J-Man Featuring members of Celtic Frost, Satyricon, Extol, Shotgun Messiah, Marilyn Manson, and many more is Doctor Midnight & The Mercy Cult - a new supergroup hailing from Norway. I Declare: Treason is their debut effort, and angst-ridden, punked-out, and thrashy heavy metal is the name of the game here. Doctor Midnight & The Mercy Cult's entrance into the scene is far from terrible, but it's a fairly mediocre experience when all is said and done. The uninspired songwriting just isn't that memorable, and the multiple production-related issues set things back even further. I Declare: Treason may be worth a passive listen for the curious reader, but it's hardly a recommended purchase.

Doctor Midnight & The Mercy Cult offers a pretty eclectic style of modern metal. Lots of nods in the direction of traditional metal, thrash metal, goth rock, and alternative metal are found throughout I Declare: Treason, as well as a strong punk influence (especially in the vocals). While the style that Doctor Midnight & The Mercy Cult offers is mildly interesting, the songwriting is very formulaic and unmemorable. The linear compositions are problematic enough as it is, but the fact that there are hardly any memorable choruses or anything of that nature makes this a rather puzzling experience. Hank von Helvete's raw vocal delivery also does little to impress me, and the way the whole album is produced (especially his vocals) is a fairly big issue. I appreciate the raw, punk-styled simplicity of the sound, but it comes across more as an inferior gimmick than a beneficial aspect of the music.

Though most folks probably have high anticipations for I Declare: Treason, I've been really underwhelmed by this mediocre effort. The middle school-level lyrics parred with formulaic songwriting and muddy production values really leaves a lukewarm taste in my mouth. Doctor Midnight & The Mercy Cult may have potential, but it's hardly shown on this weak debut. 2 stars are the most I can give here. This is only worth a shot if you're extremely curious what this new supergroup has to offer.

Time Signature I declare: metal...

Genre: metal

The newly formed Norwegian super group Doctor Midnight & the Mercy Cult (which I think is a friggin' awesome name) are just about to release their debut album with the title "I Declare: Treason", which is scheduled for release in early June. And, people, you have something to look forward too.

This album reflects that it is a super group with musicians from different rock, metal, and even electronica genres in that it is characterized by professionalism and determination all the way through and then it is very difficult to classify in terms of genre membership as it has influences from all over the metal gamut.

This does not mean that "I Declare: Treason" is a messy and unfocused affair; there is a red thread throughout and the style is quite consistent as is the dark atmosphere. One of the things I like is that DMTMC manage to be both retro and contemporary at the same time, and then they incorporate elements from many genres into each track.

Just check a track like "Sign My Name" with its power-thrashy chucking verse riff which is combine with a classic metal driving chorus (with guitar harmonies to boot) and a heavy and kind of groovy bridge. And the title track "I Declare: Treason" is centred around series of groovy riffs, while the chorus is rather melodic and has a 90s alternative metal feel to it riffwise. Other tracks like "Bleed Idiot Bleed" and "Victorious" are almost thrashy, and other tracks again, like "Ok (We're Just About to Die" and "Glory (Throw the Axe)" have a doomy feel to them but combined with an almost grunge-like alternative metal approach. Thus there are groovy, doomy, classic, thrashy, deathy, alternative and so on riffs to be heard in most of the tracks on this very strong debut album.

The vocals have a certain volatility to them, but there is also a sort of raw street rock 'n' roll snarling quality to Hank von Helvete's voice (what a brilliant pseudonym, by the way) which, once you've gotten used to it, fits the music itself very well, which - due to the unpolished quality of the production - has a racking rawness to it.

"I Declare: Treason" is a very solid debut and delivers dark rocking metal bound to kick your ass.