The Awakening is the debut album by the Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 death metal

Death metal

Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....

 band Merciless

Merciless

Merciless is a Swedish death/thrash metal band. The band was formed during the summer of 1986 in Strängnäs, Sweden by Erik Wallin Fredrik Karlén and Stefan Carlsson . They were inspired of the early fast-playing bands such as Kreator, Sodom, Destruction and Bathory...

. The original album was recorded in Summer 1989 but released by Deathlike Silence Productions

Deathlike Silence Productions

Deathlike Silence Productions was an Oslo, Norway based independent record label founded in the late 1980s that focused primarily on black metal. It was the first independent label to do so. The label was founded by Øystein Aarseth, also known as Euronymous, who operated the label until his murder...

 in February 1990. The original press was limited to 1000 CDs and LPs. It was later re-issued in 1999 by Osmose Productions

Osmose Productions

Osmose Productions is a French independent record label created in 1991 by Hervé Herbaut, after he had spent three years running a small mail order company...

 with a different color cover and four live bonus tracks. The live tracks were recorded in Uppsala

Uppsala

- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...

, Sweden on 7 December 1990.

Track listing

1. "Pure Hate" – 3:28
2. "Souls of the Dead" – 2:59
3. "The Awakening" – 3:11
4. "Dreadful Fate" – 2:47
5. "Realm of the Dark" – 3:52
6. "Dying World" – 4:18
7. "Bestial Death" – 2:26
8. "Denied Birth" – 4:01

1999 Re-issue bonus tracks

9. "Bestial Death" (Live) – 2:20
10. "The Awakening "(Live) – 3:10
11. "Nuclear Attack" (Live) – 2:27
12. "Pure Hate" (Live) – 3:10

Credits

• Roger "Rogga" Pettersson - Vocals (1988-)
• Erik Wallin - Guitars (1986-)
• Fredrik Karlén - Bass (1986)
• Stefan "Stipen" Carlsson - Drums (1986-1992)