"For me, people are almost more important than the music .... Before you make music and give concerts, you need people who understand each other and get along."
Mercyless from Mulhouse, close to the German border, are probably one of the big three of French death metal, which also includes Massacra, who we have long since opposed, and Loudblast, who are still active. These bands made the underground happy with their first demos back in the mid or late 80s, soon followed by their respective debut albums, in the case of Mercyless the still great “Abject Offerings” with its iconic cover artwork by the famous Salvador Dali. After two not-so-great albums in the mid/late 90s and a ten-year hiatus, Mercyless have been back in full force since 2011 to present their ominous death metal. Last year, the band debuted on the legendary Osmose label with their outstanding work “Those who reign below”, which I can only warmly recommend to anyone who likes dark and sophisticated death metal. A good reason to talk to founding member, guitarist and vocalist Max Otero about the latest album, the band's history, French death metal, the value of friendship and the band's home town. But enough preamble, now read for yourself.
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Hello Max, greetings from the Rhineland to Mulhouse! How are you and the band? How do you rate your latest album “Those who reign below” and the reactions from fans and the press now that a few months have passed?
Hi, I'm fine thanks...we were honestly surprised by all the good feedback from fans and the media in general...which is no longer obvious these days with the multitude of releases and bands that occupy the world stage.
What I find interesting is that the latest album is the first on the great Osmose label, which has brought the world so many awesome albums that are now considered classics. Would there have been earlier opportunities for collaboration or interest from the label?
It's a real honor for us to be on this historic label. It was done very simply, we re-released our first album with them and after that, as we no longer had a label, they offered us a deal when we were in the studio. For us, it's great to be able to work with a professional label as we have done in the past.
When I searched for more information and interviews about Mercyless, I immediately noticed that almost all of these interviews cover the entire long history of the band. On the one hand, this shows that Mercyless are a true veteran of the scene, on the other hand it also shows that although many people are familiar with the band's name, there are still a lot of unknowns, unlike with more well-known bands, where interviewers assume a certain level of knowledge and it's often just about the latest album and the latest developments. Now the cardinal question, why did Mercyless with their great albums (apart from two in the late 90s and early 2000s) never become as well known as the band should be in a just world?
Very good question and very complicated to answer because they are often due to parameters that we do not really control. We started very early and released demos and albums that were acclaimed and that put us on the international scene. But maybe the fact of having had to deal with labels that were not very serious at the very beginning, the fact of not having been able to tour as it should have been, two albums that fell off the radar because they were not good and very different and then a 10-year hiatus too ..... all this may have meant that our name has never resonated as it should have, unlike many others who have had opportunities and a fairly easy development over the years ( and often despite album releases that were not great!), not to mention the French culture and scene, which is very backward compared to other countries! But hey that's how it is .... that's life!
If I had to find a counterpart to your first two albums “Abject offerings” and “Colured funeral”, it would be “Hallucinations” and “Todessehnsucht” by the German Atrocity, both musically and especially the obscure, dark mood of the albums, which can hardly be pinned down to concrete circumstances. Unfortunately, this completely disappeared with Atrocity, although I found the first album of the “Okkult” trilogy quite good again. But can you understand the initial comparison?
Oh, that's very surprising - it's the first time that Mercyless is compared with Atrocity. I find their debut more technical and complex than our style; then yes, there is a rather dark and original guideline similar on the first two albums. I personally really like their first album, after that their story let me go a bit, but I can understand that there are similarities in direction between these two bands.
You are a band in which personal relationships and friendships play the main role, right? Or could you also imagine a band with good musicians as a purely functional team?
Oh no, never! For me, people are almost more important than the music .... Before you make music and give concerts, you need people who understand each other and get along. Otherwise it can become very complicated and can make musicians lose all motivation. We are here to have fun and share our passion, life is already complicated enough like that. For us it's a job and money is not our motivation.
Because of the Swedish Merciless, you changed your original same band name by replacing the "i" with the "y". Somewhere I read that a certain Mr. Aarseth urged you by fax to change the name; wasn't there a direct death threat, haha? Even Google suggests “Merciless” at first (well, search engines didn't play a role in the early 90s either...). I don't think the Swedish Merciless are really active anymore, but wouldn't it be a funny idea to play a little tour together? Maybe add the Americans from Merciless Death to the package?
Ah! Indeed we had to change a letter in our name because as you say an excited person almost threatened us with legal action! Frankly it didn't affect us and we never cared about the Swedish Merciless (even if I find their first album very good!). We traced our path and today we are still here and motivated! The Swedish band apparently doesn't exist anymore, so the story is complete!
One more question about Crusher, with whom you released an EP shortly after their reunion in 2015. Is Crusher still around, there was even talk of a new album?
Yes, I know the members of the group well; the vocalist apparently continued the story with other musicians and even sent me a piece of their future new album. But I don't know more and I don't know if this is really concrete for the future! We have to wait & see!
What's your theory on why French death metal has never been that big in terms of popularity, despite all the great bands such as Mercyless, Loudblast, Agressor, Crusher, Loudblast, Massacra, Gurkkhas and also Necrowretch?
That's very difficult to answer... I think that the French groups have focused their careers too much on France and have forgotten about abroad (except maybe Massacra). Then the early groups have styles of music that are not very different from the international scene. Today I think that we have very good bands that have asserted themselves over time and that have real qualities such as Necrowretch, Skelethal, Venefixion, Sépulcre, Sacrifizer or Ritualization.
What are the next plans for Mercyless? What about concerts, maybe a small tour or weekend gigs in Germany?
We are preparing plans for Germany, so we play on March 1st in Munich, on April 12th "Pfälzerhell" festival, and on April 26th the "Still loyal"-festival in Oldenburg. And yes, we are working on a future tour for the end of the year. In any case we try to play as much as possible to present this album to the audience.
If I ever find myself in Mulhouse, which is not far from Freiburg im Breisgau, what should I see as a tourist?
Hum, how can I tell you ? To be honest, I lived in this city for 20 years and today this city has become an open-air ghetto; frankly there is nothing to see, go rather to Colmar or Strasbourg where there are beautiful things; this city, Mulhouse, has always made me want to shout into a microphone! I prefer to go to Freiburg!
As always, the last words belong to my interview partner... Here you can get rid of everything you haven't said yet.
Thank you very much for your support and to all those who have supported us for years; I hope you will like the new album! It has all our hatred and anger in it! Support the underground scene, fanzines, small venues and bands .... Stay evil !!
