Mercyful Fate

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Mercyful Fate
General information
Genre (s) Heavy metal
founding 1981, 1991
resolution 1985
Founding members
King Diamond (Kim Bendix Petersen)
Hank Shermann
guitar
 Michael Denner
Timi G. Hansen († 2019)
Kim Ruzz
former members
guitar
 Carsten van der Volsing
Drums
 Nick Smith
Drums
 Snowy Shaw (1993-1994)
Drums
 Bob Lance (1994-?)
Drums
 Darrin Anthony (? -1997)
Drums
 John Lukas Herber (1997)
bass
 Sharlee D'Angelo (1993)
guitar
 Mike Wead (1996)
King Diamond

Mercyful Fate is a heavy metal band from Denmark that had a strong influence on various styles of metal developed in the 1980s . The group was founded in 1981 by singer Kim Bendix Petersen alias King Diamond , who was one of the first metal musicians to perform with Corpsepaint , and guitarist Hank Shermann in Copenhagen .

Musically, Mercyful Fate are characterized by influences from progressive rock , the epic hard rock of the 1970s and traditional heavy metal, virtuoso guitar work and frequent tempo changes. Characteristic is King Diamond's voice, which often changes from normal to falsetto . Her album Don't Break the Oath , released in 1984, is considered one of the most important groundbreaking heavy metal albums of the 1980s.

history

Mercyful Fate emerged in 1981 from Hank Shermann's band Brats , which, due to their stylistic development away from punk and towards heavy metal, saw a name change as necessary; the name Back to Hell was pondered until the manager's girlfriend suggested Merciful Fate. The name was adopted but changed to Mercyful Fate when their classic Fraktur script was created that same month. Mercyful Fate played a demo recording and sent it together with selected pieces from the Brats cassettes to various record labels and radio stations, with Radio Hilversum from the Netherlands first playing Mercyful Fate pieces, thus contributing to a strong following in the Netherlands. In April 1981, Diamond and Shermann were asked by Michael Denner to help him make a demo recording for his new band Danger Zone. She hadn't found a suitable singer, her songs Leavy My Soul Alone and MDA were released by Mercyful Fate in 1992. Danger Zone and Mercyful Fate were merged into one band due to the good collaboration; this new version of Mercyful Fate had its first appearance in Taastrup, a small suburb of Copenhagen.

In early 1982 Mercyful Fate played two demo recordings; In contrast to the first, which contained the songs Death Kiss , You Asked for It and Running Away , the second came officially with the songs Walking Back to Hell , Running Free , You Asked for It and Hard Rocker (some versions also contain Love Criminals ) in circulation and first attracted attention in the Netherlands. Despite their success in the tape trading underground, no major labels were interested in the band. In May 1982 the band flew to Hull, England to record for Ebony Records; Daryl Johnston of Ebony Records' A&R department liked many of Mercyful Fate's recordings and offered the band recordings for two upcoming Ebony Records samplers. The band recorded Black Funeral and Walking Back to Hell ; Black Funeral appeared on Metallic Storm that summer , while Walking Back to Hell was not used. The piece was later renamed Death Kiss and ultimately known as A Dangerous Meeting ; the original version appeared ten years later on Return of the Vampire and another demo version entitled Death Kiss on the 1997 re-release of Don't Break the Oath .

