The first time I heard the Merry Thoughts was in 1993 on their Second Generation EP. Within seconds of hearing the title track I became fairly convinced that this was a thinly veiled covert Sisters of Mercy release. The drum machine, the guitar sound, the fact it sounds uncannily like Alice, the lyrical content and of the course the vocals. It sounded so like Eldritch it had to be Eldritch!
Alas, to quote the real Eldritch, “I was wrong”.
The Merry Thoughts hailed from Germany and had been around since the early eighties.
But it was not until 1993 when they released their first EP “Second Generation” on Big Noise and later in the same year “Pale Empress EP” and their first album “Millennium Done I: Empire Songs”. All of the bands offering from 1993 sound very much like The Sisters, the guitar track on Pale Empress could so easily be Hussey!
Another album “Psychocult” followed in 1996, this was their last official release but they toured until 2000.
All was quiet until 2015 when a few unofficial releases surfaced through the “Made For Fans Not For Money” label. These included a live album from the bands hometown of Neuss recorded on 31st January 1992 and a vinyl version of the bands demos “The Ravens”.
The history of 90’s goth is dominated by the likes of The Sisters, The Mission and Rosetta Stone. The Merry Thoughts rarely get a mention, but this old goth thinks that they are well worth giving a listen.