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MERRIMACK, the French black metal band active since 1994, release a new single through Season of Mist: a cover of “Wrong,” written by Martin L. Gore and originally recorded by Depeche Mode for their 2009 album Sounds of the Universe. The track runs 2:59 and is available exclusively on all digital platforms.
Stream “Wrong” (Depeche Mode Cover): https://orcd.co/merrimackwrong
The cover has its roots in a long-standing personal devotion. Perversifier, who proposed the idea to his bandmates, describes Depeche Mode’s post-1984 output as having “only grown better over the years,” and singles out “Wrong” as a song whose original “already carried more darkness than even Black Metal rarely reaches.” The instrumental was tracked during the The Acausal Mass sessions at Necromorbus Studio in 2012—committed to tape and then left there, shelved for over a decade before the band returned to record the vocals and see it through to release. The result, in Perversifier’s words, is a recording that “highlights just how dark the original song already is”: the composition preserved note for note, with the band’s only contribution being, as he puts it, “the level of violence that Black Metal can bring, while staying completely faithful to every note of the original composition.” Where Gore’s version channels the song’s obsessive self-negation through cold synth-pop, Merrimack’s rendering strips away any distance the original’s arrangements might have offered.
Their most recent full-length, Of Grace and Gravity (2024), marked another step forward in a career defined by refusal to dilute—a record that drew on the same uncompromising aesthetic convictions the band have held since their founding, sharpened further by three decades of practice.

Of Grace and Gravity is out now via Season of Mist.
Order: https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/MerrimackGraceGravity
ONLINE
LINEUP
Perversifier : Guitars
A.K. : Guitars
Vestal : Vocals
Daethorn : Bass
Blastum : Drums
BIOGRAPHY/LOGO

Merrimack is a French black metal band formed in Paris in 1994 by guitarist Perversifier (Amfortas). Named after the demon Merrimack from medieval demonology, the band emerged during the second wave of black metal and quickly established itself as one of the most uncompromising acts in the French underground scene. From its inception, Merrimack embraced a vision rooted in darkness, occultism, spiritual warfare, and the preservation of black metal's extreme and anti-commercial essence.
During the 1990s and early 2000s, the band built a reputation through demos such as Act 1 and Horns Defeat Thorns, as well as split releases with fellow underground acts. Their debut full-length album, Ashes of Purification (2002), introduced their ferocious blend of orthodox black metal, combining relentless aggression with occult and esoteric themes. The following years saw the release of Of Entropy and Life Denial (2006) and Grey Rigorism (2009), albums that expanded their sound while maintaining an atmosphere of ritualistic hostility and spiritual darkness.
Merrimack gained wider international recognition with The Acausal Mass (2012), a critically acclaimed album that showcased a more sophisticated and complex songwriting approach. The band's music evolved further on Omegaphilia (2017), released through Season of Mist, where intricate compositions, occult concepts, and crushing intensity were fused into one of the strongest black metal releases of the decade.
Throughout numerous lineup changes, Perversifier has remained the driving force behind the band, ensuring continuity in both musical direction and ideological vision. Merrimack has shared stages with many prominent extreme metal acts and has become an important name within the French black metal movement, often associated with the country's reputation for producing dark, challenging, and spiritually intense black metal.
In 2024, the band returned with Of Grace and Gravity, their sixth full-length album. The record demonstrated that Merrimack continues to refine its craft while remaining faithful to the core principles that have defined the band for more than three decades: uncompromising black metal rooted in darkness, transcendence, and artistic integrity.
DISCOGRAPHY
Ashes of Purification (2002)
Hellgium Raped (EP, 2003)
Of Entropy and Life Denial (2006)
Grey Rigorism (2009)
The Acausal Mass (2012)
Omegaphilia (2017)
Of Grace and Gravity (2024)
GENRE/COUNTRY
Black Metal
France