Rave-On Records from the Netherlands offered the band their first record deal; the following September four tracks were recorded and mixed at Stone Sound Studios in two or three days under time pressure, so that they did not meet the expectations of the band; some of the guitar solos were carried over on the first take . Jac Hustinx, EP producer and owner of Rave-On Records, only allowed one take for many of Shermann's recordings, including the intro solo for A Corpse Without Soul . The band was also dissatisfied with the quality of the production. A Danish priest tried to end the musical career of the then unknown band because of their satanic behavior before the EP was released. He wrote to newspapers to stop the band. In response, the band designed the album cover for the EP. This shows a woman, naked with the exception of a thong , tied to a cross, who is supposed to represent a nun . This is burned by a coven , which consists of beings with demonic faces wrapped in habitats . Mercyful Fate got the chance to appear on state television. Diamond stated that the cover is just a painting whereas the church actually burned people. At the time, Mercyful Fate used a "nun" at concerts in Denmark, who was stripped and treated lewdly. With the EP Mercyful Fate , also known as Nuns Have No Fun , the band caused a sensation " after only one year of joint semi-professional demo recordings". Live the band used stage effects such as the "exploding nun" at the end of performances or the burning cross at a performance in Amsterdam around 1983. During a performance with Girlschool , the band held a black mass on stage using the blood of their manager Ole Bang; Girlschools singer Kim McAuliffe suffered a severe electrocution during her performance that almost killed her. The members of Mercyful Fate attribute this incident to the Black Mass, which they believe to have attracted something. An electrician called by the police could not find any faults.

Tommy Vance invited Mercyful Fate to record the Friday Rock Show on BBC Radio 1 in England; the band arrived on March 18th and played their first concert in England that same evening at The Moonlight Club in front of a small, very enthusiastic audience. The following day, the BBC's Curse of the Pharaohs , Evil and Satan's Fall were recorded within 8 hours at The Maida Vale Studios and later mixed and produced by BBC sound engineer Tony Wilson. The same evening the band played at The Clarendon Ballroom in London. At the beginning of April the band played concerts in the Netherlands, which were organized by Rave-On Records and should coincide with the recordings for the first album; however, the band decided to leave Rave-On Records because the band's finances and conditions for recording an album (for example, enough time in the studio) were not enough. Rave-On Records falsely claimed that the shows should have been canceled because King Diamond broke his leg; A friend of the band who worked for the Aardschok , however, had taken over the promotion of these concerts and made it possible for Mercyful Fate the planned performances. The recordings for The Friday Rock Show aired on April 22nd; after that broadcast, the BBC received numerous re-broadcast requests which it complied, which helped the band. Among the listeners were employees from Roadrunner Records from Amsterdam; they were interested in a long-term contract with Mercyful Fate and contacted the band in May 1983. On June 1, the band gave a concert in Copenhagen and performed the following day at the annual Aardshok Festival. She played with bands like Accept , Raven , Vandenberg and Trance . The band then signed a five-album deal with Roadrunner Records. A day later Mercyful Fate played in Bochum and then returned to Denmark to prepare the material for the recordings for the first album.

On July 18, 1983, recordings began in the Easy Sounds Studios in Copenhagen; although the band had more time than the EP and spent thirteen days in the studio, the album was recorded in a hurry; it was produced by Henrik Lund, who ran the studio together with his brother. While Lund was mixing the album, the band had to wait in front of the door until he invited the band in to listen to the mix and comment on it; the band found this very irritating. The LP Melissa was released on November 26, 1983 . Melissa is the name of a real human skull that was given to King Diamond. There was damage to the forehead, and there was a large piece inside that had peeled off and then grown back on the inside, and it had a small hole that you could see inside the skull. So the person must have been hit directly on the forehead with an ax or other object, but obviously not died from it. Diamond wondered what might have happened to this person, which became the theme song of the Melissa album. This is about a fictional witch executed by a priest who appears thematically in several titles of Mercyful Fate. The album also contained Satan's Fall , which became longer and longer due to Diamond's revisions and whose text was inspired by Anton Szandor LaVey 's Satanic Bible, which was very important to him . In December 1983 the single Black Funeral followed with the B-side Black Masses from the recordings for Melissa . In 1983 Mercyful Fate also met the American band Metallica , who recorded albums in Copenhagen and borrowed equipment from Mercyful Fate; both bands became friends with each other.

