The Prayer Chain Is Kickstarting Mercury’s 30th Anniversary

2025 marks the 30th anniversary of Mercury, The Prayer Chain’s third and final album. Whereas their previous album, 1993’s Shawl, contained a heavy grunge-influenced sound, Mercury embraced atmospherics, psychedelia, and Middle Eastern drones and textures, while its lyrics featured dark, turbulent, and even erotic imagery.

The album frustrated label execs, who forced the band to spend months reworking its songs to make them more palatable. Nevertheless, Mercury developed a devoted following upon release and is now considered one of the best albums to emerge from the ’90s Christian alternative scene.

To mark its anniversary, The Prayer Chain is reuniting to perform Mercury in its entirety. Two September dates are scheduled, in Nashville and Anaheim, and as an added bonus for ’90s Chrindie fans, The Prayer Chain will be joined by Poor Old Lu (Nashville) and Mortal (Anaheim). In addition to the concerts, the band has also announced plans to release Communion, the original collection of songs that eventually became Mercury.

To fund the concerts, which will also be recorded for a live album and video, and the release of Communion on CD and double vinyl, the band has launched a Kickstarter campaign. The campaign’s rewards include early access to the live recording, a signed Prayer Chain coffee table book, hand-written lyrics, and a backstage pass to hang out with the band.

This is not The Prayer Chain’s first reunion, by the way. Back in 2018, for example, they reunited to perform Shawl in its entirety to mark that album’s 25th anniversary.