Mercyful Fate - Melissa

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal sound seemed to have made its way over to Denmark in 1980 where a small, unassuming band called upon the dark forces of evil and began a trek into the seedy underbelly of satanic heavy metal. Mercyful Fate, arguably one the first bands to tackle such dismal themes alongside Venom, Celtic Frost and Bathory, set the bar higher than its peers with particular attention paid to good production, sharp guitar riffs, and a vocalist with a range near Rob Halford levels in Kim Bendix Petersen, a.k.a. King Diamond.

The band’s first step into the water was with the 1982 EP that is known by several names though the Mercyful Fate EP is the accepted moniker. It hosted four of the most exceptional tracks in heavy metal lore, pulling the classic British style up from the depths and stupefying legions of fans. When 1983’s Melissa fell into our hands a day before Halloween the die had been cast accordingly, setting in engraved steel the band’s status for the rest of heavy metal history.

“Evil” enters the room with all the subtly of a ball peen hammer hitting a two-by-four on hot concrete; there is no easing into the music on this one. Guitarist Hank Sherman offers his classic riff for a few bars until second guitarist Michael Denner thickens the sound, nicely backed by drummer Kim Ruzz and bassist Tim Grabber, all leading into a 40-minute entry into the more frightening parts of the soul and stomach. “Curse of the Pharaohs”, now a classic in the M.F. arsenal, is the track that may well have put the band on the map of seriousness and legendary stature; the track hammers the point home with one of the more punishing riffs in metal history. It’s certainly one of the more recognizable ones for the old-guard still enjoying this music for all of these decades. With “Into the Coven” we get to the core of Fate’s message, and its unrelenting malevolence hidden in chords of callous resignation and momentary beauty can render even the most stoic metal fan completely compliant. This album houses no filler as every track is its own piece of the larger puzzle.

All throughout the treasure that is Melissa the brilliance of the Sherman-Diamond writing partnership is consistent and gains momentum with each song, sealing the urn with the title track that lets the world know that King Diamond is a definitive force to be reckoned with and would be for some time to come. Every bit the showman, Diamond wore his own version of ‘corpse paint’ long before Swedes and Norwegians paid eternal homage to the great plague of 1349 and walked around the live stages grimacing at and menacing the audiences perfectly. With sub-topics ranging from satanic covens and ceremonies to ancient Egyptian curses and ritual sacrifice, Melissa redesigned the platform for the Devil’s symphony and is an esteemed member of the classic underground of the early 80’s, setting the stages for the black metal explosion of the early 90’s.
                       
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When I think of true ‘evil’ in the music sense, Mercyful Fate always pops right into my head right next to Venom simply due to the believability of the music. With Venom it was all about tone, that horribly under-produced lethargy that was so inescapably encompassing and addictive. Mercyful Fate took the topic to new heights with some sinister and well-constructed riffs overshadowing the pedestrianism of Venom’s early, albeit important sound. Add to that King Diamond’s overpowering, high-pitched scream and he was suddenly credible without pause.

I first heard Melissa in 1983 when my love for all things foreboding and evil really took shape. I’d be making up a scenario if I said I recalled the exact day and event this album burrowed into my psyche, but I do vividly recall hopping on my bike and heading to Kroozin’ Music about three miles from my home and special ordering the cassette. When the vinyl was sent in place of the tape a few days later I didn’t care, I was just excited about hearing the “Melissa” song again in any format I could grab. I didn’t even mind the terrible balancing act my 12-year-old self had to perform riding a Huffy dirt bike and carrying this brown paper bag with its precious cargo all the way home. I do remember thinking King Diamond wasn’t as vocally ‘powerful’ as Rob Halford, but, then again, who is? Still, my love affair with Mercyful Fate started that day and I’ve not looked back since, despite some of the cringe-worthy clunkers in the band’s discography.

What enticed me as a young and impressionable fan was the fact that Melissa didn’t try to overcompensate for its subject matter. That is, the lyrical content was introspective in its most basic form and made it easy to understand a realm of thought far beyond most youngsters’ imaginations. Even though my initial introduction to metal came in the dark sounds of Black Sabbath; Fate, Venom, Frost, Bathory and early Sodom just pushed me further into the abyss and I’ve yet to look back. This music was all-consuming on every cerebral level, even more so than Venom, which was my favorite band then. “Curse of the Pharaohs” absolutely killed me when I first heard it barreling out of the stereo, probably endearing me to my neighbors even more. I called my friend Kurt and he eventually came over and ingested the album as hard as I had. He eventually found his cassette copy and we rotated the hell out of that album for months after.

The main thing I recall about Mercyful Fate was that the music reminded me of the Diamond Head/Angel Witch/Nightwing sound, the latter being more in ‘classic’ NWOBHM arrangement than actual sound, a movement that had me mesmerized. The brilliance of the riffs that Michael Denner and Hank Sherman issued still rings some 28-years later, indelibly marking Melissa as a classic metal album on all counts. While Black Metal and the first Bathory album had the underground masses completely mystified, Mercyful Fate took the fluidity of strong, memorable riffs and proved that bum production and screeching vocals weren’t all the necessary implements to show servitude to Satan. After all of these years I still look back on this album with more than casual reverence; it was one of the points of my youth that was decidedly affirming. “Satan’s Fall” was my first real experience with an epic song outside of “Warning” by Black Sabbath; “At War with Satan” had yet to pass through my ears, and despite the 20-minute epic it is it was about 13-minutes too long for my taste, but that’s another review. The effortless magic of this song is still a winner after all of these years, even though my personal favorite track is “Melissa” with that haunting intro and talk of this little girl entering another life, even though the “I don’t need your god” line in “Satan’s Fall” is a tongue-in-cheek guilty pleasure. I hadn’t heard anything like that up to that point; Venom’s voracious bare-bones music into the Black Metal album was more a musical documentary than personal affinity, and the difference was obvious then and even more so now. Fate was the stronger band with the more intelligent lyrical prowess, hands down, due in large part to King’s very personal songwriting. That’s what sets Mercyful Fate above and over the peers of the day.

As I get older I look back at times and long for the old days, especially true when I write a piece like this, but I’m also very grateful that I was able to live through this special period and remember just how deeply a band affected me then and affects me now. I realize this to be a privilege and a gift not many can say they share, and the bands of my youth are still with me after all of these years together. We’ve made one hell of a journey together, and I can’t say thanks enough for what amounts to helping create the person writing this today.

Release Date: October 30, 1983
Label: Megaforce Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Evil
2.  Curse Of The Pharaohs
3.  Into The Coven
4.  At The Sound Of The Demon Bell
5.  Black Funeral
6.  Satan's Fall
7.  Melissa

Total playing time: 40:14

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Classic Review

May 25, 2011

Reviewer: Chris

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