Mercyful Fate

Heavy metal has always had the undeserved reputation of being totally evil and satanic...well, in the case of Mercyful Fate, it's a literal truth! Lead singer King Diamond claims to be a practicing Satanist, which I believe, although the "new" incarnation of the band steers completely away from the pro-Satan stuff. Such a shame...

"Return of the Vampire--The Rare and Unreleased"

  1. "Burning the Cross" (8:45)
  2. "Curse of the Pharaohs" (4:25)
  3. "Return of the Vampire" (4:50)
  4. "On a Night of Full Moon" (6:39)
  5. "A Corpse Without Soul" (8:10)
  6. "Death Kiss" (5:51)
  7. "Leave My Soul Alone" (3:18)
  8. "M.D.A. (Mission--Destroy Aliens)" (4:18)
  9. "You Asked for It" (4:14)

This CD came out during the band's hiatus, containing a bunch of rare demo tracks, including many early incarnations of classic Fate songs! Many of these tracks I owned on crappy vinyl, some with different titles, but they are the same recordings. "...Full Moon" is an early version of "Desecration of Souls", "Death Kiss" later became "A Dangerous Meeting", and "You Asked for It" evolved into "Black Masses". King adds some funny comments in the liner notes (referring to a cemetery as "that holy place", etc.)

"House of Satan" (bootleg CDR)

  1. "Black Funeral"--live (3:06)
  2. "Curse of the Pharaohs"--live (4:52)
  3. "Into the Coven"--live (4:16)
  4. "A Corpse Without Soul"--live (7:56)
  5. "Return of the Vampire"--live (4:59)
  6. "Devil Eyes"--live (5:49)
  7. "Nightmare"--live (6:40)
  8. "Persecution" (3:40)
  9. "Love Criminals" (8:56)
  10. "Hard Rocker" (3:29)
  11. "Some Day" (5:01)
  12. "Death Kiss" (4:48)
  13. "Combat Zone" (5:40)
  14. "Truck Driver" (2:47)
  15. "Interview with King Diamond"--unlisted (2:08)

A cheap bootleg that I sought out in lieu of the way-too-expensive Lost Tapes boot, and a cheap CDR copy at that, with 2-second gaps between the live songs (note to traders -- always use DISC-AT-ONCE when burning CDs, or I put a King Diamond curse on you!) The real gems here are the studio demo tracks, which weren't included on Return of the Vampire for some silly reason (three of them -- "Love Criminals", "Hard Rocker" and "Combat Zone" -- appeared on the bootleg Curse of the Vampire, thus allowing me to finally sell of my crappy vinyl copy! Oh, "Love Criminals" is an early version of "Into the Coven", too.) The sound quality is decent, except for "Persecution" and "Truck Driver", where it's particularly hideous. The live tracks were recorded in 1981 at some unknown gig, according to the liner notes. For some reason, the unlisted interview is broken into FIVE separate tracks, making those 2-second gaps all the more annoying...GRRRR...

"Mercyful Fate" (split CD)

  1. "Doomed by the Living Dead" (5:10)
  2. "Devil Eyes" (5:50)
  3. "A Corpse Without Soul" (6:56)
  4. "Nuns Have No Fun" (4:20)

Well, I finally sold off my original "Nuns Have No Fun" crappy vinyl EP, something I never would have done, except 1) the price was right (and I *really* needed the money, to fund my CD addiction), and 2) this split-CD was rereleased, with the ORIGINAL ARTWORK!! It's obviously mastered from crappy vinyl, and the mixed-up song order makes me wonder if the songs are really from the original EP or the "Beginning" remixes (haven't compared them to find out.) As an added bonus, this CD comes with five extra tracks from the album "Evil's Message" by Evil (see that page for more info.) I have no idea if this is an official release or a bootleg, though I suspect the latter...there's no label or catalog number, and even the Rave-On info (which both EP's were released on) has been deleted.

"The Beginning"

  1. "Doomed by the Living Dead" (5:07)
  2. "A Corpse Without Soul" (6:52)
  3. "Nuns Have No Fun" (4:17)
  4. "Devil Eyes" (5:48)
  5. "Curse of the Pharaohs" (3:50)
  6. "Evil" (4:01)
  7. "Satan's Fall" (10:28)
  8. "Black Masses" (4:30)

The first four songs are from the band's first EP, slightly remixed but I could hardly tell any difference. "Nuns Have No Fun" has a great chorus: "C.U.N.T., That's what you are!" "Devil Eyes" is my favorite, musically speaking. (A bit of trivia about that EP...when I bought the crappy vinyl, I listened to half of side one without realizing it was supposed to be on 45! No wonder it sounded so dark, slow and evil...and what the hell is "A Corpse Without Soul" supposed to mean, a dead body that can't dance??) Tracks 5-7 are one-take demos for some BBC sesssion, later to be redone for the Melissa album. "Black Masses" was the B-side for the "Black Funeral" single.

"Melissa"

  1. "Evil" (4:46)
  2. "Curse of the Pharaohs" (4:00)
  3. "Into the Coven" (4:40)
  4. "At the Sound of the Demon Bell" (5:53)
  5. "Black Funeral" (2:47)
  6. "Satan's Fall" (11:21)
  7. "Melissa" (6:40)

The band's Satanic debut, and a fantastic piece of work it is. Of course, my favorite is the 11-minute epic "Satan's Fall"; "Black Funeral", "...Demon Bell" and "Evil" are also great songs. "Melissa" has got to be the world's ONLY power ballad dedicated to a dead witch! "Evil" has been covered by Bewitched.

