Merciless Law - The Holy Company

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The album cover for Merciless Laws The Holy Company, might look like they stole it directly from Ghost, but the music is quite different from Ghost’s well-known pop/Metal stylings. This music is more like 1980’s Power/Prog. Pancho Ireland’s solo efforts with Merciless Law sounds a lot like early Helloween or Grim Reaper, (at least vocally with his higher range). Ireland is also accomplished in the area of guitar playing, (as evidenced with his solo on The Undying Fire). The pre-programmed drums however are a bit of a disappointment as they lend a disassociated mechanical feel to the numbers.

The lyrics are semi-clean. Mostly understandable, but not really memorable. At no time did I get swept into any songs or stories (which felt just sort of ordinary most of the time). Merciless Law (the song), for example had nice solo work around the 3:00 minute mark, which I definitely enjoyed, but then there was that electro-drum thing and immediately I’m distracted. Add in some okay, but not great, lyrics and by this albums fourth number, I was struggling to maintain any real excitement. The Holy Company’s best tracks are their title track, The Holy Company with its message of not trusting the church, and Soul Eater with its layering guitar solos that pull up thoughts of Iron Maiden or Judas Priests dual guitar attack.

Overall, it’s always difficult for a one man operation to really get everything right. The plus, to being a solo (do it all yourself) artist is that ultimately it is Pancho’s vision and therefore as a solo artist he can make it sound exactly like he wants it to, but I think music, and albums, benefit from the aspects of discussion and debate. Merciless Law answers to only one judge, jury, and executioner and that is Pancho Ireland. It is not a bad effort, but I think with a couple more cooks, the soup would ultimately end up tasting a little better.

Songwriting: 5
Musicianship: 7
Memorability: 5
Production: 5