With the end to this year looking promisingly French with releases from Deathspell Omega and Antaeus placed tantalisingly in its back pocket, it seems timely for some old masters like Mercyless to pave the way with a slab of their own brand of brutality. After getting right back on track with 2013’s Unholy Black Splendor it’s fair to say no apology is any longer needed for the band’s mid-career, Durst-infected nu-metal. C.O.L.D. and Sure To Be Pure likely stay within the hearts of dedicated fans but, as with much of the material produced under that collective spasm, time has weighed heavily upon them. (Although, while the curse of ‘nu’ fades, take a second to ponder at the psychological scarring inflicted by one 35 year-old lady from London who has sent elements of the rap community into a spiral with a few fleeting appearances on prime time television…!). Anyway, Jesus, where was I?? Ah, yes, Alsace, France: so this is Mercyless – French death metal, very old school and in the style of Obituary or Asphyx – and maybe the occasional bit of Vader thrown in – please step forward.
French label Kaotoxin seems to be pumping out quite a few decent releases this year – including the impressive debut by Mithridatic (as deftly reviewed last month by Ave Noctum’s Gizmo elsewhere on the site) and this is no exception. Mercyless returned to the scene with a credible crunch in 2013 and have now delivered a follow up to that with Pathetic Divinity, their first with Kaotoxin, which sees the band sounding better than ever. Production this time round is more crisp with every phlegm-filled rasp from vocalist Max Otero and twang of a bass string clearly audible. But it hasn’t lessened the dirty sound as it kicks off with a mid-paced headbanger to seize this 34-minute double-barrelled screaming critique of organised religion firmly by its horns. The pace picks up to demonstrate the band’s control of their craft at speed but it really isn’t all about shifting gears with Mercyless. Tracks like the bludgeoning My Name Is Legion sit back-to-back with full-steam-ahead neckbreaker Exhort The Heretic which had an almost Southern Hemisphere blackened darkness about it.
But then other tracks like Christianist are simply out and out old school death metal. It’s all delivered in rapid-fire succession with each track rammed up against the next with no pause for breath – unless you count a the odd deceleration just to allow those clipped guitar solos to squeal to centre stage and back again. Pathetic Divinity is relentless but never falls back on driving heaviness for its own sake. The tracks bleed into each other but each instantly provides its own take on the newly matured Mercyless sound while Otero’s vocals (a man who first joined the band back in 1987 and its only surviving founder member) are superbly strong and versatile. This is an old school pleasure that’s over before you know it – and is arguably the best thing the band has produced in its long and often interrupted career.
(8/10 Reverend Darkstanley)
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