Have Mercy (metal band)

Have Mercy
General information
origin	Baltimore , Maryland , United States
Genre (s)	Power Metal (initially), Speed ​​Metal , Thrash Metal
founding	1983
resolution	1988
Last occupation
Electric bass . later also singing	Rob Michael
Electric guitar	Tom Maxwell
Drums	John Grden († 2015)
Electric guitar	Dave Brenner
former members
Drums	John "The Nort" Knoerlein
Electric guitar	Mike Guilta
Electric guitar	Nick Ellingson
singing	John Gontrum
singing	Sean Zellers
singing	Lee Dayton
Electric guitar	John Brenner
singing	Lonnie Fletcher
Electric guitar	John King
singing	Al Carr

Have Mercy was an American speed and thrash metal band from Baltimore , Maryland that was formed in 1983 and disbanded in 1988.

history

The founding of the band began in late 1983 with a local newspaper ad by drummer John Knoerlein and guitarist Mike Guilta, who were looking for a bass player. Thereupon Rob Michael contacted the two, whereby the band expanded to a trio. Shortly afterwards, however, Guilta left the group. Two guitarists, Tom Maxwell and Nick Ellingson, were brought into the band for him. In addition, John Gontrum came as a singer. After only two appearances, however, he was replaced by Sean Zellers. With this line-up, a first demo entitled Pleading for Mercy was recorded in mid-1984 , before Zellers also left the formation after three appearances. The musicians then decided not to publish the demo and instead re-record it with Lee Dayton as the singer. Dayton stayed in the group for four concerts, then Lonnie Fletcher took his position. In March 1985 Ellingson got out, whereupon John Brenner replaced him. The second demo Mass Destruction was recorded with this line-up in mid-1985 . Metal Blade Records became aware of the group and released the song The Omen on the sampler Metal Massacre VII . Guitarist Brenner left the band in November, after which Ellingson returned and the band signed a record deal with Combat Records . The label originally planned to re-release Mass Destruction as an EP , but the band decided to record completely new material, whereupon the EP Armageddon Descends was released in April 1986 as part of the Boot Camp series by Combat Records. Shortly after the release, the drummer Knoerlein decided to leave, so that in August, a new drummer was hired in John Grden. Towards the end of the year, Ellingson announced his departure again, whereupon Dave Brenner, who like Grden also worked for Blitzkrieg, was added. In 1987 Maxwell decided to leave the band for a longer period of time. While driving to a gig in New York , the band also had an accident with their van, which injured the members. Rob Michael in particular injured his neck badly, causing him to be out for a long time. When the members recovered, Fletcher had left the band, whereupon Rob Michael took over the vocals. With John King as guitarist, the band continued their live activity as a trio. A new demo was recorded with former member Nick Ellingson as producer. Combat Records, however, refused to extend the contract. Maxwell returned to the band towards the end of the year. In 1988 the singer Al Carr joined the quartet consisting of Michael, Maxwell, Brenner and Grden. After only one appearance, in April as opening act for Whiplash , Carr got out again. The demo Morbid Reality , which had since been recorded, was then re-recorded with Michael as the singer. However, since no label showed interest despite the demo, the band broke up. In 1999 Century Media released the Boot Camp series as a compilation , which also includes Have Mercy's contribution. 2004 appeared on Stormbringer Productions with The Years of Mery a compilation of all four demos. John Grden died on June 4, 2015. During their career, the band has also toured the east coast of the United States with Agent Steel .

style

Allmusic's Eduardo Rivadavia described Have Mercy as an early thrash metal band. In the newcomer section of the Metal Hammer it was found that mass destruction “ranges from absolute speed passages to clumsy parts”. In his review of Armageddon Descends , Uwe Lerch from Rock Hard stated that you can hear medium-paced US speed metal, which is characterized by singing in the style of King Diamond . thethrashmetalguide.com noted that the EP is one of the earliest US works of technically sophisticated Thrash Metal. The music is intense, but not too fast, and the vocals are high and come close to that of Agent Steel's John Cyriis. Overall, the EP can be compared musically with the Agent Steel album Unstoppable Force or the band Ulysses Siren. The influence of the EP is later not only on Agent Steel's Unstoppable Force , but also on Nosferatu by Helstar , Lost by Berzerker , Burn to My Touch by Liege Lord , Twisted into Form by Forbidden and Wargasms Why Play Around? audible. The first demo offers a mixture of power and speed metal in the style of Jag Panzer and the debut album by Nasty Savage . Mass Destruction is a similar mixture of power and speed metal, with more expressive and emotional vocals that often reach higher realms. Occasionally, similarities to early Fates Warning or Manilla Road can be heard. Morbid Reality is more aggressive than the previous material and offers technically demanding Thrash Metal with similarities to Toxik and Coroner .

Discography

• 1984: Pleading for Mercy (demo, self-published)
• 1985: Mass Destruction (demo, self-published)
• 1985: Have Mercy Live Recordings (VHS, self-published)
• 1986: Armageddon Descends (EP, Combat Records )
• 1987: Combat Boot Camp (split with Napalm and Powermad , Combat Records)
• 1987: Demo 1987 (demo, self-publication)
• 1988: Morbid Reality (demo, self-published)
• 2004: The Years of Mercy (compilation, Stormbringer Productions )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Newcomer International . In: Metal Hammer . April 1986, p. 42 .
2. ↑ Biography. musicmight.com, archived from the original on March 14, 2016 ; accessed on October 29, 2017 . 
3. ↑ Have Mercy - The Years Of Mercy. Discogs , accessed October 29, 2017 . 
4. ↑ John M. Grden. legacy.com, accessed October 29, 2017 . 
5. ↑ Eduardo Rivadavia: Have Mercy. Allmusic , accessed October 30, 2017 . 
6. ↑ Uwe Lerch: Have Mercy . Armageddon Descends. In: Rock Hard . No. 21 .