"It's been more than five years since the world was last plagued with the Black Thrash Attack of Aura Noir. "The Merciless" is their third full-length and the first for newly founded label Tyrant Syndicate.
It bears all the trademarks of classic Aura Noir - whipping drums, razorsharp jet-black riffs and the frightening vocal delivery of not one but two snarling hounds of armageddon - former members and multi-instrumentalists Aggressor and Apollyon. Completing the infernal trio is Blasphemer of Mayhem fame.
"The Merciless" is one of those albums that becomes more than "just another album" - once you've let it invade your deck you'll have a hard time letting it go. Metal never sounded quite so vicious, not even in 1985. The riffs are of the kind Sodom and Dark Angel could have written back then, had they actually given up their souls to the devil. You bet they wish they had... "