Reviews list for Merciless - The Awakening (1990)

This is my first experience with material from this band Merciless, and let me just say, there's nothing disappointing about this album. Merciless is a band from Sweden that combined thrash metal with aggressive influences from death metal and even a bit of black metal. In the late 80s, the band released two demos. They recorded this album The Awakening in 1989, and released it less than a year later in 1990. What's also worth noting is, it's the first album released via Deathlike Silence Productions, operated by late Mayhem guitarist Euronymous. Two years later, he would publish 8 black metal albums within a couple years before his murder by Burzum's Varg Vikernes. Back to this band Merciless, The Awakening is pretty much the last Swedish extreme metal album released in this earlier era before a different one of full-on death metal.

Now I know what you're thinking, "You seriously interrupted the more melodic speed metal part of your Pit test for a deathly thrash album from the 90s thrash metal part? That's quite an odd switch, what's the deal there!?" Yeah, those speed metal albums were quite melodic for Pit releases, one of them doesn't have any rights in the Pit! So I decided to check out the remaining album from the 90s thrash metal part before going any further, and it's a heavy polar opposite. Quite killer despite its mere 27-minute length. Time flies when you have fun listening, so you have to savor in some thorough listening for a full experience worth appreciating.

"Pure Hate" starts things off with what you expect to hear, straight from the top. It's clear that the band was taking the last bit of thrash left in the 80s, and it's worth sharing to the heavier members of Metal Academy. The violent deathly thrash riffing really pleases me. Some might even think of 80s Kreator. And you might even scream along to his vocals, "PURE HATE!!!!" Next track "Souls of the Dead" is full-on deathly thrash. Same with the title track that kinda reminds me of Living Sacrifice's debut from next year.

Next track "Dreadful Fate" pushes the early Kreator-like style further. "Realm of The Dark" does the same, with the intensity I really like and prefer. "Dying World" has interesting original riffing that sounds both inspired and inspiring.

Towards the end, cool melody finally arrives in "Bestial Death". Still the band is focused as ever on the brutal speed. They never go complex or progressive, instead having straight-up violence. If the album cover art doesn't tip you off about that, it's still worth trying for killer tracks like that one. The savage extreme thrash is back once more with "Denied Birth", ending the album as viciously as it began.

All in all, the sound is quite great, including the production. Without ever having to use a professional studio, it sounds so unique and raw. The mix in the instrumentation is done in a way that barely has any flaws at all, giving in a more primitive vibe. The majority of this album is quite memorable, as well as underrated compared to the heavier bands that stretch past my brutality limit. I might not entirely be in the mood for deathly thrash metal, but if I am, I'm up to giving The Awakening an occasional listen. I would certainly recommend it to fans of earlier death/thrash metal for some of this anger and merciless hate!

Favorites: "Pure Hate", "The Awakening", "Realm of the Dark", "Bestial Death"

More death/thrash than all out, standalone thrash metal, Sweden's Merciless managed an initial eight years together before breaking up in 1994.  Although fully reformed in 1999, the best of their output to date is their 1990 offering The Awakening.  It isn't a bad effort by any means but it lacks any real depth to the sound.  The drums come across as a little too tappy or at times completely lost in the mix.  The guitars sound like they are not mastered and the slightly repetitive edge to the riffing doesn't create any real sparks.

Vocally, it is a grim and dank affair in terms of the style employed which actually gives things a slightly blackened edge and it the vocals that stand out more than anything else on the record.  The bass is largely lost unfortunately and I think this might be what gives proceedings that sterile sound overall.  On some levels this works as this particular blend of metal requires this format in order to maintain that lurking and murky presence.  The problem here is that it remains largely unmemorable and instantly forgettable as an album.

Tracks tend to blur into one over the course of the whole album, which is only twenty-six minutes in length so is no real showstopper but it somehow makes it feel like it goes on for longer and the lack of any real sonics or lead work just makes things feel a bit dull overall.  The vocals save it to some degree but the lack of any real traction from the other moving parts makes this a bit hard to stomach for me.