Review by Jason Guest
Nottingham’s Merciless Terror have been churning out their crushing death/thrash hybrid since 2009. With a demo, a single, and two EPs of such might behind them, after a few line-up changes – vocalist Dale Lindsell being the only remaining original member – the band have deemed the time right to inflict upon the world their début full length, the charmingly entitled Vile Extinction. And yes, it is as damaging as that title suggests.
After the requisite intro of ‘Omicide 00.00’ bestowing upon us the usual rising of ominous sounds, deep guitar chords, and the flourish of drums and cymbals, the album begins proper. A harsh cymbal-grab and the brutal assault begins with ‘Doctrine of Malevolence’, a ferocious and unforgiving track that lets up not once. ‘Circle of Contempt’ and ‘Enraptured’ are of the same intensity, their structures bringing to the fore the band’s penchant for dynamic depth and textural intensity. ‘Baptized in Blood’ brings the mandatory slow mid-section that such albums – and bands for that matter – thrive on, the lead work adding an interesting dimension to the demonic groove. So far, Merciless Terror have made it abundantly clear that they mean business, their denunciation of “wars over religion, over-harvesting, over-spawning like a cancerous infection upon the Earth and depleting the world’s life force” are as bruising as they are blunt. And so it continues for the remainder of the album, track after track of unremitting mayhem and violence, all of incredibly high quality.
Save for the melodic instrumental ‘Dystopic Visions’ – a track that stands out more for the musicianship on display than the fact that it’s a slow, melodic track – there’s little room to breathe across the album’s vitriolic thirty-five minutes. In terms of musicianship, the band is a beast. There a few hints of their influences – Slayer, Malevolent Creation, early Sepultura, Bolt Thrower – noticeable in their sound but they tend to serve rather than lead the charge. Despite their many line-up changes, Merciless Terror sound like a band that have been living in each other’s sweat-drenched pockets for a long time, the collective musicianship of the band coming to the fore at every instance. And with ten tracks of concentrated hatred with not a filler nor a fancy trimming in sight at its behest, Vile Extinction is an intense début that’ll have you pissing blood and coughing up shit as it tears in to your flesh and rips you to bits.
8 out of 10
Track listing:
- Omicide 00.00
- Doctrine Of Malevolence
- Circle Of Contempt
- Enraptured
- Baptized In Blood
- Hateful Abomination
- Process Of Eradication
- World Desolation
- Imminent Death
- Dystopic Visions
- Existence Denied
