Mercyful Fate: Into the Unknown (1996)

The last couple of years I have made a concerted effort to start picking up some of the missing albums in my collection from Mercyful Fate and King Diamond.  The title track from this album was actually the first Mercyful Fate song I had ever heard.  It appeared on a Metal Blade compilation that I picked up some time in college.  At the time, I was not sure what I was hearing.  King's voice was unlike anything I had ever heard.  Eventually though, I got into it.  But it took a long time before I ventured past the landmark albums.  Which brings me to this album.

The mid 1990's were largely considered a bleak time for true heavy metal.  That was not true for Mercyful Fate, who reunited in 1993 after a nine-year hiatus in which King Diamond focused on his solo career.  His solo career did not end though, King managed to work with both bands simultaneously. 

Unlike many Mercyful Fate/King Diamond albums, this is not a concept album.  Rather, it is a collection of short horror stories, involving pirates, ghosts and of course some Lovecraft.  Musically, this is not one of the best Mercyful Fate albums, but it is still damn good.  Denner and Shermann throw out some damn good riffs and some amazing solos.  A lot of the songs are terrific with the kind of energy that the band rose to stardom playing.  The title track is the big highlight, but "The Uninvited Guest" and "Holy Water" also grab attention. 

Even a lesser Mercyful Fate album is still better than a lot of albums and that is definitely the case here.  This one does not hold up to Don't Break the Oath or Melissa, but it fits in well with some post-Abigail King Diamond albums.  It remains a great album from a great band.  So what if it is not quite as good as their classic albums.

My 100 Favorite Metal Bands Pt. 68: Mercyful Fate

I did not even realize until just recently that King Diamond did not make my list. This may have been intentional when I was putting it together as King Diamond and Mercyful Fate are basically the same band anyway. Obviously there are some differences, but Mercyful Fate has all of the strengths that King Diamond has and has also put out better albums. I just prefer the work of Mercyful Fate, just as I prefer Black Sabbath to Ozzy Osbourne and White Zombie to Rob Zombie. Mercyful Fate also did a lot to influence black metal, whereas King Diamond did not to the same degree. So, when it comes down to it, King Diamond's music can be included here, but there really was no point in doing posts on each band, especially when Mercyful Fate's material is so much better.

FAVORITE ALBUM: MELISSA

My Favorite Metal Band from Denmark

Okay, this one was legitimately tough. How do you decide between Mercyful Fate and King Diamond? Ultimately the decision was due to the massive influence Mercyful Fate has had on the formation of metal. That and the fact that Melissa and Don't Break the Oath are all-time metal classics with tons of great songs. This is not to say anything disparaging about King Diamond's solo work, just that Mercyful Fate's early work is so influential that King Diamond could not fill those shoes.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Artillery
Iron Fire
King Diamond
Manticora
Panzerchrist
Victimizer

Halloween Playlist

I am heading to my hometown for the weekend, so this is the last post before Halloween. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, and being that heavy metal can sound pretty spooky, it's the right season for the music. So here's what I am listening to this weekend:

Cradle of Filth
King Diamond
Mercyful Fate
Incantation

I know Cradle of Filth is not a particularly well-respected band amongst the true metalheads out there, but I find this particular season particularly appropriate for listening to them. The band blends gothic metal, thrash metal, and black metal and mixes that with a very dark atmosphere. Lyrically, Cradle of Filth covers morbid sexuality, supernatural events, and basic gothic horror. Dani Filth is a hell of a lyricist and possesses a vocal style all his own. I have been listening to all of the band's albums.

King Diamond and Mercyful Fate really need no introduction and I have covered them both extensively in the past.

I will also be listening to Incantation's Onward to Golgotha, a favorite album of mine that I have just not had an opportunity to hear for some time. The grimy riffs and spellbinding songs are just the kind of thing I am looking for this season. Excellent New York death metal.

Year in Metal: 1984

It's getting harder and harder to limit these things to just three albums.

DESTRUCTION: SENTENCE OF DEATH
Okay, this was released only in Germany in 1984 and it is only an EP, but it was the first official release by the major German thrash metal band. They classified their sound as "black speed metal", which actually is a fairly good description. It's extremely fast and raw. These are not the most talented musicians at this point, but they are good enough. This was a very important recording in the development of the German thrash metal scene.

