This is a nice lost treasure. Unreleased No Mercy. The Widespread Bloodshed LP is a classic slice of Venice Suicidal Metal-core. A little darker than STs and so good. So anymore music in that vein is welcome in my book. So I was stoked to see this become available and mailordered a copy asap. Clear vinyl with a big fold out poster and another color insert. It's a good package for the record collectors
No Mercy can get away with stamping OG on anything he is involved in. Besides the artwork, who else was making dangling earrings and three quarter length trench coats cool? These guys always had a vibe that was super violent and sketchy.
But what about the music? 18 tracks 1st demo, rehearsal, comp. and live tracks. Vocals are by their first singer Keven-not Mike Muir. opens up with "Brain Damage" which I remember from the Empty Skulls comp tape(one of the best old hardcore comp tapes). Actually the first three tracks were featured on that tape. Music is definitely more hardcore than anything else-Venice influence is pretty clear even with the demo quality production. Next up are some instrumental versions-nice if you want to do some mashups or karaoke but not crucial. 85 studio session is up next. Sounds like bad metal on the intro, but then "No Mercy" kicks in with a real straight up LA thrash Slayer type sound. "Die or be Killed" made its way to WSBS. "War Machine"(from Welcome to Venice) finishes it off-more standard thrash than No Mercy classic.
Side B is live in Reseda 1986. Decent sound quality. Includes some straight up metal jammers like "Death to the Anti-Christ". It was written about all the "satanic faggots" and sounds very much like it was reworked by No Mercy or ST at a later date.
I think this may highlight how the went from killer hardcore band into a sick crossover powerhouse. Too good to be just for hardcore historians only, but I would most likely still grab Widespread Bloodshed if the house was on fire. Either way it's probably cheaper than trying to get a copy of Widespread Bloodshed on Ebay.
This Venice Beach Suicidal metal punk scene was pretty wild sounding back then and it stands the test of time.
You can get in on CD or LP at Punkrecords.com
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