Review Summary: A relatively enjoyable album to listen to, but its flaws are blatantly obvious.
Hand of Mercy are a band that have made their name known among Australian music scene, playing live with bands such as Parkway Drive, Northlane, In Hearts Wake and other well known Australian metal-core acts. So how does Hand of Mercy, more specifically Last Lights, fare in comparison to the albums of the aforementioned bands?
Well, not too great. The album itself doesn't necessarily do anything wrong, but it fails to do very much right. It is very familiar with what plagues most bands of this genre, a lack of individuality. The album brings nothing new to the table, lacks considerable innovation and tends to be very repetitive. On a more positive note, the production is far superior to The Fallout, the instruments are much clearer and the vocals haven't changed much at all, with the sad exception of the absence of clean vocals which would have no doubt improved this album.
The album opens with the song "Dexter" and a loud chant of "Murderer!" followed by uninspired chugging, it continues with this, digressing for some melody but not enough to warrant it being a particularly enjoyable song. What follows is one of the most enjoyable songs on the album, "Absence Makes the Heart Go Wander" is a satisfying blend of melody, breakdowns and crowd-pleasing riffs.
Unfortunately, what follows is a predictable mix of incredibly generic tracks, and very enjoyable melodic tracks. "Benson", "23 Hour Lockdown" and "Rumble in the Grundle" all follow a similar structure, riff / chug / riff chug. None of them are standout tracks as they greatly lack a digression from the breakdown centric structure that is rampant throughout this album. I feel as though I should add, "Rumble..." has one of the best breakdowns on the album. "Quarter Deck" was one of the more enjoyable tracks on the album, mainly due to it possessing enough melody to counterweight the incessant chugging.
The disappointingly generic assault on the ears does however let up as the album begins to close out. "Hope Crusher" starts out as most of the others do, with chugging, but ends up becoming a fun track to listen to. A nice execution of melody and closing with a satisfying breakdown. "Strong Armed" is one of the more bearable tracks on the album, yet again, a good balance of melody / breakdown with powerful gang vocals.
Closing the album is the title track "Last Lights", and it is by far the best song on the album. The song itself is very melodic and has an absence of chugging within the first 30 seconds, quite surprising. The chorus will no doubt be chanted loudly by crowds as it is the most powerful on the album. The title track also contains something that has been severely lacking on the album, clean vocals! While they only make a 10 second appearance they leave you satisfied as the song closes out.
As mentioned before, the album lacks on many fronts and leaves a lot to be desired. It is an enjoyable album to listen to passively, but apart from that, is a disappointing release. I hope to see Hand of Mercy progress and find themselves a nice niche between breakdown / melody.