With an appearance at The Dynamo in Eindhoven on January 19, 1984, the band began a tour through Europe; Melissa's skull was stolen when performing in Amsterdam on January 21st at The Paradiso Theater. After six appearances in Italy in February, the band toured Great Britain with Manowar on March 3 ; Mercyful Fate only played one of 11 originally booked gigs at St. Albans City Hall in Hertfordshire. There Manowar's tour manager demanded that Mercyful Fates' equipment remain on the road until Manowar had finished the sound check; The equipment was only allowed to be brought in at 7:30 p.m., for which only 30 minutes remained, as the entry began at 8:00 p.m. At the beginning of the concert, the band was told that they could only play 25 minutes instead of the promised 45 minutes. Her sound engineer was also denied access to the mixer, which affected the sound. During the performance, Manowar's engineer began manipulating Mercyful Fates' sound, after which the band demanded drastic changes for the remainder of the tour. These were supported by Mercyful Fates record company, but Manowar refused. Mercyful Fate abandoned the tour and suffered a great financial loss, along with the disappointment of the British fans.

On April 5th Mercyful Fate played the opening act at the sold out Saltlageret in Copenhagen. There the band was able to present their new, expensive stage equipment for the first time. From April 30th, the band worked for 19 days at Easy Sounds Studios on their next release. On June 10th, Mercyful Fate played with Motörhead , Twisted Sister , Metallica, Baron Rojo, Lita Ford, H-Bomb and Faithful Breath at the Heavy Sounds Festival in Poperinge, Belgium, for the first time on an open-air stage in daylight, but that wasn't fits the atmosphere of the music. In May 1984 Mercyful Fate returned to the studio for the recording of their second album with producer Henrik Lund; this time the band refused to leave the studio. On August 10, 1984, the album was released under the title Don't Break the Oath ; it debuted at number 202 on the Billboard magazine charts . Shortly after the album was released, the band fired their co-manager John Kibble as he recorded their concerts and sold them as supposedly real albums (including most of the band's early bootlegs ); about 5,000 to 10,000 such records were discovered and destroyed. Mercyful Fate represented himself from now on, with the help of his friend Ole Bang.

In October 1984 the band was booked for a US tour; originally 15 appearances were planned in 3 weeks, due to the unexpectedly high sales figures 19 additional appearances were planned. Mercyful Fate first played in clubs on her own tour and then in cinemas as a support act for Motörhead. The tour ended on December 16 in Providence, Rhode Island; further performances in Norfolk and Pittsburg were canceled due to pressure from religious groups; the band landed on page 1 of USA Today and The Globe , respectively , with the headline Satanic rockers threaten our kids . After the tour, tensions arose over future musical developments. From December 26th to December 30th, Mercyful Fate played on the German Christmas Metal Meeting Tour together with Motörhead, Helix, Girlschool and Talon.

In early 1985 the band was preparing material for their next album; At the end of February, Shermann played Diamond a cassette of riffs and ideas for the upcoming album, and Diamond had prepared five pieces that continued the style of the previous albums. Shermann's material, however, went in a different direction as it was "much softer and even funky in some places ." Since Shermann was "a great comedian," Diamond initially thought it was a prank until he found out Shermann was serious. Shermann tried numerous other experiments at the time, as he listened to a lot of funk and was inspired by it to write material that shocked Diamond and Denner. It was clear to Diamond that a mix of these two styles would never work on a Mercyful Fate album. Neither he nor Shermann were willing to compromise, and Diamond initially decided for himself to form his own band. In the meantime, Denner and Hansen spent a lot of time with a drummer named Mikkey Dee , who played in the band Geisha. Diamond heard that Dee was a good drummer, told him about his plans to break up Mercyful Fate and start a new band, and asked him if he was interested; Dee accepted. Dee also approached his friend Pete Blakk, who, however, was not interested. On April 11, 1985 Mercyful Fate gave a concert at The Saga Theater in Copenhagen; the next day Diamond called the other members together and informed them of his decision to leave the band. One day later, the end of Mercyful Fate was official, which also meant the cancellation of the planned tour of Germany.

Even after their breakup, the band caused controversy when the Parents Music Resource Center published a list of fifteen songs that were considered particularly obnoxious; on this were, among others, Black Sabbath , Judas Priest and WASP represented, also with Mercyful Fate Into the Coven from the debut album. Through its political connections (the members of the PMRC were the wives of important American politicians), the PMRC was able to reach a hearing in the Senate.

