During death metal's '90s heyday, Frenchmen Mercyless were one of only a handful of the country's bands to gain recognition outside their own borders. Though their brutal debut long-player Abject Offerings appeared as a cassette-only release from Century Media in 1992, Mercyless had been issuing demos since 1988. After establishing their reputation for no-nonsense volume and mayhem concerts on the European metal scene, they released Coloured Funeral in 1993. The set was chock-full of jagged time signatures, angular distorted riffs, thunderous double kick drums, and spiky, often-melodic guitar breaks that owed as much to the NWOBHM as they did Megadeth and Slayer. After releasing two more long-players that decade, C.O.L.D. and Sure to Be Pure, they essentially vanished after a 2001 tour as various members had lost interest in death metal and founded the more experimental indie outfit Day Off Sin. A decade later, the band re-formed with a new lineup and issued a retrospective collection of early demos entitled In Memory of Agrazabeth, followed by a new studio offering, Unholy Black Splendor, in 2013. After reestablishing themselves in Europe as an incendiary live band, they issued the studio album Pathetic Divinity on Kaotoxin Records in 2016. Founded as far back as 1987 in France's eastern Alsace region, Mercyless began recording home demo tapes in 1987, and soon established a reputation for lyrics steeped in graphic horror and anti-Christian sentiments, perhaps best exemplified by their 1990 demo EP Nauseating Vomit. Come 1992, the quartet of vocalist/guitarist Max Otero, guitarist Stephane Viard, bassist Rade Radojcic, and drummer Gerald Guenzi had been signed by the Vinyl Solutions label and unleashed its debut long-player, Abject Offerings, which drew decent reviews and many comparisons to contemporary albums by Holland's Pestilence (pre-prog-death wackiness) and Germany's Morgoth. The following year's Coloured Funeral was released by Century Media and fared even better by greatly improving upon this self-same formula with better musicianship and increasingly varied songwriting tricks, but Mercyless were coming to a creative crossroads that would sideline them for several years to come as they tinkered further with their sound. By the time the group finally returned with third album Cold in 1996, after replacing their original rhythm section with bassist Pierre Lopez, drummer David Kempf, and a keyboardist (who may or may not have been a machine) named Tom Smith, Mercyless' sound had lost most of its familiar death metal hallmarks and taken a concerted aesthetic turn toward the progressive. Clearly, the musicians in Mercyless had had their minds blown by the speedy stylistic progression undertaken by of the aforementioned Pestilence, as well as off-the-wall American acts like Cynic and Atheist, and attempted to evolve their music as well, whatever the cost, but the mixed results and outright rejection by 99 percent of their fan base proved daunting to overcome. Mercyless would persevere despite the bad reception. They released 2001's Sure to Be Pure, to reflect some members' growing disenchantment with death metal. Proving too much of a musical divide to bridge, they split. In 2011, a double-disc compilation of early demos entitled Memory of Agrazabeth was issued by independent label Armée de la Mort Records. A new lineup led by Otero with Gautier Merklen on guitar, his brother Mattheiu on bass, and drummer Laurent Michalak, began writing and rehearsing. They played small shows for a couple of years while developing their evolved new sound. An official bootleg, Visions from the Past Live 1989 emerged in 2012 from the Ritual Productions to an enthusiastic French reception. They followed it with the Spain-only studio outing Siempre Fuertes a year later. In 2016, after resuming their place on European metal festival stages, they released the studio long-player Pathetic Divinity for Kaotoxin Records. Featuring lead guitar guest spots from Demisery's Gord Olson, their founding lead guitarist Stéphane Viard, and Angher axeman Jérôme Point-Canovas, the set received better reviews than anything they'd released since Coloured Funeral 23 years earlier. Intense touring activity was appended by the steady release of singles, splits, and live compilations over the next three years including the Eucharistic Adoration EP. In 2020, Mercyless re-emerged as a bassless trio with Otero and Gautier Merklen on guitars, and Michalak on drums. The band again enlisted guest participation from Viard on lead guitar, as well as Catacomb's Anthony Derycke and Agressor's Michel Dumas. Preceded by the single "Lacqueum Diaboli," the full-length The Mother of All Plagues was released by XenoKorp in August of 2020. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia