There are many stories about Merciless, a very early Swedish death thrash metal band, the roots go back to 1986. The inspiration to the music, comes from Bathory, Slayer, Metallica, Celtic Frost, and many more. And when you hear the demos, you will probably think Kreator, Sodom. The genre did go as Swedish death/thrash metal, other bands in the same genre Mefisto, Obscurity, and Pentagram (pre-Tribulation), Sorcery, Nihilist and Morbid. But Merciless was the first band to get a label, an underground label, Deathlike Silence Productions, owned by Euronymous of Mayhem. Merciless did released , their first album on that label. The Awakening was ready in 1989, but delay's and other problems did the official released set to 1990. 2000 ex was printed, it sold out directly. Deathlike Silence Productions was out of money, and one year later did the second print arrive.

Merciless second full length The Treasures Within should be released by Chicken Brain Records in 1991, but they had financial problems, and did sell all rights to Active Records, that made their second release , delayed by one year. The Treasures Within was released in 1992. Back in 1992 did the drummer, Stefan Carlsson, leave the band, and was replaced with Peter Stjärnvind from Unimated, who did become drummer in both Merciless and Unimated. The next album was Unbound 1994 released on No Fashion Records, and for me ...it has the best sound. Back in 2002 was the reunion album named after the band Merciless, released on Black Lodge Records. During the late 80s and early 90s, Merciless was out on tour a lot. With bands like Sodom, Entombed, Sepultura among many more. And the band did have cult status already after two demos.

Behind the Realm of the Dark is like a compilation album, but with demos, from 2 demo tapes, Behind The Back Door from 1987, and Realm Of The Dark in 1988. The last one did as a demo sell around 2000 ex. Or with Eriks Wallin (guitar) own words: is it true that the Realm Of The Dark demo sold over 2000 copies? “Well, we sold a couple of 100 copies ourselves. But there were different companies which started to repress the demo by themselves. It was good for the band in the long run as our name got spread really well, but we didn’t get one Swedish crown for that. All those companies didn’t even ask us if it was OK.”

What about Behind the Realm of the Dark, then? If you are a dedicated thrash early death metal fan, this is what you want, it's a raw collection. The sound, is of course not perfect. But genuine and really fun to listen to. I would love to have the cover on Slayers "Crionics", as a bonus. But you can find the track on Bandcamp. Merciless is a band, that after all those years, still can surprise you, the tour In Chile, 2018 tells a lot.