Band: Merciless
From: Hudson Valley, New York
Their formation story:
(Brian Beanland, guitars): "At its core, Merciless is a spinoff group of our old band, Stifled. While we’ve all played in various Hudson Valley projects over the years, the last Stifled shows are how we got this lineup, and the idea of how we wanted to sound together.
"Back around February 2024, a friend of ours (Jeremy) filled in as the vocalist for a few Stifled gigs. We hit it off and really wanted to start a new project moving forward where Ben could switch to playing guitar and contribute to more of the writing, while our friend Chris would join on bass. Jeremy has a really distinct style which we felt paired better with heavier music, and our ode to '90s-style hardcore that was Stifled was not heavy enough for."
Their style in their own words:
"When we were starting writing for this band, Simulakra, Cross of Disbelief, Deal With God, and Extinguish had just dropped killer fucking records. We knew that we wanted to go way heavier than Stifled was, and I drew a lot from those bands for inspiration.
"We played a show with Boston’s Opposition as one of the last Stifled shows and Ben said to us, 'we need to be heavy like that for our next project.'"
Latest release info:
"Our newest release is a 4-song demo that we threw together over the summer of 2024. We wanted to get it out and get back to playing shows as quick as possible. Our friend Ethan Chaikan, from the band Grave Heist and Black Moon Recordings, tracked Jeremy’s vocals. The rest of the demo was done in my living room where Coop, Ben, and I wrote it."
Future plans:
"Gig. Our first show is booked for September 28th at HeavyHV Fest in Newburgh, New York. We want to play as many shows as we can while we’re all able. There is for sure another release for this band down the line, but playing shows and being a live band has always been our priority."
What other bands from their region should we check out?
"There are too many to count. Streets of Hate has a great roster of bands from the area; Cross of Disbelief, Gigan Animal Thugs, and Crush Your Soul are just a few. I often fill in for Grave Heist, who just released an EP and Jeremy’s other band; Sickbay is a killer New York death metal band that just released a record this week as well.
"Servant of Sorrow, Big Shot, Low Fiction, Abuse Ritual, and Burn it Down are the homies and all have fantastic music out. If I left anyone out, I’m sorry, the Hudson Valley truly has too many great bands to remember."
Merciless on social media: Instagram
Tagged: merciless
