After 3 consecutive demos released in the middle of 90's, MERCENARY finally launched their first album entitled "First Breath" in 1998. The first breath of these guys is a very brutal one, unleashing some crushing melodic death metal with thrash influences. Their sound in 1998 was really raw and lacking the usual features of the later MERCENARY which featured more the keyboards and clean vocals. The musicianship on "First Breath" is combination of brutal vocals and strong guitar melodies implemented with killer riffs and straight, tight drums, while the vocals here are very energetic and raspy. Female vocals were used in "Horizons" and "Sister Jane" in which they add a nice soft touch to this album.
01 Symbiotic 02 World Wide Weep 03 Horizon 04 Master Game 05 Perceptive 06 Graveart 07 Next To Nothing 08 Demon8 09 Watching Me 10 Alternative Ways 11 Sister Jane