MERCURY

INTRODUCTION
"Mercury" is Madder Mortem's debut album. It's quite hard to describe the musical field in which they operate on this album. Atmospheric/gothic metal intertwined with symphonic passages is what comes first to mind. What makes this band unique is the female vocals (by Agnete Kirkevaag). In the gothic metal area generally the vocals are a "battle" between the beauty and the beast (soprano vs. growls). Madder Mortem however uses clean midrange female vocals.

TRACK by TRACK
1) Undertow [6/10]
2) Under Another Moon [6/10]
3) He Who Longed For The Stars [6/10]
4) These Mortal Sins [5/10]
5) The Grinding Silence [6/10]
6) Loss [7/10]
7) Remnants [8/10]
8) Misty Sleep [7/10]
9) Convertion [8/10]

CONCLUSION
The combination of the vocals combined with the constant changing of moods between dreamy/atmosperic and dark/aggressive did work out very well. The vocals by Agnete are impressive. She has a very strong voice and adds something special to madder Mortem's music. The other band members however did also a great job. They very well succeeded in creating a groovy, varied and solid basis for the vocals, without turning it into a (metal) wall of sound.
For me the two highlights on "Mercury" are the tracks Remnants and Convertion. "Remnants" starts as a slow, haunting nightmare, that suddenly speeds up and turns into a heavy monster with a killer riff. "Convertion" starts with an atmospheric clean guitar intro, then slowly builds up to a very groovy mid section that finally leads to a slowly fading crescendo of guitar, bass and drums.
"Mercury" is a good, but non-essential album. I recommend it to prog rock fans that are interested in strong female vocals and who are not afraid of some - well performed - metal influences.

Album rating: 62% = 3 stars

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