Mercyful Fate: Classic or Dud?

did anybody else get into these guys solely due to seeing them on Beavis and Butthead btw

If like me you're either disinterested in or disappointed by any of the bands that get tagged with Mercyful Fate comparisons, you might want to look to Norway's Magister Templi. I think one reason I never checked them out was the Candlemass comparison, and I definitely hear that, but there's something in their music that takes me right back to hearing Fate for the first time, little guitar runs here and there, ghostly clanging cymbals, song shifts that catch you by surprise, a production that actually sounds alive. I just burned through several songs on their bandcamp and have bumped their two albums to the top of my ACQUIRE NOW list. (The vox are nothing like King's, though.)

They're on Cruz del Sur.

http://magistertempli.bandcamp.com/

And

did anybody else get into these guys solely due to seeing them on Beavis and Butthead btw

When I saw the "Family Ghost" video in 1987 I knew then and there I was seeing and hearing one of the the most insanely talented heavy metal bands in history. I still believe that. What a lineup, what innovation and flamboyance they brought to the genre.

I had weird, malformed metal tastes in the early-going, but the first time I heard MF I was like "THIS, THIS, MORE OF THIS!". Just sounded so sinister, yet ear-catching, badass and occult. the 30 seconds I got to hear of whatever song it was were a delight.

the only reason I didn't start listening to them right away was I was still a Fundie and the Satanic lyrics put me off. the day I left that life behind I went and bought Melissa.

"Evil" is probably still my favorite metal song of all time.

it's weird that I didn't immediately love King Diamond as much, and yet nowadays probably listen to them more than MF, mostly because they have a bigger catalog.

WANT

http://67.media.tumblr.com/5e3472ddf7c5483c0c326994a64e11ca/tumblr_nt3qyvOdgn1uqx9h3o1_1280.jpg

Dont bweak it

http://i66.tinypic.com/s3kqko.jpg

That's awesome. I'm wearing my Don't Break The Oath shirt tonight to a show.

I have the title in the album font on my left forearm, high five Neanderthal

That album was one of the first of many i bought with financial aid that was meant for college

damn great tat neanderthal

^^ excellent work

thx guys. it hurt a lot more than my other 4, but been wanting that one for eons.

so, Mercyful Fate POX time? here's mine...

1) Evil (probably the only band where my #1 song has p much never changed)
2) A Dangerous Meeting
3) The Bell Witch
4) The Oath
5) Nightmare Be Thy Name (this is a late addition - I love Time more than I used to now)
6) Black Funeral
7) Satan's Fall
8) Nightmare
9) Melissa
10) Torture (1629) (this is one from Dead Again, which while not a great album...this is a killer opening track)

Oh god.

Evil
Nuns Have No Fun
Devil Eyes
Melissa
Time
Desecration of Souls
Nightmare
Curse of the Pharoahs
Is That You, Melissa?
Into the Coven

In the Shadows tonight. god I still love this one. helluva comeback album.

Evil*
Nightmare
A Corpse Without Soul
Into the Coven
Time
A Dangerous Meeting
Devil Eyes
Melissa
The Oath
Return of the Vampire

* wanted to put something else at #1, but…

I should have had Corpse Without Soul in mine. So many moments in that song.

Can we all agree that "Welcome Princess of Hell" is a better title than "Welcome Princes of Hell," the correct one?

(Also, Neanderthal, that fucking tattoo is amazing.)

it will always be "princess" to me and I have always thought this

Amen.

princess of hell otm

nothing but respect for MY princess

ALL HAIL SATAN

🙌 and do the 🤘

The Lost in Vegas dudes tackled "Melissa" on the weekend: blown away by the music, tried to figure out what to do with the voice

if they don't announce a US tour for the MF reunion next year, I may fly overseas to catch it.

still bums me the fuck out that whatever issue exists between King and Denner can't be resolved, cos the Denner/Shermann albums ripped, but 2/5ths of Fate is better than 0/5ths of Fate, I guess....plus it's not like Wead is bad.

they also claim to have written new material.

