CoC : Merciless - The Awakening : Review

Merciless - _The Awakening_
(Osmose, 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz (7.5 out of 10)

The praise I have heard bestowed upon this slab of violent thrash probably led me to expect too much out of it. I expected a vaguely original and crushingly crisply written late-eighties death/thrash assault, but what I got was a somewhat painfully Kreator-esque collection of fast thrash songs which, though well-written, are nothing special. Riffs, rhythms and vocals remind one instantly and strongly of Kreator while the pessimism of lyrical passages like "Don't wait for tomorrow / 'cause there is none" indicate clearly the period this was made in. To be fair, _The Awakening_, though far from being essential or classic, is a pretty fast, heavy and well-written late-eighties thrash record with decent lyrics, and worth checking out if you're looking for something to keep your _Extreme Aggression_ and _Beneath the Remains_ discs company.

(article published 12/8/1999)