RSS Feed


MERCILESS DEATH
Taken Beyond

Self-released (2015)
Rating: 5/10

Merciless Death has become a recognisable name in the contemporary thrash metal scene. They created their initial vibes with 2006 debut platter Evil In The Night, which emerged three years after the group formed out of Canyon County, California.

While they seemed to emerge at the “right time” with the second wave of thrash metal very much under way, their rather formulaic sound meant that Evil In The Night sort of meandered along with no identity and became rather boring quickly. Although a sophomore opus in Realm Of Terror emerged in 2008, the band took a hiatus, but have now decided to return.

I’m unsure exactly why Merciless Death took time out – legal issues I heard, or maybe it was just a case of simply recharging the batteries – but original members Andy Torres (vocals / bass) and Dan Holder (guitar / drums) are back once again for another dose of retro thrash. Drummer Gio Loyola completes the current line-up, but doesn’t appear on this album.

We begin with the typical slow-building thrash introduction, which comes via a stark meandering guitar and eerie effects before we’re catapulted into an out-and-out thrash war of cymbal taps and metallic chugs. It’s the sort of riffage you’ve heard a million times before; mid-tempo and at any moment about to explode into a full on raging spit. Oddly – and it’s probably down to the production – the sound is more akin to a demo. Rather tepid in nature, the guitars seem drowned out by the drums and vocals. And believe me, the vocals are something I just can’t sit with. Torres has a gnarly sort of growl; while it makes a change from the usual thrash yelps or quacks (Bio-Cancer, anyone?), there are times when they appear as awkward choppy raps – especially on that opener ‘(Creation) The First Temptation’.

But hey, Merciless Death aren’t the only band to blame for such mediocre moshing, and I guess it’s only natural you’re going to hear Slayer and just about every other known thrash act within the sound of these upstarts. The trouble here is that the novelty where’s off too quick. These bands just don’t seem to have the ability to write truly memorable material that sticks in the head, and so what we get are rather weak thrash outbursts such as ‘Manifestation’, ‘Witches Spell For Death’, ‘The Evil Of The Night’ and ‘Convictions’, which all try their best to harbour menace, but trundle by with no real effect like substandard thrash dreariness. When the band chugs there appears to be a distinct lack of weight, and when it tries hard to fly at speed there’s just no spite, suggesting that Torres and Holder are lacking the heart to be in this thrash game.

Of all the tracks on offer, ‘Oath Of Revenge’ is most infectious, but the chugging is so darn dull that I feel as if I’m slapping on one of those badly produced British thrash albums of the late-80s, although it’s fair to say that upon listening back all of those ridiculed records put this stuff to shame. Elsewhere, we get a half-decent ‘Christian Of Gomorrah’ where the band rushes in predictable albeit frenzied fashion and with passion, and the closing ‘(Prepare The Soul) Taken Beyond’ begins with promise as a dreamy, almost cosmic number before resorting to type, and that’s the problem here.

Merciless Death, amongst countless others, clearly lack the invention to construct more than a handful of songs of note until the sound just collapses into one big formulaic heap. I can understand just how hard it must be for bands trying to pay homage to the past, but only once in a blue moon do modern bands seem to be able to build something of worth, and in the cascade of Merciless Death it’s a case of once again employing a tried and tested formula but boring me rigid with the results. They’ve had the Ed Repka artwork and they’ve had the sound, but Merciless Death just cannot take me beyond the realms of the mediocre.

Neil Arnold

<< Back to Album & EP Reviews



Related Posts via Categories
Share