The uber glory of classic power metal.
Ace Boon Coon | on break at Kroger | 06/29/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"First of all, I don't consider this black metal because it doesn't sound as weird as say Emperor, or as crudely anti-christian violent as say Darkthrone. Mercyful fate sounded more like Iron Maiden than anything else. The satanic lyrics may have been offensive in the early 70's, but these guys are actually post-maiden, and were mid-late eighties contemporaries of Metallica! I guess they were dated even back in the day. Fortunately, Fate had some excellent guitar epics and a great squelly falsetto singer named King Diamond. I highly recommend this if you are a fan of Iron Maiden, Metallica's "Kill Em' All", or Rush's albums from "A Caress of Steel" to "A Farewell to Kings"."
Truly the best band from the 80's.
Ace Boon Coon | 02/12/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"As a person born in 85', I have a strong love for the heavy metal of that decade. But after having my fill of Metallica and the likes, I needed something new and exciting. I found Mercyful Fate, something that instantly appealed to me at first listen.
Many people will claim several things about early Mercyful Fate. One of those claims is that their sound was pretty derivative of bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. That may be true, but they went beyond the riff-by-number style of those bands and brought something totally new to the table. Instead of focusing on the sex,drugs and rock and roll attitude of all the carbon copy metal bands of the 80's, Mercyful Fate brought a dark side to the genre that surpasses what Black Sabbath was known for. Taking the obsessions of horror and the occult to a new level, the band introduced an eccentric but unique character , King Diamond. Early works would show the raw power and emotion that King has. Being able to scream like a banshee, howl like a wolf, or carry a low register vocal tune quickly displayed the immense range that would only progress through the next 20+ years. Not only did King Diamond display a wide variety of powerful vocal styles, but the musicianship of his fellow band members is not very easily rivaled. Hank Shermann slammed out the raw and heavy powerhouse riffs, while Michael Denner played insanely unreal neo-classical flavored solos that made your head spin. Timi Hansen pounded away with a brooding bass drive, while Kim Ruzz slammed the drums like no other. Together, the quintet produced a unique sound that influenced bands, and still in fact inspires bands to follow in their lead.
To sum up a Best of Album for Mercyful Fate is pretty hard to decide, and there are surely songs missing from this record that should be included. Every song on here is nothing but pure brilliance. The songs themselves in theme are quite formulaic ( ie, the dead, Satan, black arts) but that's the general appeal to people who have a certain interest in those themes like myself.
If nothing else, Mercyful Fate is a testament to true metal, and that's the simple philosophy of doing what you love and your fans love, and not selling out or changing style to suit the ever changing music community. That's why Mercyful Fate and King Diamond's solo carrer will always carry more of a cult following than mainstream recognition, which is depressing in ways because both efforts deserve much more props than they've ever recieved.
If you sit down and listen to this album from beginning to end, you'll come out from this experience mesmerized. Your ears will be assaulted by pure raw energy that never lets up long enough to catch a breather. While there are slower songs, each one carries it's own unique atmospheric quality that truly allows you to appreciate it more each time you listen to it. I can't list any stand out tracks here beacause they're all amazing songs in their own respect.
A lot of thought and effort was put into this music, and it shows greatly. This is a great place to start, but if you can find the individual albums that make up this compilation, it would be wize to just buy them seperately. I highly recommend this band, I higly recommend this album.
Stay Heavy, Stay Metal......"
Best and only good Black Metal band around.
Ace Boon Coon | 09/13/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I'm not a kid really. My first taste of MF was off the Garage Inc album, and I had to know who the real guys were. I soon found out, and I had to get there stuff. I had gone to many stores trying to find them with no luck. I finally found a section of their albums at an FYE, and the selection was rather limited. I chose this album because I love their early work, especially Pharaos and Evil. Every song on this album is pure mastery.
Doomed by the Living Dead- awesome song opens with an eerie intro 5 stars
Corpse without Soul- I love the sound that Denner and Sherman produce in their music, it has a nice clean classic feeling to it- this is a very cool song 4 stars
Nuns have no Fun- this is not my favorite song on here, since it's hard to make out the lyrics in some parts- it's also pretty funny- 3.5 stars
Evil- great song that truly respresents it's title- it's very evil, King shows his vocal powers nicely- 5 stars
Curse of the Pharaohs- the first MF song I had heard- great into, mind blowing solos- King doesn't fully show his chops, but still great- 5 stars
Into the Coven- don't let the classical into fool you, this song is anything but innocent- great structure- 5 stars
Black Funeral- As a person who was born the night after Halloween I have always had a strong liking for all things dark and evil- this song is a satanic song without getting out of hand like Slayer do 4 stars
Satans Fall- The very first part of this song is excellent, but is falls dramatically downwards after- this song is also a test of patience since it spans 11 minutes - it does have some great solos, but it's not really anything special- 3 stars
Dangerous Meeting- this is the greatest song on the album, and my favorite- the musicianship is so technical and King sounds amazing- I listened to this song 6 times in one day after hearing it for the first time- 10000000 stars
Desecration of Souls- the first little solo at the beginning of the song is really cool, and the lyrics are very dark- 4 stars
Gypsy- the most unique sounding song on the record, the music was also written by King, you can tell he has a trademark sound. kind of short but it's really a standout track of the album 4.5 stars
Come to the Sabbath- Very fast, but it includes harpischorde notes that really give this song atmosphere- 4.5 stars
Buring the Cross- very early work, has the demo sound to it. incredible solos overshadow the otherwise repetitive lyrics 3.5 stars
Return of the Vampire- the slowest song, gives you a "inside a castle" feeling- it's very moody, but it take plenty of time to grow onto you- 3.5 stars
This is great collection of songs, but it would have been better with tracks such as Black Masses and Devil Eyes included
It's also a great buy, I found it for 15 bucks after searching a year for it."
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1