Hank Shermann founded the hard rock band Fate . Michael Denner was briefly scheduled for the Fate album, but there was never a collaboration. King Diamond, on the other hand, founded a new band, which he named after himself, together with guitarist Michael Denner and bassist Timi Hansen. Drummer Kim Ruzz left the music scene because he was not accepted into King Diamond's new band, because Denner did not get along with him and the two had even fought on a tour; Diamond had also fought him once in Copenhagen. Ruzz lived and worked as a postman in the US for a few years , but moved back to Denmark. He then continued to play the drums, but stayed away from the music industry.

As King Diamond's success grew, so did the demand for a re-release of the first Mercyful Fate EP. In October 1987 Roadrunner Records released the compilation The Beginning , whereupon the tracks from the EP, four other songs, three from the BBC recording from 1983 and Black Masses from the B-side of the Black Funeral single were included. Return of the Vampire was also released in 1992 under the name Mercyful Fate .

The founding of the band Zoser Mez by Michael Denner and Hank Shermann in 1991 ultimately led to the re-establishment of Mercyful Fate; the band made a demo recording that reminded King Diamond of Mercyful Fate and made him propose a reunion. At the same time, the band Zoser Mez stagnated. Morten Nielsen was hired to record In the Shadows , and Snowy Shaw was the new drummer. After the tour for the album, Timi left the band for family reasons and was replaced by Sharlee D'Angelo. The limited live EP The Bell Witch has been released.

Time was released in 1994 ; Videos were shot for the two songs Nightmare Be Thy Name and Witches' Dance . In 1996 Into the Unknown was released, which was created at the same time as a solo album Diamonds. In 1997 Michael Denner got out and asked Mike Wead to take his place, and drummer Darrin Anthony was replaced by John Lukas Hebert due to a traffic accident. Many special editions with bonus tracks were also released in '97.

In 1998 the LP Dead Again and a video for The Night were released. 9 , which was released in 1999, is the last album of the formation Mercyful Fate to date. That year the logo was also changed and the sound tended again towards Don't Break the Oath .

After numerous other solo projects, King Diamond had to interrupt his US tour for the first time in 2005 for health reasons. In August 2019, Timi Hansen announced that he had cancer. He succumbed to his illness in November 2019.

meaning

The band's influences come from progressive rock , epic hard rock of the 1970s and traditional heavy metal, characteristic are also virtuoso guitar work and frequent tempo changes as well as King Diamond's voice, which often changes from normal to falsetto . She presented her second demo recording "as we know the band today"; According to Götz Kühnemund , it is "one of the most iconic [demos] of all time", containing early versions of such "pearls of the century" as A Dangerous Meeting and Black Masses .

The band is one of the pioneers of the later Black Metal scene. Musically, due to their influences and the singing of King Diamond in falsetto , the band had little in common with the later Black Metal and was copied less often than other pioneers, "although their influence on the genre cannot be appreciated enough". However, it is named as inspiration by some bands from the Black Metal environment as well as by some Thrash and Death Metal bands, including Grand Belial's Key , Mortuary Drape or Tearstained, whereby Mikael Bayusik from Tearstained also refers to Diamond's falsetto oriented.

Also Mille Petrozza of Kreator Mercyful Fate to his early influences counts as Chuck Schuldiner of Death , the Mercyful Fate even one of the original death metal bands, and former Morbid Angel guitarist Richard Brunelle. Former thrash metal band Metallica released a medley called Mercyful Fate on their album Garage Inc. in 1998 , which includes passages from Satan's Fall , Curse of the Pharaohs , A Corpse Without Soul , Into the Coven and Evil . The music of Mercyful Fate also inspired James Malone von Arsis , who switched from violin to guitar after listening to Don't Break the Oath and wanted to create similar music.

