Mercyful Fate

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Mercyful Fate

Origin	Copenhagen
Country	Denmark
Years active	1980—Present
Genres	Black metal Heavy metal
Labels	Combat Records Roadrunner Records Metal Blade
Website(s)	www.covenworldwide.org

Mercyful Fate is an influential Danish heavy metal group that helped inspire the black metal, thrash metal, power metal and progressive metal genres. They are noted as being a pioneering band of the first wave of black metal.

1 Biography
2 Melissa
3 Members
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Origins

The band was founded in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1980 from the ashes of Hank Shermann's band Brats and King Diamond's band Black Rose. Shortly thereafter, in the Spring of 1981 they helped out a fellow Dane, Michael Denner, with demos for his band Danger Zone. Soon it was apparent that Shermann, Denner, Diamond and Denner's bassplayer, Timi Grabber (real name Timi G. Hansen), fit well together as a unit and those players performed under the Mercyful Fate moniker for the first time in Denmark.

There were the usual member changes for a young band; Denner left and then returned and drummers came and went, but finally Kim Ruzz established himself as the drummer. The band recorded their first material on vinyl late in 1982 for the Dutch label "Rave On" titled Nuns Have No Fun (having also contributed earlier in 1982, to the Ebony Records sampler "Metallic Storm"). This release included such heavy and evil material that a new genre was born: "black metal" (although Venom, who released Welcome to Hell' the year before should also be considered as the forefathers of black metal, though their approach was semi-satiric). In contrast to other bands who used pseudo-Satanic imagery purely from an entertainment standpoint, King Diamond is a professed Satanist and member of the Church of Satan, and most of Fate's early lyrics were in favour of Satanism and hostile to Christianity ("Don't Break The Oath").

Following their first album (actually a four song EP) the band released two albums: Melissa and Don't Break the Oath. Both albums featured the distinctive sound of Shermann and Denner on guitar, the unique rhythm section of Grabber and King Diamond's falsetto vocals. Both albums are now considered to be classics in both the power metal and black metal genres. Internal differences forced the band to break up in April of 1985. Diamond, Grabber (now Hansen) and Denner formed the King Diamond solo band which continued the tradition of Mercyful Fate, albeit with a more progressive, conceptual theme. Shermann went towards a more AOR-type approach with his band "Fate".

[edit] Reunion

But these Danes always stayed in touch, even helping out in each others various solo performances. And as the years passed the cult following of the band refused to die off and, in July of 1992 the band reformed and signed a contract with Metal Blade (an independent Heavy Metal label led by Brian Slagel who released the debuts of Mercyful Fate influenced bands Metallica and Slayer). All the original members, minus Kim Ruzz, who was replaced by Morten Nielsen, were back for a second chance. In 1993 they released In the Shadows, and, in the years since have released four more albums; Time, Into the Unknown, Dead Again and 9. As in the past band members have left and been replaced. Michael Denner left and was replaced by Mike Wead, Drummer Nielsen was later replaced by Snowy Shaw who was then replaced by Bjarne Holm, Bassist Timi Hansen left quickly and was replaced by Sharlee D'Angelo. King Diamond has, since the initial split, also kept together a very successful solo band.

Currently, Mercyful Fate are on a hiatus; the band reportedly still owes the record company one more album, but when it will occur is unknown. There is also talk of a DVD release of early Mercyful Fate audio and video material which is highly anticipated by the fans of the band. Additionally, Shermann, Denner, Holm and King Diamond solo-band Bass player Hal Patino have formed Force Of Evil, a band that incorporates many of the themes of the original Mercyful Fate.

[edit] Legacy

Mercyful Fate will always be remembered for their unquestionable mark on the history of metal, with their new innovative sound, complex arrangements, memorable melody, and their influence on bands that later took the genre to new heights.

In 1998, Metallica paid tribute to Mercyful Fate by recording a medley of classic Mercyful Fate songs on the album Garage Inc. Entitled "Mercyful Fate", the medley included parts from "Satan's Fall", "Curse of the Pharaohs", "A Corpse Without Soul", "Into the Coven", and "Evil".

Lars Ulrich of Metallica (a fellow Dane) also played drums on a new version of "Return of the Vampire" on the In the Shadows album. Ulrich was also said to be instrumental in securing Mercyful Fate a new record deal with longtime friend Brian Slagel's label, Metal Blade^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Melissa

Melissa is the name of a skull King Diamond used to carry on stage and also a fictional deceased witch that appears in three songs. Before the recordings of the album Melissa King Diamond had acquired a human skeleton that he named "Melissa". He used the femur bones to make his trademark microphone handle. The skull was apparently stolen during a show in the Netherlands.

The song "Melissa" is the title track of Mercyful Fate's first release Melissa and the climax of the album. Musically, it is very different from the rest of the album. It is much slower than the other songs which are speedier and more aggressive, with King Diamond singing with greater melancholy and a somber and emotional embrace.

The lyrics tell of a male protagonist (usually identified as King Diamond himself by fans) who lost the love of his life, named "Melissa". She is a witch who was burnt at the stake by a Catholic Priest. The story builds itself up around the emotions of the protagonist, who first feels sadness and uncertainty, hope for her to still be alive, and then rage over his loss. He swears revenge on the priest who burnt her, proclaiming that he must die in the name of hell. The song ends with a whisper that hints Melissa's spirit is still with the protagonist.

The second song Melissa appears on is on the album Don't Break the Oath in the song "Come to the Sabbath" once again at the climax of the album. The lyrics tell about a satanic coven holding a sabbath, in which the protagonist emerges to perform a ritual to "put an evil curse on the priest who took the life of Melissa". Though she is not the focus of the lyrics this time, because of her mention the song is known as a "Melissa song".

The final song Melissa appears in is on Mercyful Fate's reunion album In the Shadows on the song "Is that you, Melissa?". The lyrics tell of the protagonist once again in sorrow about the loss of his love. He begins to hear her voice and goes to the coven to have them perform a ritual to speak with her ghost. The coven objects, saying that it is against the rules. The protagonist is visited by Melissa's spirit who shares a kiss with the protagonist. The subject of the song is argued by some; one side says the lyrics are not a continuation of the Melissa story but a tribute by the band to their past, while the other side sees it as the end of the Melissa story.

Melissa's image is on the cover of the album Melissa, tied to a stake. It is also widely accepted that she is the girl on the album cover of "In the Shadows" facing the old oak tree.

After In the Shadows, Melissa has not been mentioned in the lyrics or featured in artwork. Other songs such as "Lady in Black" are claimed to be Melissa songs. This is disputed because there are no mentions of the name "Melissa" in it or in the rest of the songs.

Additionally, one of the main characters on the King Diamond solo album Them was named "Missy", a common diminutive of Melissa.