After ten years of pure silence, Mercy surprises with a new album. The Powers That Be reveals a new form of attack and could have dire consequences in the short or long term. We spoke with mentor Phillippe Santana to learn more about not only the new work, but his new sonic and conceptual approach.
Your new album is finally out. Are you happy with how it turned out?
Absolutely. It’s exactly what we envisioned for Mercy from the beginning. We’ve got better equipment now, and working with Bruno Bassani on the mixing and post-production has really improved the sound quality. We’re thrilled with how it all came together.
The Powers That Be was released a decade after The Seven Signs. What’s with the long gap?
Good catch. We dropped The Powers That Be 10 years after The Seven Signs, which came out 10 years after our first single, Kingdom Of Holiness. It’s not like we had any big hurdles with this new album. We just didn’t have any plans for Mercy. This album only happened because Isaque of Krig and Sabbatariam kept pushing us to do something new. So who knows, maybe you can expect something from Mercy again in 2033 [laughs].
How is the new album different from The Seven Signs? And how did your sound evolve?
Back when we were working on The Seven Signs, we had a lot of free time. Now we’re all juggling more responsibilities. You’ll notice that this album doesn’t have as many keyboard parts as the previous one. We just didn’t have the time or patience to mess around with midi. Also, our musical tastes have broadened since then. I used to only listen to Antestor, Vaakevandring and Extol. Now we’re into a whole bunch of stuff, not just Black Metal, but even outside of Metal or Rock.
The new sound of Mercy is influenced by a variety of bands like Meshuggah, Vola, Breakdown Of Sanity, and even Veni Domini, an amazing band that I listened to a lot while writing this album. We’ve also been influenced by Nordic folklore bands like Valravn, Wardruna, Heilung, Gåte, and many others. So I’d say The Powers That Be is more eclectic than The Seven Signs. It’s more about what we wanted to create rather than trying to imitate something else.
Musical identity can be a challenge for extreme projects and bands. For Mercy, do you feel like you already have it? Or is there still more to do to solidify your sound? Or are you not worried about that?
We don’t really stress about it. Mercy is… Want to read the whole interview? Check out the latest issue of Extreme Brutal Death Magazine for this and much more! Order your Extreme Brutal Death Magazine at UNVERGAENGLICH-UNDERGROUND.COM