Discography

Patch with the logo of Mercyful Fate (1983)
Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Don't break the oath
  SE 33 08/31/1984 (2 weeks)
  DE 66 06/12/2020 (1 week)
Into the Unknown
  FI 31 36/1996 (2 weeks)
Melissa
  DE 69 06/12/2020 (1 week)

Albums

Singles and EPs

  • 1982: Mercyful Fate (EP, also known under the titles Nuns Have No Fun or A Corpse Without Soul ; Rave-On Records)
  • 1983: Black Funeral (single; Music for Nations)
  • 1993: Egypt (promo single; Metal Blade Records)
  • 1994: The Bell Witch (Live EP; Metal Blade Records ao)
  • 2009: The Curse of Evil (Promo EP; FM Records)
  • 2009: Evil (single; Massacre Records )

Compilations

  • 1987: The Beginning (Roadrunner Records)
  • 1992: Return of the Vampire (Roadrunner Records, Far East Metal Syndicate, Metal Mind Records)
  • 2003: The Best of Mercyful Fate (Roadrunner Records)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Götz Kühnemund : A History of Horror . In: Rock Hard , No. 282, November 2010, pp. 20-27.
  2. ↑ a b c d Björn Thorsten Jaschinski: Dissecting table . In: Rock Hard , No. 282, November 2010, p. 28.
  3. ^ Andy Allen: The complete biography of King Diamond. Black Rose. Coven Worldwide, archived from the original on September 19, 2010 ; accessed on August 30, 2012 (English).
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Andy Allen: The complete biography of King Diamond. Mercyful Fate. Coven Worldwide, archived from the original on September 19, 2010 ; accessed on August 30, 2012 (English).
  5. ↑ a b Götz Kühnemund: Mercyful Fate . Demo # 2 . In: Rock Hard , No. 313, June 2013, p. 57.
  6. ↑ a b c d e Andy Allen: The complete biography of King Diamond. Melissa. Coven Worldwide, archived from the original on September 19, 2010 ; accessed on August 30, 2012 (English).
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g Andy Allen: The complete biography of King Diamond. Don't Break The Oath. Coven Worldwide, archived from the original on September 19, 2010 ; accessed on September 3, 2012 .
  8. ↑ a b INTERVIEWS. Mario's Metal Mania. Retrieved September 3, 2012 .
  9. ^ Andy Allen: The complete biography of King Diamond. The first solo works. Coven Worldwide, archived from the original on September 19, 2010 ; accessed on September 24, 2012 (English).
  10. ↑ MERCYFUL FATE - bassist Timi Hansen has passed away , accessed on November 7, 2019
  11. ↑ Michael Moynihan , Didrik Søderlind: Lords of Chaos . The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground . Venice: Feral House 1998, ISBN 0-922915-48-2 , p. 10.
  12. ↑ Michael Moynihan, Didrik Søderlind: Lords of Chaos . The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground . Feral House 1998, ISBN 0-922915-48-2 , pp. 14ff.
  13. ^ Grand Belial's Key . In: Eternal Darkness , No. 7, 1994.
  14. ↑ a b BARBARIAN WRATH: RELEASES ( Memento of November 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ).
  15. ↑ Mortuary Drape .
  16. ^ A b Cluedo: Interview with Mikael .
  17. ↑ Tearstained .
  18. ↑ Todd DePalma: Tearstained - monumental in its Sorrow: Review .
  19. ↑ xDemoNx: Tearstained .
  20. ↑ Pyro: Interview of: Miland 'Mille' Petrozza - Kreator .
  21. ↑ Jim Raggi: Chuck Schuldiner: guitar player first .
  22. ^ Metal Mania video show .
  23. ↑ Byron Nash: There's Not Life Without Death .
  24. ↑ Erik Westerveld: Burning Inside .
  25. ↑ a b The Chemistry Of Death .
  26. ↑ Jeff Kitts: Lost Boys .
  27. ↑ Chris Dick: GOODBYE IS FOREVER .
  28. ↑ Chart sources: SE FI DE
  29. ↑ Malcolm Dome: Being there .