In a fit of artistic creativity (or perhaps for simpler non-aesthetic reasons), the title of the album Mercury Falling appears in the first line of the album's opening track, as well as in the last line of the closing song. Maybe it's all forward planning on Sting's part, but the beginning and closing lines create symbolic bookends between which all of the songs snugly fit. The balance is also found on the songs: they are less depressing than Sting's first three solo albums, but at the same time more melancholic than his last release Ten Summoner's Tales. The opening track "The Hounds of Winter" is a dark depressing soundscape, complete with synthesised dog howls. Reflecting the symmetry, the compositions do lighten up later with the country inspired "I Was Brought To My Senses" and "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying". --John Galilee
