SOURCE – Where Darkened Souls Belong is the latest Mercenary studio record/video. Tell us from your perspective the creative and recording process this time around – do you believe the pandemic allowed the group more freedom and ability to develop these songs exactly the way you wanted without worry of timing, schedules etc.?
Jakob Mølbjerg (guitar) – First off, hey, thank you for conducting this interview. It’s great to get some feedback and interest after the recent singles.
As for your question, the pandemic was actually not a very creative or inspiring period for us. Except for our youngish drummer, Martin Nielsen, who’s not even 30 yet, we all have kids and regular jobs. So just making the everyday life work took most of our energy during the lockdowns. I managed to write a few drafts for new songs during the first lockdown, but we always finish the songs by meeting up in person and fleshing them out and that just wasn’t possible for long periods of time, for obvious reasons. So things grinded to halt several times.
SOURCE – How would you describe the current lineup within Mercenary as far as musicians and as people – what are the main characteristics that matter the most to you for band chemistry and productivity?
Jakob Mølbjerg (guitar) – Writing music is a very collaborative process for us, so the ability to show each other respect and complement each other is essential for us. We don’t always agree on things but we respect each other’s differences. Most of the time, at least, haha! As for our individual profiles, I’m basically just a guy who likes to write big-ass chunky riffs and flesh out melancholic guitar lines and dapple a bit with some keyboards on the side, but a guy like our leadguitarist Martin Buus is just a top of the league world class guitar hero. Sure, he can shred but he also understands so many of the aspects of the theory going on and always sees a big range of possible approaches to any single musical idea, whereas I am more a “take it or leave” kind of guy. He’s also great at keyboards and always has ideas and suggestions for drum patterns, vocal lines and everything. So he’s a great asset in so many ways for the band. Our singer René is a more spontaneous kind of guy with a range that’s just incredible. He constantly discovers new expressions vocally, which keeps things fresh and interesting with him. Our new drummer Martin Nielsen is a quite straightforward drummer who just delivers exactly the beats that our new material needs, is fun to jam with and does great interpretations of the older material as well.
SOURCE – As many bands in the metal industry appear to be releasing more and more EPs and singles rather than just albums, do you plan on going that route, as well?
Jakob Mølbjerg (guitar) – Since we haven’t made an album in nearly ten years, it definitely makes sense for us to do some singles and ease our way back into the whole routine and make people aware that we are back before releasing a whole album. I don’t see us releasing an EP though. The aim is just to make the most convincing “come back” album, so to speak, that we are able to do after all these years.
SOURCE – It’s been nine years since Through Our Darkest Days. You have been busy with many other things, what made the time right to come back to writing for the band?
Jakob Mølbjerg (guitar) – Truth to be told, we’ve actually been writing on this album since 2016, more or less. But for a variety of trivial reason, we didn’t have very much time for the project compared to earlier. At the same time, we were also much more ambitious about the quality and sound of the new album, so to speak. So that combination made it inevitable that things would drag out. But that’s just how it had to be. Moreover, Martin Buus is producing the new album so we also had a slower process since he had to build his own studio and gradually build a routine with working on our own material on a level that’s professionally tenable and good enough for Jacob Hansen to mix. But Martin’s delivering some stellar results so we all kind of root for him to have a booming career as a career after the new album is released.
SOURCE – When it comes to the discography of Mercenary, do you think there’s an underrated album or two that people need to spend more time checking out?
Jakob Mølbjerg (guitar) – We kind of had a breakthrough when we went from a small label and released “11 Dreams” on Century Media. But the album just before that, “Everblack”, didn’t get nearly the same attention and I think it contains a lot of super melodic dark and heavy material. Also, the album “Metamorphosis” got a very rough reception because of the major lineup changes that preceded it. I think people would appreciate the material more if it had been released today and they didn’t have the same preconceived expectations to it based on the previous album and lineup.
SOURCE – What concerns you most about the world that we live in today? What do you believe the leaders and governments of the world need to concentrate on for the greater good of all?
Jakob Mølbjerg (guitar) – I think one of the most scary things about the world today is probably the shortsighted political structures that makes us unable to adapt to the immense challenges we face. As long as politicians are being rewarded with another term by focusing on here and now solutions, we’ll never be able to fix long terms issues in the proper way.
SOURCE – What albums as of late have been pumping you up over the last few months? Do you continue to look to the past for inspiration and energy, or are there new albums from veteran bands that excite you?
Jakob Mølbjerg (guitar) – I try to keep up with recent releases but I must admit that I am not as adamant about it as I used to be or as many other metalheads my age.On the new album there’s some inspiration from as different bands like Decapitated, Paradise Lost, Nine Inch Nails and a bit of Gojira too.
SOURCE – Anything else you’d like to mention or promote?
Jakob Mølbjerg (guitar) – Sure, right now we are doing a crowdfunding campaign for funding a world class stellar production and mix of the new album. We have a ton of fun and interesting perks, like our very own craft beer and gin, vinyl, exclusive merch, guitar lessons, a chance to be on the new album and much, much more. Check it out at igg.me/at/mercenarydk
Contacts:
Video: