Mekong Delta (band)

Mekong Delta
"Kilkim žaibu XII" festival, Lithuania, 2011.
Background information
Origin	Berlin, Germany
Genres	Technical thrash metal, thrash metal, progressive metal
Years active	1985–present
Labels	Aaarrg
Associated acts	Rage, Living Death, Axxis, Luca Turilli's Rhapsody, At Vance
Website	http://www.mekongdelta.eu
Members	Martin LeMar Ralph Hubert Erik Adam H. Grösch Alex Landenburg
Past members	Wolfgang Borgmann Jochen Schröder Frank Fricke Reiner Kelch Georg Syrmbos Peter "Peavy" Wagner Jörg Michael Uli Kusch Peter Haas Doug Lee Uwe Baltrusch Peter Lake Leo Szpigiel Benedikt Zimniak

Mekong Delta is a German technical thrash/thrash metal band, formed in 1985.

The band was founded by a group of German metal musicians with the goal to 'musically outshine' all then-current, independent releases. The line-up and the history of the group was to be "the best kept secret in the world". The project participants decided to keep everything about the band a secret, assuming German musicians would not be accepted internationally. The initial name "Zardoz" was rejected, followed by the acceptance of the name "Mekong Delta", named after a riverbed in Vietnam. The entire project was started by Ralf Hubert, sound-engineer for Warlock, Steeler and Living Death, and owner of the record label Aaarrg Music.

The first demos are recorded with the following line-up:

Jochen Schröder did not fit in and was soon replaced by Living Death guitarists Reiner Kelch and Frank Fricke. When Wagner later left the project, Hubert overtook the bass guitar duties. Since the band was deliberately shrouded in mystery, all participants assumed artist names and the line-up of the debut album looked like this:

The debut album Mekong Delta was released in 1987, produced by Ralf Hubert. Due to touring duties with his current band, Jörg Michael was replaced by Uli Kusch (using the name Patrick Duval) for the shortly thereafter following picture disc EP The Gnome.

Mekong Delta returned to the studio around new year 1987–1988, and recorded the concept album The Music of Erich Zann, with the same line-up, again produced by Hubert. Due to, or because of, the chosen obfuscated identities the band's big breakthrough did not happen.

Reiner Kelch was replaced by Uwe Baltrusch, who used the name Mark Kaye, and at the end of 1988 Mekong Delta released the 12-inch EP Toccata, and in the spring of 1989 The Principle of Doubt was released. Fricke then left the band to focus on other musical styles, and the group decided not to replace him, as Baltrusch was able to play all guitar parts himself.