MERCYFUL FATE: DON'T BREAK THE OATH
I did Mercyful Fate for my 1983 post, but when an album is this good, why pass it up? I still think Melissa is the better album, but this one is incredible in its own right. It's faster in general and more intense. King Diamond's haunting wail sounds great, although it's definitely a grower. My favorite part is the taunting by King towards the end of "Nightmare". Overall, there are some damn catchy riffs at work here, blazing guitar solos, and of course King's voice. This was one hell of an album. Mercyful Fate never rose quite as high again, but they do continue to put out quality albums, as does King Diamond.

SODOM: IN THE SIGN OF EVIL
This one is also only an EP, but it was massively important in the developing black metal and death metal scenes. The chaotic sound and raw feel of the album was very influential on upcoming bands such as Mayhem and Darkthrone. The EP is often considered one of the main albums in the proto-black metal movement. Sodom would back off from this sound and become a basic thrash metal band on later albums, but this was a huge step toward many of the metal subgenres we currently have.

Honorable Mentions: Anthrax: Fistful of Metal, Armored Saint: March of the Saint, Bathory: Bathory, Celtic Frost: Morbid Tales, Dio: The Last in Line, Dokken: Tooth and Nail, Iron Maiden: Powerslave, Judas Priest: Defenders of the Faith, Manowar: Hail to England, Metal Church: Metal Church, Metallica: Ride the Lightning, Overkill: Overkill, Queensryche: The Warning, Razor: Armed and Dangerous, Trouble: Psalm 9, Voivod: War and Pain, W.A.S.P.: W.A.S.P.

Bands that formed in 1984: Annihilator, Atheist, Blind Guardian, Candlemass, Celtic Frost, Iced Earth, Razor, Sadus, Sepultura, Soundgarden, Stratovarius.

Year in Metal: 1983

My fiancee wants me to point out that this is the year she was born so, of course, it's the best year ever.

DIO: HOLY DIVER
Fresh off of his stint with Black Sabbath, Ronnie James Dio formed his own band and released his first solo album in 1983. Holy Diver was an instant classic spawning hits like the title track and "Rainbow in the Dark". His lyrics were often fantasy-inspired, which can come off a little cheesy at times, but nobody could pull them off like Dio. His voice is one of the greatest in metal. This is a great album and started off a string of great albums by the diminutive Dio. Unfortunately, he passed away earlier this year.

MERCYFUL FATE: MELISSA
The first full-length Mercyful Fate album is also their best, in my opinion. The album is inspired lyrically by horror themes. The title track is the name given to a skull that the band had in its possession at the time and used for shows. All of the elements that would make Mercyful Fate a great band were present on the debut: King Diamond's otherworldly vocals, the duo guitar attack of Hank Sherman and Michael Denner, and some damn catchy songs. The riffs from this thing stick in my head for days after hearing it. Another rock-solid debut from 1983.

SLAYER: SHOW NO MERCY
Speaking of debuts, Slayer also had theirs. I fought with myself about whether to include Metallica's debut here or Slayer's. Since I have already had a full post devoted to Kill 'Em All, I chose Slayer. This album bears little resemblance to the Slayer that we have all grown to love however. On this album, Slayer was much more influenced by the NWOBHM and Venom in particular. Their music is more melodic and not as harsh. But the songs are amazing, the guitars are great, and Tom Araya's voice was surprisingly impressive. It may be blasphemy, but this is actually my favorite Slayer album.

Honorable Mentions: Dokken: Breaking the Chains, Iron Maiden: Piece of Mind, Manowar: Into Glory Ride, Metallica: Kill 'Em All, Motley Crue: Shout at the Devil, Ozzy Osbourne: Bark at the Moon, Queensryche: Queensryche, Savatage: Sirens, Suicidal Tendencies: Suicidal Tendencies, Venom: At War with Satan

Bands Formed in 1983: Bathory, Death, Fates Warning, Helloween, Master, Mayhem, Megadeth, Metal Church, Morbid Angel, Possessed, Queensryche, Savatage, Testament

Halloween Playlist

It's Halloween! What am I listening to today, hmm?

NECROVORE: UNRELEASED EVIL
To start things off today, I picked Necrovore. Not a terribly frightening band or album, although it is extremely aggressive, powerful, and deals with death and the occult. Necrovore is the original Texas black metal band and has influenced countless other bands, including Thornspawn, Averse Sefira, Absu, and other gritty, dirty sounding bands from the state. The band also had a huge influence on the development of death metal and American black metal. Not bad for a band that only released one demo made up of four songs. This is a potentially unofficial bootleg of that demo and the band's rare recordings and live performance.

