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MERCYFUL FATE
1983 - Melissa.
1984 - Don't Break The Oath.
more MERCYFUL FATE.
way more Helter Skelter.

October 30, 1983 - 2023: 40 years of: Melissa.

Nuns do have fun !

1983: a pivotal year for the imminent heavymetal take-over. Trendsetting and breaking the speed of sound with Pyromania, Shout At The Devil, Holy Diver and All For One LPs ...this flick of the switch wouldn't be complete without a solid dose of darkness. MERCYFUL FATE hails forth: Occult-Metal.

The Danes does it deadlier !

Loud punches opens The Gates Of Hell wide, as "Evil" sets-in. Rough-metal, not quite thrashmetal yet, with matching crazy guitar-leads. The hot riffing continues on "Curse Of The Pharaohs" and the maniacal melodies of "At The Sound Of The Demon Bell". Halloween is the night ...and vocalist King Diamond is the new men wearing the black mark. From horrorfull screams to sky-high falsettos, this new unholy incarnation is a different view on heavyness. His life-long dark-opera starts here.

The creepy crescendo of "Into The Coven" builds-up into a metal-asylum and the title-track for "Melissa" is a lullaby gone terrifyingly wrong ...for the poor Melissa. More mighty muscle flexes with speed and gothic-chants on "Black Funeral", while the majestic 11:23sec progressive evil trek of "Satan's Fall" into oblivion, is a fine mix of RUSH, JUDAS PRIEST and punk horse-power. Guitarist Hank Shermann and Michael Denner were now official guardians of The Gates.

A beacon for Satanic-Metal !

Following the wickedness of 1982's Mercyful Fate EP, weeks after BLACK SABBATH and weeks before SLAYER, Copenhagen's hellish bastards would send hard-rocknroll on a head-first spree into the left hand path. The first Satanic Heavy-Metal Black Mass.

Eventually part of the P.M.R.C.'s Filthy Fifteen must-have, MERCYFUL FATE were now the direct competition to the barbaric VENOM. This powermetal blackness shall cover the globe again with 1984's Don't Break The Oath LP.

Hell on Earth !

*
Mercyful Fate = full EP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBZzLEkjsD4&list=OLAK5uy_n1z82AQvyGlsLP92ABsGUjIM2U4DR9d3Q
Melissa = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvtBz3pnXD0&list=OLAK5uy_n6OP3ubuVrib1Uhdl1LCHnQ2J_AWQldYA
Live at Dynamo in 1983
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxaDfowP50U

September 7, 1984 - 2024: 40 years of: Don't Break The Oath.

From the fiery pits of Hell...

The King and his metal minions now runs at peak performance. Second assault and not to be outdone by the new thrashmetal attack, MERCYFUL FATE's Christian-hostile powermetal lays the dark foundations for Black-Metal.

Ultimate crunch and divine worship, as this gathering is "A Dangerous Meeting" at the Altar of rocknroll. The evil gospel reaches Biblical proportions on "The Oath" ...the final seal in dark-heavymetal convictions. Hot bass-groove drive us into "Nightmare", right into an horrific Armageddon, while the riff-o-rama of "Welcome Princess Of Hell" and the equivalently scary "Night Of The Unborn" turns the once silent dawn inside out.

MERCYFUL FATE delivers their second Satanic Heavy-Metal Black Mass. From hypnotic, to soul-searching, to complete demoniac possession ...this raw Euro Mephistophelean hardrock exhibition sat heavymetal to further development inside the farthest corners of the imagination: some parts of thrashmetal, some parts of deathmetal ...and the roots of blackmetal.

The Oath ...don't break it !

Sadly, with inner band conflicts, this would also be their last convocation. The band imploded, with King Diamond taking bassist Timi Hansen and guitar-player Michael Denner along his new ride: the KING DIAMOND band ...a fatal portait.

Standing the test of time, in an unexpected twist of faith, a modern machiavellian MERCYFUL FATE reunion would spring back in action, with 1993's In The Shadows CD.

RIP Timi Hansen (1958-2019)

*
Don't Break The Oath = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZJD2b5JQPY&list=OLAK5uy_mBOmiDDVMc32zpYb89VEsTf8IjGSXHqd0
Interview in Toronto in 1984
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiYeBybivKU
Live in Copenhagen in 1984
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOFxy4sa4uA

more MERCYFUL FATE:

KING DIAMOND