RIP Timi Hansen :(

Very sad. Hansen anchored two of the most ridiculously talented metal bands of our generation, Fate and King Diamond's band circa 1987.

King just posted a very touching tribute message to him on FB.

I went from loving Dead Again to hating it and haven't played it since 1999.

Threw it on today.... it's actually quite good! Not really any all-time classics on it, but mega consistent.

"Banshee" is my fav

cannot stop listening to them lately. I remember loving the last album, 9, when it came out, then later souring on it when I felt it was too 'modernized trend hopping" MF. I listened to it again last night and I don't think that's fair.

there's a LITTLE bit of that in "Sold My Soul", and the song structures are mega-simplified, but they'd even done that on Time with much success. there's definitely some really good material on there, like "Last Rites", "Burn in Hell", "Church of St Anne". some forgettable, but it's listenable!

Into the Unknown is the one I barely know whatsoever. It was actually the album that delayed my MF-dom by 3 years, because I had gotten excited by the MF music I heard them play on Beavis and Butthead....only to hear the opening track be a Satanic invocation ("our father, who art in Hell!"), and me being a Fundamentalist, that snapped the door shut.

I don't think a niche thread is worth it, but what's everybody's POV for Mercyful Fate?

Mine is...

"Evil"
"Bell Witch"
"A Dangerous Meeting"
"The Oath"
"Nightmare Be Thy Name"

Don't Break the Oath MOSTLY works as a continuous album for me, but those two tracks mentioned are ones I can listen standalone.

I do love Melissa a lot but I wanted to be inclusive of other albums.

I WAS BORN ON THE CEMETERY
UNDER THE SIGN OF THE MOOOOOOOOON

Best song ever. I can never grow tired of discussing Fate

yeah I just got the CD reissues from last year and they’re totally kicking my ass.

OH, THEY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN
NOT TO PLAY WITH THE POWERS OF HELL

Quoth some RYM rando:

Half a star lower than it deserves due to insanely evil lyrics, espicially off of "The Oath", which is obviously the worst track off the album cause of the evil lyrics, but still pretty great album overall.

WTF???

Can't believe a metal fan had silly opinions

Ok but you gotta admit that a metal fan docking off a star because the lyrics are too 'insanely evil' is something else.

*half a star

lol the evil lyrics are one of the selling points.

I FORBID THEE ENTRANCE HEREEE, YOU STAND ON HALLOWED GROUNNNNDD

I once saw a RYM reviewer downgrade an album because the lyrics scared him. It wasn't even metal or sinister at all (Cairo - Conflict & Dreams). Review is gone now.

THE DUDE HAS ACTUAL BONES ON HIS MIC STAND YOU GOTTA EMBRACE THE GLORIOUS SATANIC EVIL! HOWL LIKE A WOLF AND A WITCH WILL OPEN THE DOOR!!

This is how the boomers must have felt when people started docking points for too many guitar solos.

This is how the boomers must have felt when people started docking points for too many guitar solos.

excessive guitar solos + micstand bones-level evil = my shit

Eh, I knew Christian kids in the 80s and 90s who loved the sound of Led Zeppelin or Marilyn Manson but were terrified of the occult or Satanic content. There's a reason Christian rock existed. Really don't think it's generational. If anything, I imagine it's less common now.

Lol Marilyn Manson basically tore my church apart. The youth group leader demanded one of our members "break" their Manson CD when she found out she owned one. They did!

One of those rare occasions where I fully stand behind the church.

there's like a live stream going on about the show in Berlin tonight?

https://www.twitch.tv/kingdiamondofficial

They sound great in the new live clips coming out.

Wish I could go to the Norway date (with Candlemass, Tribulation, and Unto Others)

holy fuck the new song whips ASS.