Mercyful Fate (EP)
| Mercyful Fate | ||||
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| Extended Play from Mercyful Fate | ||||
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Publication |
1982 |
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| Label (s) | Rave-On Records | |||
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Format (s) |
7 "EP |
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Title (number) |
4th |
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running time |
22:04 |
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| occupation |
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Jac Hustinx |
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Studio (s) |
Stone Sound Studios |
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Mercyful Fate is the first EP by the band of the same name Mercyful Fate .
History of origin
The Dutch label Rave-On Records offered Mercyful Fate a first record deal. The following September the band went to Stone Sound Studios, where the four songs for the EP were recorded and mixed within two or three days. The band was under time pressure, the EP was finished so quickly that it did not meet the expectations of the band. Some of the guitar solos on it were the first takes that were recorded under pressure. Jac Hustinx, producer of the EP and owner of the label, only allowed one take for many of Hank 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 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.
Track list
- A Corpse Without Soul (Shermann / Diamond) - 6:53
- Nuns Have No Fun (Shermann-Denner / Diamond) - 4:17
- Doomed by the Living Dead (Shermann / Diamond) - 5:06
- Devil Eyes (Shermann / Diamond) - 5:48
Style and texts
The band's influences come from progressive rock , epic hard rock of the 1970s and traditional heavy metal . The singing of King Diamond in falsetto is also characteristic . The lyrics are inspired by Satanism ; while Diamond was later to "bring the satanic texts to a much higher linguistic level", Nuns Have No Fun was "no less explicit than the early Venom material ".
When writing the song Devil Eyes , Shermann was inspired by Kiss ' I Was Made for Lovin' You , which for Diamond marks the beginning of Kiss's descent. The beat of the hi-hats also reminds Diamond of disco music and seems amateurish to him, which is why he is the only one from Mercyful Fate who doesn't like the song and refuses to play it live. He also finds it “quite unfriendly to singing”.
reception
With their "high pace, an aggressive lead guitar, gripping harmonies, rhythmically variable songwriting and this gloomy atmosphere that made Demon and Witchfinder General look pale", the band caused a sensation with their EP "after only one year of semi-professional demo recordings together " . While the band themselves were dissatisfied with the quality of the production, numerous fans liked their sound. The EP is considered a classic of the genre. Since it was difficult to obtain in the USA, numerous bootleg pressings were created.
The German magazine Rock Hard included the EP in the list of "250 Black Metal albums you should know" in 2009 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d 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).
- ↑ a b c Götz Kühnemund : A History of Horror . In: Rock Hard , No. 282, November 2010, pp. 20-27.
- ↑ a b c Björn Thorsten Jaschinski: Dissecting table . In: Rock Hard , No. 282, November 2010, p. 28.
- ↑ Martin Vengadesan: Masters of the macabre. Music, Myths & Legends. (No longer available online.) The Star Online eCentral, June 26, 2005, archived from the original on August 6, 2012 ; accessed on October 6, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Satan Stole My Teddybear music reviews - Mercyful Fate .
- ↑ 250 Black Metal Albums That You Should Know . In: Rock Hard , No. 269, October 2009, p. 75.