"Don't Break the Oath"

  1. "A Dangerous Meeting" (5:10)
  2. "Nightmare" (6:19)
  3. "Desecration of Souls" (4:54)
  4. "Night of the Unborn" (4:59)
  5. "The Oath" (7:30)
  6. "Gypsy" (3:07)
  7. "Welcome Princess of Hell" (4:02)
  8. "To One Far Away"--instrumental (1:31)
  9. "Come to the Sabbath" (5:20)

This was the first Fate album I bought, and King's screechy falsetto voice initially took me aback (one of the necessary acquired tastes for all MF fans.) Every song here is about Satan, in fact "The Oath" is a pure Satanic liturgy swearing fealty to his Infernal Majesty! Way cool! I showed this album to some Christian friends, and they insisted that I was going to hell unless I burned it. Took that as a good sign. :-)

"In the Shadows"

  1. "Egypt" (4:52)
  2. "The Bell Witch" (4:33)
  3. "The Old Oak" (8:53)
  4. "Shadows" (4:41)
  5. "A Gruesome Tale" (4:30)
  6. "Thirteen Invitations" (5:16)
  7. "Room of Golden Air"--instrumental (3:05)
  8. "Legend of the Headless Rider" (7:42)
  9. "Is That You, Melissa" (4:37)
  10. "Return of the Vampire...1993" (5:08)

After breaking up for ten years, the band reformed with the original lineup (minus the drummer), after King decided he wasn't making enough money through his solo career (or something like that.) Sadly, I was very disappointed with the result. Not a single song about Satan, and for the most part the music sounds like a watered-down version of King's solo material (which, at the time, was getting pretty wimpy also!) The only thing of interest here is a new version of "Return of the Vampire", which features Lars Ulrich (DIE BASTARD DIE!) of Metallica on drums.

"The Bell Witch"

  1. "The Bell Witch" (4:33)
  2. "Is That You, Melissa" (4:37)
  3. "Curse of the Pharaohs"--live (4:23)
  4. "Egypt"--live (4:53)
  5. "Come to the Sabbath"--live (6:47)
  6. "Black Funeral"--live (3:39)

The only thing of interest here is the four live tracks, since it's the only Fate material that has ever been released live. (Except on bootlegs, but those are always soooo crappy-sounding...)

"Time"

  1. "Nightmare be thy Name" (3:28)
  2. "Angel of Light" (3:36)
  3. "Witches' Dance" (4:48)
  4. "The Mad Arab" (4:43)
  5. "My Demon" (4:42)
  6. "Time" (4:22)
  7. "The Preacher" (3:30)
  8. "Lady in Black" (3:50)
  9. "Mirror" (3:19)
  10. "The Afterlife" (4:32)
  11. "Castillo del Mortes" (6:15)

This album was a pleasant surprise, still no Satan songs but a major improvement over the previous album. "Angel of Light" is the best song here.

"Into the Unknown"

  1. "Lucifer"--instrumental (1:29)
  2. "The Uninvited Guest" (4:14)
  3. "The Ghost of Change" (5:41)
  4. "Listen to the Bell" (3:56)
  5. "Fifteen Men (and a Bottle of Rum)" (5:04)
  6. "Into the Unknown" (6:33)
  7. "Under the Spell" (4:40)
  8. "Deadtime" (3:13)
  9. "Holy Water" (4:31)
  10. "Kutulu (The Mad Arab Part Two)" (5:17)

I think King's stretching himself thin by fronting two bands at the same time, don't you think? Not to mention doing "The Ripper" for the Judas Priest tribute album... "Uninvited Guest" is a fairly inspired tune, but the rest isn't all that exciting. It's better than In the Shadows, but not by much.

"Dead Again"

  1. "Torture (1629)" (5:03)
  2. "The Night" (5:51)
  3. "Since Forever" (4:39)
  4. "The Lady Who Cries" (4:17)
  5. "Banshee" (4:46)
  6. "Mandrake" (6:06)
  7. "Sucking Your Blood" (4:21)
  8. "Dead Again" (13:40)
  9. "Fear" (4:16)
  10. "Crossroads" (5:42)

This is a good album. The highlight, of course, is the 13-minute title track, which beats their length record by over two minutes! Not as good as classic Fate, of course, but still worth a listen.

"9"

  1. "Last Rites" (4:12)
  2. "Church of Saint Anne" (4:44)
  3. "Sold My Soul" (5:04)
  4. "House on the Hill" (3:43)
  5. "Burn in Hell" (3:49)
  6. "The Grave" (4:09)
  7. "Insane" (3:01)
  8. "Kiss the Demon" (3:53)
  9. "Buried Alive" (4:41)
  10. "9" (4:31)

Is this really the band's 9th album? Hmm, if you cound Return of the Vampire and The Beginning, I guess it is. Anyway, this one's yet another dull collection of boring tunes. I think King finally realized that keeping two bands active was stretching himself way too thin, as he's released two solo albums since this one without an accompanying Fate album. Probably just as well.

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