DANZIG: THRALL-DEMONSWEATLIVE
In my car, I have the EP from Danzig playing. Danzig has always been one of my favorite more ghoulish metal acts. The occultism in his lyrics is clear and the music is dark and forbidding. This EP featured the live version of "Mother" which turned out to be Danzig's biggest hit in mainstream music. It's not his best song, but it definitely won over a ton of fans. Many of whom remain fans today. Unfortunately, Danzig was never really able to match that success again and his music has declined a bit since his first three albums.

GWAR: RAGNAROK
Metal's ultimate costumed fiends. Gwar has built up quite a story behind their stage show and characters. The band even features frequent celebrity "executions" on stage, including Paris Hilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The band seldomly appears in public out of character. Good stuff.

MERCYFUL FATE: MELISSA
I had to get this one in, it had been awhile since I have had a chance to listen to it and it is one of the ultimate scary albums to listen to this time of year. I've written about it earlier this week, so I will refrain from going much further into it.

DANZIG II: LUCIFUGE
Again with Danzig. As mentioned earlier, this is pretty much perfect music for Halloween. Dark sounding with Danzig's trademarked vocals which sound like a demented, evil Elvis or Jim Morrison. Plus the occult lyrics fit in well.

FORCE OF EVIL: BLACK EMPIRE
This was discussed at length on Sunday. The horror movie references are too much to pass up.

MAYHEM: DE MYSTERIIS DOM SATHANAS
This was also discussed last weekend in my post on frightening albums.

THORNAFIRE: VOREX DECONSTRUCCION
This one's new. Death metal the way it should fucking be. Thornafire is one of my favorite newer bands and they play old school death metal in the vein of Morbid Angel, Incantation, Immolation, and Death. The dark atmosphere and frightening album cover make this a must-play on Halloween.

In Honor of Halloween: Mercyful Fate and King Diamond

King Diamond, a.k.a. Kim Bendix Petersen, of Copenhagen, Denmark is one of the most interesting vocalists in metal. King has been the vocalist for both Mercyful Fate and his self-named band, oftentimes simultaneously. King's vocals are very distinctive as King frequently sings in the falsetto range, occasionally coming back down to emphasize different voices, as the song requires.

Both bands have been cited for being a major influence on the development of thrash, death, black, and gothic metal. The two bands, though similar musically, are nonetheless a little different as far as creativity involved in the songs. For the most part, Mercyful Fate is more of a song band, allowing King and company to focus more on the songwriting aspect of music. King Diamond on the other hand, is more involved in the storytelling side of things. In addition, lyrically, Mercyful Fate deals with occult themes whereas King Diamond tells horror stories. Currently, King Diamond is still active while Mercyful Fate remains on hiatus.

From a visual standpoint, King is very memorable. He was among the first in metal to don makeup, a look which eventually lead black metal bands to apply "corpse paint". King also typically dressed like a heavy metal Dracula, wearing a black and red cape with his hair black and slicked back, although this look occasionally switched to a black trench coat and a top hat or bowler. King's microphone onstage was a cross made of bones hanging from the back of the microphone. He also once had a skull that he sang to, named Melissa after one of Mercyful Fate's early albums/songs.

The important thing for this Halloween-related blog today is that the songs by both bands were often spooky. King also has a gift for concept albums. I will cover each of the albums I own by both bands and discuss the concept or lyrical themes. If the album is not a concept album, I will look at some of the individual songs.

MERCYFUL FATE: MELISSA
Mercyful Fate's debut album was a large success and still is the most well-known album from the two bands. It featured songs about a witch who was murdered ("Melissa"), witchcraft ("Into the Coven"), and in general songs about Satanism and evil ("Evil", "Curse of the Pharaohs", "Satan's Fall").

MERCYFUL FATE: DON'T BREAK THE OATH
This album found the band settling on a style strongly influenced by Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, but dealign again heavily with the occult. Notable spooky songs include "Desecration of Souls", "Night of the Unborn", "Welcome Princes of Hell", and "Come to the Sabbath".

