MERCENARY Album, "Metamorphosis," Streaming Now

Danish melodic death metallers MERCENARY are streaming their sixth album, "Metamorphosis," in its entirety at Metal-Hammer.de The album will be released in North America on March 29. The North American version of the album, produced by Jacob Hansen (Volbeat, Heaven Shall Burn, Aborted), will feature the exclusive bonus track "Incorporate Your Demons." Pre-order your copy now at Prosthetic's online store. The band will be touring Europe in February and March alongside Symphony X and Nevermore.
http://www.metal-hammer.de/Mercenary_METAMORPHOSIS_Stream_english

TRIVIUM front man, and long time fan of MERCENARY, Matt Heafy, has posted a review of "Metamorphosis." Check it out here.

"Metamorphosis" track listing:
1. Through The Eyes Of The Devil
2. The Follower
3. In A River Of Madness
4. Memoria
5. Velvet Lies
6. In Bloodred Shades
7. Shades Of Grey
8. On The Edge Of Sanity
9. Black Brigade
10. Incorporate Your Demons (North American bonus track)

Through the last decade, MERCENARY have been one of the most active and successful proponents of Denmark's rising metal scene. Over the course of their previous five studio albums, which earned the band increasing critical acclaim for their distinctive blend of aggression and huge soaring melodies, the band earned a wide international audience and dedicated fan base. MERCENARY have toured actively as support for top acts such as Megadeth, Arch Enemy, Nevermore, King Diamond, Death Angel and many more. They have also appeared on most major metal festivals, such as Wacken (twice), Tuska, Metal Camp, Earthshaker, Inferno, Graspop, Dynamo, Summer Nights, ProgPower Europe, and ProgPower USA (twice) and many more.

Behind the scenes, however, deep creative and personal differences increased through the years, and they culminated when their drummer, keyboard player and one of their two singers left the band in late 2009. Joined by master drummer Morten Løwe, the band now counts the song writing team of original member Jakob Mølbjerg (guitar) and master shredder Martin Buus (lead guitar), as well as the versatile singer/bassist René Pedersen.

Rising from the ashes of the old lineup, the Mercenary of 2011 evolves and reshapes the band's trademark sound of combined clean and aggressive vocals with a new edge, displaying a catchy and fresh sound, as well as an newfound unity, ambition and musical focus within their ranks. This is reflected in the "Metamorphosis" cover imagery.
"There's of course a lot of obvious (and indeed slightly cheesy) self-referential symbolism regarding the rebirth of the band in the cover artwork," the band said in a statement released last week. "But apart from that, we felt that the motive of a phoenix was a fitting expression of many of René's lyrical themes on the album, as they deal with personal and existential crisis, overcoming personal obstacles and how we can sometimes redefine ourselves in the process of taking responsibility for altering the conditions of our very lives. This idea of personal freedom can be a very frightening thought for some, but it's actually a message of hope and optimism - we can always take control of our lives and free ourselves of inner or outer constraints, or at least take pride in the struggle to do so.
"(Okay, dropping all the intellectual pretense, we just liked the artwork because it was freaking bird on fire - how cool is that!?)

"On a serious note, though, we also felt that a simple, raw and iconic visual theme would support the musical direction of the new album. We feel that the songs are our strongest ever - they're no-bullshit, focused and straight to the point, and our good friend Don G really nailed these concepts with his artwork."

This is one of those bands where I am pretty much set with one good album from them. In my case that's 11 Dreams. I get the impression that the albums since then are variations on 11 Dreams and thus aren't necessary to non-superfans. However, I suppose the recent lineup changes may have done something drastic to their sound.