No Mercy was something that just came together. We were writing new material for LIVING ON BORROWED TIME and I remember coming up with the opening riff. It had a much faster pace to it than the other songs we had written up until that point.

The chorus riff is one of my favorites, and that riff is great to play live. I can't help but love the song just for the lead guitar part alone. I took most of the solo from our original demo. Some solos need to be worked, and others just come together. This was definitely one that just came together. There were just a few improvised parts that didn't sound good, so I added some extra things while in the studio, and I love how it came out. Lyrically the song called for a war/violence theme. Cliche or not, its the only thing I felt the vibe of the song could portray.

I came up with some lyrics, and gave them to Sal. It was great, because Sal can take three or four paragraphs and just cut all the fat off of them and add what the lyrics need to make it a SWORN ENEMY song. I had a few horrible rhymes in there and I knew they were bad...hahaha. But Sal reworked them and those changes like adding "war machines keep marching on" took it to a whole new level. I think I had written two lines at the bottom saying NO MERCY NO SURRENDER. I wasn't even sure where they would fit. When I heard his idea for the chorus it felt perfect. The gang vocals of us screaming "NO MERCY" over and over works real well, especially live.

When we were recording it, we knew it was going to be the type of chorus that works with the audience. It had crowd participation written all over it. What you get on the album is what you get live. That's the way we like to do it!