To truly grasp the historical essence of the Swedish underground, one must look past the polished legacies of the major labels and return to the freezing, subterranean winter of 1988. Before the “Stockholm Sound” became a blueprint, there was Merciless. While their later works are monumental, it is the “Realm Of The Dark” demo that captures the band in its most feral, unadulterated state, almost like a black witching blitz of steel that was forged in the small town of Strängnäs by a group of teenagers who were barely 15 and 16 years old.
The roots of Merciless reach back to 1985/86, emerging from the ashes of early projects like Obsessed and Black Mass. Influenced heavily by the treble overdosed speed of earliest American and European masters, as if some merciless death style consommé of Dark Angel und Sadus meets Destruction, Erik Wallin and Fredrik Karlén set out to create something that bridged the gap between Thrashing Speed Metal and the burgeoning Death Metal scene. After the one day recording session of their first demo with all live takes of four tracks, and other vocal drums mixing in mere eight hours (recorded in June ’87 at Studio Svängrum), the roughest feral sounding ‘Behind the Black Door’ demo was delivered and created immense stirs around. By the time they returned to the studio in June 1988 to record their next demo ‘Realm Of The Dark’, they evidently found their definitive venomous strike with the arrival of vocalist Roger “Rogga” Pettersson and band’s mastery had visibly grown.
With those changes, they were no longer just making local noise; it was history in the shaping and crafting, and subsequently regarded as one of the best demos which has ever recorded in Sweden, both in the genre and the forthcoming eruption of Extreme Metal. It certainly also talks about the depth of Swedish underground at that phase; when Merciless, Nihilist and Morbid, all were making their comparable best of demos, while sounding totally different to each other. Is it, ‘December Moon’ or ‘Premature Autopsy’ or ‘Realm Of The Dark’ the best of demo’s (!?), is surely an everlasting battle of choices and fiery opinions across all enthusiast fans and die hard followers.
From the opening title track, ‘Realm Of The Dark’ the listener is hit by that analog magic where the production provides an alive and dangerous feeling. The strange, ringing bells of the intro give way to a fantastic break when chorus comes in, a proclaiming composing formula that is brassy fast, resolutely simple and instant headbanging provoking, and will be wildly inspire countless bands to follow through in their own ranges and playing styles. Something that is memorable and sticks to your mind, here an evolutionally spectacle surely happened very quietly in the Swedish underground, which only later exposed to it’s details via fanzines and tape trading.
In other instrument section, the bass guitar handled by Fredrik Karlén is notably prominent in the mix, providing a cavernous sludge that anchors the razor sharp riffs. And, in the back fueled by mass with battering of menacing snare drums and crusty cymbal charges. It says the simplest of instruments played with inner passions and fire is always enough for producing legendary materials. Maintaining that traditionalist essence, ‘Souls Of The Dead’ stands as a pinnacle of the demo, featuring grinding-axe verses and a “fatal groove” that would eventually inspire the entire Swedish scene and transcends it’s influence around the recess and underground caverns of possessed musicians and followers like unavoidable fire, around the world. Meanwhile, ‘Nuclear Attack’ remains a testament to their primitive roots, a grim chronicle of war and suffering delivered with an intensity that feels both historical and apocalyptic.
The demo closes with ‘Dreadful Fate’ where the chorus is made of screaming-your-lungs-out along. With also showcasing a more sophisticated, melodic edge this number is one of foundational Death Thrash metal that remains the highlights of the band features numbers in their future gigs. Just to dive into the past, in any live gigs, when the slow part before the chorus was coming in, all the maniacs present were ready to scream their guts out, as vocalist Kåle did throughout the tracks (R.I.P, 2007; Kalle Kåle Aurenius, was collapsed during hunting in a forest and passed due to heart attacks). Surely those been in their lives, must have always been reminisce that wild crazy feeling and remain sticked and etched to their memory forever.
Though affected by the legendary artwork and the always attention grabber great logos, metalheads attended visually like many zombies like Vikings wearing helmets in their whites, patch filled jackets, torn denims and showy Keds; yet the song writing quality of this demo firmly recognized that these young Swedish death dealers were more than just a gimmick.
The visual side of Merciless was just as striking as the music. The iconic logo and the dark, atmospheric art, courtesy of Wim Baelus, became synonymous with the era’s underground arts. This was the age of the “underground circus”, as Metalion (of SLAYER mag) famously noted, where rawest and craziest letter writing, tape trading, fan zines and D.I.Y hand drawn distributed flyers were the lifeblood of the scene. And deservedly so, after the release, ‘Realm Of The Dark’ didn’t just sell; it exploded, moving 2,000 copies and catching the attention of Euronymous (Mayhem), who quickly signed them as the first band on his fabled Deathlike Silence Productions.
It was this demo that proved Merciless were poised to be the definite torchbearers of the Teutonic legacy, carrying a flame that remains unstained, unbroken, and forever shrouded in northern darkness. Like a triumphant strike straight to the heart of extreme metal, it captures the transition from Thrash to Death Metal at the exact moment (as captured in their following up debut full-length ‘The Awakening’ in 1990), and spread the sound and its undying legacy to so many bands to follow and evolve towards more insanity filled extremity worldwide.
For anyone who revere past and craves that hyper-adrenaline-rushing like maddening razor-sharp German precision style of playing mixed with irreplaceable and forebodingly yet grasping Scandinavian coldness, ‘Realm Of The Dark’ is always a comeback point to satisfy that thirst.
So, listen and forever reminisce the truth, it’s not just a demo, it’s pressed in history and being a genre evolving undertaking to value forever.