KING DIAMOND: ABIGAIL
Abigail is to King Diamond as Melissa is to Mercyful Fate, the most well-known album in the band's very strong catalog. The story to this album is about a young couple who moves into a mansion that the husband inherited, but are warned by seven horsemen to avoid the place. The husband is visited in his sleep by his ancestor who shows him a casket with an stillborn child inside and tells him that his wife is now carrying the spirit of the unborn child and must be killed to avoid the child becoming reborn. The wife is clearly pregnant the next day and progressing rapidly, but before he can do anything about it, she throws him down the stairs and Abigail is born, although the wife does not survive childbirth. Abigail is alone as the seven horsemen return to the mansion to kill her.

KING DIAMOND: "THEM"
King is the main protagonist in this story as he deals with his mentally ill grandmother who has recently returned from an asylum. King sees her having a tea party alone after investigating due to hearing strange voices and sees teacups and kettles floating in the air. Grandma later wakes him and tells him that she will tell him about Amon, her house, and takes him into his mother's room where Grandma cuts King's sleeping mother's hand and pours her blood into the teapot. King becomes catatonic as does his mother. His sister Missy tries to wake him to try to help their mother. King refuses to help and cuts the phone line. Missy breaks the teapot out of anger, but the ghosts in the house become enraged and chop Missy up with an axe and throw the pieces into the fireplace. King snaps out of it and leaves the house where he is able to understand the prior events. He lures his grandmother out of the house and kills her. He is convicted of the crime and sent to an asylum, but upon returning home finds that the voices and Grandma are still present.

KING DIAMOND: THE SPIDER'S LULLABY
This album is not a full concept album, although the second half of the songs do tell a story. The first half contains songs about ghosts ("The Poltergeist"), serial killers ("Killer"), and cursed children ("Moonlight"), among other things. The second half tells the story of a man afraid of spiders. The man finds a psychiatrist who claims to specialize in curing phobias. The man is placed into a room with a wolf spider. He complains of bites and pain but the doctor does not help him. Later, he is found dead in his room and cocooned in a spider web. After his death, spiders began using his empty eye sockets as nests.

KING DIAMOND: GIVE ME YOUR SOUL...PLEASE
A brother and sister are waiting for judgment in the afterlife. The brother is sent to Hell as a mistake has lead the Thirteen Judges to the wrongful belief that he had committed suicide, when in fact, both children were killed by their father before he committed suicide. The girl decides to find a new soul for her brother so that he can come to Heaven with her. She haunts King, the protagonist of this story as well. King contacts her via black magic and she tells her story, but she finds him too full of sin and he pleads with her to leave the house and find another soul before sunrise. She leaves King and comes to "THIS HOUSE", implying that she is coming to the home of the listener.

Strange Album Covers Pt. 4: Horror Continued

Here's a continuation to the post from yesterday. I will try not to do all of these one after the other, I'll try to get some other random posts in there as well. But here we go:

DANZIG III: HOW THE GODS KILL

I love H.R. Giger's artwork, particularly because he designed the Alien, my all time favorite movie monster. I can't even describe what we have here, all I know is that it is pretty freaky. Danzig is something of a gothic doom metal band with several other genres mixed in as well. Danzig started his career as the singer for The Misfits and was also with Samhain prior to starting his own band. This is my favorite album from the band as it is the most metal.

CANNIBAL CORPSE: EATEN BACK TO LIFE

This is the debut album from Cannibal Corpse and it almost made it into the gory album covers post. It's yet another zombie album cover. Cannibal Corpse is one of the more infamous death metal bands and many of their albums have been banned in other countries (Germany for one) based on their bloody album covers. This one was no exception.

DISSECTION: THE SOMBERLAIN

I don't know what it is that makes this so freaky. There's just something unsettling and disturbing about seeing this dark stagecoach with black horses and a maniacal driver pushing this through the cemetery. This is Dissection's first full length album and is more primal and raw than their masterpiece Storm of the Light's Bane. I love listening to the drumming on the album.

MERCYFUL FATE: DON'T BREAK THE OATH

The great Mercyful Fate made their career in crafting eerie music. This is the band's debut album and the cover is one of the more imposing album covers in metal history. An amazing piece of art. The music itself is the band's greatest effort. It's not a concept album like a lot of the Mercyful Fate/King Diamond but it is nevertheless an amazing piece of music.

OBITUARY: CAUSE OF DEATH

Obituary is another of the earlier death metal bands. They've always had a bit more groove and southern metal style to their brand of death and this is no exception. The Tardy brothers write some amazingly catchy songs and this album featured such great tracks as "Chopped in Half" and "Infected". The art is surreal. That's really the only way to put it. It is also the same art as is on the cover of one of my H.P. Lovecraft books.