Merciless is a Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 death

Death metal

Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....

/thrash metal

Thrash metal

Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...

 band. The band was formed during the summer of 1986 in Strängnäs

Strängnäs

Strängnäs is a locality and the seat of Strängnäs Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 12,296 inhabitants in 2005. It is located by Lake Mälaren and is the episcopal see of the Diocese of Strängnäs, a former Roman Catholic and present Lutheran Diocese, with the Strängnäs Cathedral, built...

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

Kreator

Kreator is a thrash metal band from Essen, Germany, formed in 1978, but formalized in 1982 under the name Tormentor. They originally performed a speed metal style with Venom influences. Their style of music is similar to their compatriots Destruction and Sodom, the other two big German thrash metal...

, Sodom

Sodom (band)

Sodom is a German Thrash metal trio from Gelsenkirchen, formed in 1981.Along with the bands Kreator and Destruction, Sodom is considered one of the "big three" of Teutonic thrash metal...

, Destruction

Destruction (band)

Destruction is a German thrash metal band. They are considered one of the "three kings" of the Teutonic thrash metal scene, the others being Kreator and Sodom...

 and Bathory

Bathory (band)

Bathory was a Swedish heavy metal band, formed by Quorthon in 1983. They are regarded as pioneers of both black metal and viking metal. Quorthon remained the main songwriter and member of Bathory for more than two decades. Bathory was permanently ended after Quorthon's death in 2004...

. 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 Deathlike Silence Productions

Deathlike Silence Productions

Deathlike Silence Productions was an Oslo, Norway based independent record label founded in the late 1980s that focused primarily on black metal. It was the first independent label to do so. The label was founded by Øystein Aarseth, also known as Euronymous, who operated the label until his murder...

 - the label of Euronymous. 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. 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 Swanö

Dan-Erland Swanö is a Swedish musician who is currently the vocalist, guitarist, ex-bassist and ex-drummer for the band Nightingale as well as the Owner of Unisound but he achieved fame as the vocalist and songwriter of progressive death metal band Edge of Sanity.As a multi-instrumentalist he is...

 at the Unisound studios and was released by No Fashion Records. In 1994 the band broke up because of disillusionment with record labels, but got back together in 1995 to record the song "Cryonics" for the Slayer tribute album. In 1999 their debut album was re-issued by Osmose Productions

Osmose Productions

Osmose Productions is a French independent record label created in 1991 by Hervé Herbaut, after he had spent three years running a small mail order company...

, 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
  The Awakening (Merciless album)
  The Awakening is the debut album by the Swedish death metal band Merciless. The original album was recorded in Summer 1989 but released by Deathlike Silence Productions in February 1990. The original press was limited to 1000 CDs and LPs. It was later re-issued in 1999 by Osmose Productions with a...
  
  (1990)
• The Treasures Within
  The Treasures Within
  The Treasures Within is the second album by Swedish death/thrash metal band Merciless. It was released in 1992 and re-released in 2003.-Track listing:# "Branded by Sunlight" # "Mind Possession" # "Darkened Clouds"...
  
  (1992)
• Unbound (1994)
• Merciless
  Merciless (Merciless album)
  Merciless is the fourth album of the Swedish death metal band Merciless. It was released in 2003 after they re-united.-Track listing:# "Cleansed By Fire" – 3:13# "Violent Obsession" – 4:41# "Cold Eyes Of Grey" – 3:08# "Human Waste" – 3:13...
  
  (2003)

Members

• Roger "Rogga" Pettersson - Vocals (1988-)
• Erik Wallin - Guitars (1986-)
• Fredrik Karlén - Bass (1986)
• Stefan "Stipen" Carlsson - Drums (1986–1992, 2004-)