reason, tried to skip out on this album.

Lyrically the album deals with (well from what I take away from it..) A pending catastrophe, a looming finality. The lyrics touch subjects such as internal struggles, love lost and the like. It's all backed by a soundtrack where the melodies and music can be as woeful as the topics, or adversely can portray the existential crises as hopeful and uplifting. It really goes both ways depending on how you feel at the time of listening. For me, as mentioned earlier it was the former of course, but any album that can portray anger, sorrow and hope at the same time is pretty special.

The soundtrack to one of the gloomiest, depressing winters of my life. 7 years later, it's a regular listen, though I don't necessarily associate with the dread of the period. It's just good tunes man, good tunes.

                                                          Track 1 - Redefine Me


                                                     Track 2 - Year of the Plague

                                                            

                                                      Track 5 - Lost Reality

                                         

                                                    Track 6 - Soul Decision

                                                 

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