Mercyful Fate: Classic or Dud?

listening to Oath on headphones for once and boy were Timi Hansen's bass contributions underrated. everybody goes on about Shermann/Denner (rightfully so) but Timi's pretty monstrous on this album himself

Is there any drawbacks to those Mercyful Fate double packs? They're far cheaper than most of the other options for sure. Not sure why I didn't get the double pack when I went for Don't Break The Oath.

The main two problems with those Two From the Vault deals are 1) no rhyme, reason, or indication as to which mastering you get -- and MF/KD have had some remastering catastrophes over the years, esp. Don't Break the Oath and Abigail; and 2) somewhat related, a lack of complete liner notes. In all cases you do still get a full page of the booklet devoted to the original album cover, but that's about it.

I just deleted two paragraphs of my whining about remasterings haha. Since I'm not at the Hoffman Forums, I'll leave it this: YMMV.

I do have several of those TFTV deals, I should add, just not the MF ones. King Diamond, yes, among a few death metal classics.

Thanks. I'm going for the double packs.

Don't know why King Diamond individual albums are so cheap but not the first run of Mercyful Fate except Don't Break The Oath.

One good thing about the DBTO TFTV is that it comes with Return of the Vampire, the demo comp. Those early versions of the songs are so good, and "Burning the Cross," which never made it onto an album proper, is maybe my favorite Fate song. It's ridiculous that that song isn't up there with their other classics.

yknow what's a little frustrating, there is just no singing along with this dude

― j., Monday, March 17, 2014 7:04 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol man you ain't lived until you've squealed "Grandmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" at a King Diamond show with thousands of other fans

that said, the new Denner/Shermann release is really solid. I pretty much tune out the vocalist cos he's decent but as many may say, he doesn't really fit what they're going for, too power metally.

but this is some of the most inspired, melodic heavy metal riffing I've heard in eons, esp from Denner/Shermann, who had really kinda tapped out of ideas in MF by the late 90s.

now if they can just kick out this vocalist and have auditions for another, I hear this guy Kim Bendix Petersen might be a good replacement.

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.