Without Mercy is the fourth studio album by English band The Durutti Column, released in October 1984 on Factory Records.

With a dramatically extended line-up, featuring classical musicians such as cello player Caroline Lavelle and Tuxedomoon violinist Blaine L. Reininger, Without Mercy was recorded in Strawberry Studios.

The extended line-up premiered the album at Hammersmith's Riverside Studios in October 1984 before playing at Wilson's nightclub The Hacienda and the Institute of Contemporary Arts.

The album sleeve, designed by 8vo and featuring Henri Matisse's Trivaux Pond painting glued onto card, has been cited as innovative.

[6] Nonetheless, one track from the album, a "superlative instrumental for piano and violin" entitled "Little Mercy," also known as "Duet" or "La Douleur", in which Reilly was accompanied by violinist Blaine L. Reininger of Tuxedomoon, caught Wilson's attention in particular.

[1] In the words of Factory biographer James Nice, "Tony Wilson hoped that Vini Reilly might yet become Bohuslav Martinu or Philip Glass.

"[1] Wilson credits Factory Records for conceiving the album and the line-up of "musicians for Vini to create for", after three classical musicians from Manchester University and the Royal Northern College of Music, including a saxophonist and trumpeter, were curious if Factory had any work for them, and after the label had formed a relationship "with the wonderful Peter Hadfield acting for statuesque cello player, Caroline Lavelle.

"[7] Factory also contacted Reininger again, who Wilson felt was "always on hand with his Michel Duval impersonations and electrifying violin work.

"[7] The Durutti Column's line-up (at the time consisting of Vini Reilly and percussionist Bruce Mitchell), was temporarily extended for the orchestral Without Mercy, now including Blaine Reininger (violin, viola), Caroline Lavelle (cello), Marvyn Fletcher (saxophone), Tim Kellett (trumpet), Maunagh Fleming (cor anglais and oboe) and Richard Henry (trombone).

[3] Reilly played guitar, piano and bass and, in addition to Mitchell, who performed numerous percussive instruments, also programmed Oberheim DMX drum machines on the album.

"[8] Trouser Press felt it was "like modern chamber music, an ambitious and shifting mixture of piano, horns, strings and electronic percussion.

[1] It was only the third Factory album to be officially advertised in the music press, via a New Brutalist-styled half-page advert in the NME reading "Durutti Column Piss on The Art of Noise.

[1] It features Henri Matisse's scenic painting Trivaux Pond (1916–17) glued onto recycled pulp board, alongside letterpress-printed type "reminiscent of the flowing poetry of Guillaume Apollinaire," with both the flow and the font on the sleeve chosen to reflect the Post-Impressionist period of Matisse's painting.

[9] Without Mercy also received positive reviews from contemporary critics, though, with Reilly moving in an increasingly less "rock" direction, they struggled to find suitable frames of reference, with reviewer Martin Aston calling it "a source of fragility that approaches the minimal mastery of Eno or even Erik Satie, employing both the drifting dream states of the former and the frozen delicacy of the latter."

Aston was favourable towards the record, saying "Reilly, single-handedly, could alter the meaning of easy listening, and with this in mind, it's about time that this strain of musical input found a more comfortable home than that of the elite and esoteric.

"[6] Other retrospective reviews have been favourbale, with Ned Raggett of AllMusic saying: "It's very self-consciously romantic (track and album are in fact named for Keats' noted poem La Belle Dame Sans Merci), but the combination of new and old instruments, plus the continuation of the unique Durutti sheen and shine in the recording quality, results in quietly touching heights.

[3] London Records re-released the album on CD in 1998, adding the EP Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say (1985), which featured direct excerpts from Without Mercy,[3] as bonus tracks, alongside two stripped-down pieces of the same period, one of which, "All That Love Maths Can Do", marked the first recorded contribution from violist John Metcalfe on a Durutti Column album.