Mulhouse, France
Death Metal
Page online:
June 11, 2003
Last update/review:
September 23, 2020
Mercyless
By several accounts, Mercyless was a decent if typical death metal
band in the early nineties, as heard on their early albums
Abject Offerings
and
Coloured Funeral , the former even thought of as a lost classic by
some.
The album reviewed here, though, is their third effort, 1996's
Cold , and what we have here is clearly a band in transition.
Band leader Max Otero still sings in the death style, but that
and the occasional guitar riff are really the only components of
death metal here.
Instead, the band opts for mid-paced, harsh riffing, augmented by
some spacey/electronic keyboard effects.
The result is a fairly original and interesting album, though it
may not appeal to fans of the more traditional death metal fare
that these guys used to play.
Kudos to the band for playing what they want, since
Cold clearly
isn't directed at any clear market, yet it could appeal to metal
fans of several genres if given the chance.
Apparently they strayed still further from their early roots on
their last album,
Sure To Be Pure , and perhaps because of a less than
stellar response, the band was not heard from again for years.
Fast forward to 2011, the band is back in action and returning to
the brutal style of Abject Offerings .
Recent album: Those Who Reign Below ,
released on October 25, 2024.
Current Members
Max Otero
vocals/guitars
Gautier Merklen
guitars
Yann Tligui
bass
Laurent Michalak
drums
Former Members/Guests
Stephane Viard
guitars
Rade Radojcic
bass
Pierre Lopez
bass
Boris Mandavis
bass
Matthieu Merklen
bass
Tom Smith
keyboards
Gerald Guenzi
drums
David Kempf
drums
Tintin
drums
Discography
Studio
Live
Compilation
Abject Offerings
1992
Vinyl Solution
Nyarlathotep (Intro)
Abject offerings
A message for all those who died
Substance of purity
Flesh divine
Whithout christ
Unformed tumours
Burned at the stake
Selected resurrection
Max Otero
Stephane Viard
Rade Radojcic
Gerald Guenzi
Coloured Funeral
1993
Century Media
Spiral of flowers
Mirrors of melancholy
Travel through a strange emotion
Forgotten fragments
Contemplations
Agrazabeth
Serenades...(into your limbs)
Naked forms
Beyond god
Max Otero
Stephane Viard
Rade Radojcic
Gerald Guenzi
Cold
1996
System Shock
Abortive attempt
If the live in ecstasy
Fluids
Dorian
Neutral
A nice day to survive
Ap4np
Personality on relief
Servant
Still life
Max Otero
Stephane Viard
Pierre Lopez
Tom Smith
David Kempf
Sure To Be Pure
2000
System Shock
Sure to be pure
La boca amarga
Access to silence
Don`t want to see
Simulation inerta
Obedience
A pleasant moment whit a vermin
Jail of flesh
Max Otero
Stephane Viard
Pierre Lopez
Tom Smith
Tintin
In Memory Of Agrazabeth
COMPILATION
2011
Visions From The Past 1989 - Official Bootleg
LIVE
2012
At The Coming Of Dawn (intro)
I Vomit This World
Unholy Black Splendor
God Is Dreaming
Goat Of Mendes
Infamy
Probably Impure
Absent Belief
Bless Me Father
Max Otero
Stephane Viard
Boris Mandavis
Gerald Guenzi
Unholy Black Splendor
2013
Perfect Mind
Psychiatric Internment (No Theory) / Visions from the Past
Paralysis / Another Desolation
Unholy Chapters
Black Magic
Sudden Death
Ta Gueule
Max Otero
Stephane Viard
Matthieu Merklen
Laurent Michalak
Live Offerings
LIVE
2015
Substance of Purity
Infamy
A Message for All Those Who Died
God Is Dreaming
Without Christ
Abject Offerings
Probably Impure
Spiral of Flowers
Burned at the Stake
I Vomit This World
Max Otero
Stephane Viard
Matthieu Merklen
Laurent Michalak
Pathetic Divinity
2016
Blood of Lambs
Pathetic Divinity
A Representation of Darkness
My Name Is Legion
Exhort the Heretic
Left to Rot
Eucharistic Adoration
Christianist
How Deep Is Your Hate?
Liturgiae
Bless Me Father ["Blast from the Past" split 2015]
Probably Impure ["Blast from the Past" split 2015]
Eucharistic Adoration ["Blast from the Past" split 2015]
Max Otero
Gautier Merklen
Matthieu Merklen
Laurent Michalak
Eucharistic Adoration
EP
2016
Bless Me Father [2015 version]
Probably Impure [2015 version]
Eucharistic Adoration [2015 version]
Live In Memory Of Agrazabeth
LIVE
2017
Without Christ
Contemplations
Serenades... (into Your Limbs)
Naked Forms
Abject Offerings
Mirrors of Melancholy
Selected Resurrection
Travel Through a Strange Emotion
Without Christ
Contemplations
Naked Forms
Abject Offerings
A Message for All Those Who Died
Substance of Purity
Unholy Chapters (The Merciless Years)
COMPILATION
2017
Another Desolation ["Vomiting Nausea" demo 1990]
No Theory ["Vomiting Nausea" demo 1990]
Pits of Silence ["Vomiting Nausea" demo 1990]
Vomiting Nausea ["Vomiting Nausea" demo 1990]
Visions from the Past ["Visions from the Past" demo 1989]
Perfect Mind ["Visions from the Past" demo 1989]
Unholy Chapters ["Visions from the Past" demo 1989]
Paralysis ["Visions from the Past" demo 1989]
Sudden Death ["Immortal Harmonies" demo 1988]
Hades ["Immortal Harmonies" demo 1988]
Intent to Kill ["Immortal Harmonies" demo 1988]
The Last Days of Christianity ["Immortal Harmonies" demo 1988]
Sudden Death ["Rehearsal" 1988]
The Mother Of All Plagues
2020
Infection
Rival of the Nazarene
Banished from Heaven
Bring Me His Head
Contagion
Laqueum Diaboli
Descending to Conquer
Inherit the Kingdom of Horus
The Mother of All Plagues
All Souls Are Mine
Litany of Supplication
Max Otero
Gautier Merklen
Laurent Michalak
Sovereign Evil
EP
2020
Third of the Storms (Hellhammer cover)
In League with Satan (Venom cover)
The Exorcist (Possessed cover)
Go to Hell (Motörhead cover)
Max Otero
Gautier Merklen
Yann Tligui
Laurent Michalak
Those Who Reign Below
2024
Osmose
Extreme Unction
I Am Hell
Evil Shall Come Upon You
Phantoms of Caïn
Thy Resplendent Inferno
Crown of Blasphemy
Prelude to Eternal Darkness
Chaos Requiem
Absurd Theatre
Sanctus Deus Mortis
Zechariah