Merciless is a Swedish

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

band.

History

The band was formed during the summer of 1986 in

Strängnäs Strängnäs is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Strängnäs Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 15,363 inhabitants in 2020. It is located by Lake Mälaren and is the episcopal see of the Diocese of Strängnäs, one of t ...

, Sweden by Erik Wallin (guitar), Fredrik Karlén (bass guitar) and Stefan Carlsson (drums). They were inspired by the early fast-playing bands such as

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, Sodom,

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and Bathory. First they did some local gigs as "Obsessed" and "Black Mass" but changed their name to Merciless in early 1987. A demo was recorded titled ''Behind the Black Door'', which led to the replacement of Kåle by Rogga in early 1988. With this line-up they recorded a second demo ''Realm of the Dark'' in June 1988. This demo drew the attention of

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- the label of

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. That label released their debut album ''The Awakening'' in March 1990. Their second album ''The Treasures Within'' was recorded in June and July 1991 but it was not released until a year later due to the mismanagement of their new label

Active Records Active Records was a record sublabel of RCA Records founded in 1980. The label focused mainly on heavy metal music. The label was dissolved in 1994. Bands * Anacrusis * Atheist * Budgie * Candlemass * Merciless * Destiny * Therion See also ...

. This delay cause the departure of drummer Stipen who was replaced by Peter Stjärnvind in February 1992. In September 1993, after Scandinavian tour, they recorded their third album with

Dan Swanö Dan-Erland Swanö (born 10 March 1973), also known as Dan "The Man" Swanö, is a Swedish musician and record producer who is currently the vocalist, guitarist, ex-bassist and ex-drummer for the band Nightingale, lately vocalist, keyboardist and ...

at the Unisound studios and was released by

No Fashion Records No Fashion Records was a Swedish record label (a sublabel of MNW Music) which focused on extreme metal. It was located in Stockholm and was active from 1992 to 2004. It was founded by the Swedish zine editor Tomas Nyqvist. Bands *A Canorous Quint ...

. In 1994, the band broke up because of disillusionment with record labels, but got back together in 1995 to record the song "Crionics" for the Slayer tribute album, ''Slatanic Slaughter''. In 1999, their debut album was re-issued by

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, which eventually led to the reinstallment of the band. In May 2002, they entered the studio to record the successor to their 1994 album, simply named ''Merciless''.

Discography

* ''Behind the Black Door'' (demo, 1987) * ''Realm of the Dark'' (demo, 1988) * ''The Awakening'' (1990) * ''The Treasures Within'' (1992) * ''Unbound'' (1994) * ''Merciless'' (2003)

Members

Current members

* Roger "Rogga" Pettersson – vocals (1988–present) * Erik Wallin – guitars (1986–present) * Peter Stjärnvind – drums (1992–2004), guitars (2016–present) * Stefan "Stipen" Carlsson – drums (1986–1992, 2004–present)

Former members

* Kalle "Kåle" Aurenius – vocals (1986–1988, died 2017) * Fredrik Karlén – bass (1986–2016)

References

Sources

* {{Authority control Swedish death metal musical groups Swedish thrash metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1986 1986 establishments in Sweden