Like many heavy metal bands from Denmark, Mercenary had to patiently wait out the early '90s before drawing any record company attention away from the Swedish and Norwegian behemoths raging just to the north. Formed in 1991 by vocalist/bassist Kral (aka Hans Henrik Andersen), the band would work in relative anonymity until 1998, when they finally landed a deal for a debut album they aptly called First Breath. This was followed two years later by the more mature Everblack, which found Kral, vocalist Mikkel Sandager, guitarists Nikolai Brinkmann and Signar Petersen, keyboardist Morten Sandager, and drummer Rasmus Jakobsen forging a sound derived from equal parts death metal, thrash, and power metal, and always keeping melody and compact song structures at a premium. Yet another round of member shake-ups would soon follow, but after breaking in the new guitar team of Jakob Moelbjerg (ex-Panzerchrist) and Martin Buus Pedersen, as well as drummer Mike Park, Mercenary joined forces with leading independent Century Media for their third album, 2004's 11 Dreams. On this occasion, they also obtained the backing of producer Jacob Hansen (Hatesphere, Raunchy, etc.) and cover artist Niklas Sundin (Arch Enemy, etc.). ~ Eduardo Rivadavia