Mercyful Fate

organ

OMG! The vocals man! These guys have been around before I was born.
I got into real metal around 1999 or so. So the black metal I listen to are the 'second wave' and onwards like Mayhem, Dimmu Borgir, Carpathian Forest, etc. Got to witness the great beginnings of symphonic and operatic metal as well.

I'm just starting to discover the 'first wave' of black metal or those bands who seriously influenced later bands and I keep hearing about Mercyful Fate.

I finally got one of the cd's yesterday called "In the Shadows". I cannot believe the vocals. Can he really sing that high or is it enhanced? I know it's taboo to use effects for vocals in the underground metal scene of today but King Diamond's vocals is unreal!

C'mon MF fans, tell me, is this guy for real?

lightman1

100% real.
I've seen MF many times since the early 80's. He hits every note.
Check out Celtic Frost as well..

organ

Oh man. I can't believe it. That's incredible. Can't wait to get more of their albums.

Yeah, I will definitely check out Celtic Frost. I have an old Dimmu Borgir ep release where they did a cover for CF's 'Nocturnal Fear' and it sounds sweet.
Venom is also on my list for my next visit to the store. They invented the term 'black metal' back in 1982 and I have to find that album:).

Metal kicks so much ****:)

lightman1

A bit later in the Black metal era...Deicide. Brutal stuff.

organ

Awesome! Thanks for the link. I hope they'll have "Melissa" next time I go back. They only had the album I got and a greatest hits yesterday. Kind Diamond is absolutely insane! Cool that you have a tatt of him.

I think the only other vocalist I can think of who can get close to KD is Halford and the vocalist from Primal Fear.

Lightman.
I've never heard Deicide. I thought they were death metal. I'll have to look into that. I've heard of them but never heard the music.
Glen Benton, the vocalist from Deicide is doing vocals for a death metal band called Vital Remains now. Super brutal. If you like that kind of stuff, Nile is excellent and equally brutal.

organ

Aaah crap. I'm surfin on PS3 and can't get the Fatal Portrait link to work. The previous ones worked. The pc is down right now. I'll try again. If I can't get it to work, I'll look for it on youtube. Thanks.

lightman1

Yeah...there is kind of mish-mash of Black and Death Metal in Deicide. I'm looking around the cd rack for a few that may peak your interest. +10 on the Rob Halford call. Doin a search for Vital remains, Thanks...
Metal rules!!! \\m// (goat horns:D)

lightman1

Goatwhore...Carving Out the Eyes of God. Not for the timid or easily offended.

Ern Dog

I had a couple King Diamond LP's/cassettes back in the day. I started my music journey with Kiss then moved onto other hard rock (Def Leppard, Quiet Riot, Ratt) then metal. Slayer was my favorite. Don't listen to any metal now. Now I listen to mostly classical and Jazz.

Rivrrat

I listened to the fist of Lasereth's clips, and if I didn't know in advance I would've thought early Judas Priest.

erniejade

Melissa!! Man i have not listen to that in a long time. Time to bust the lp out!!

mmadden28

King Diamond and Mercyful Fate. If I had to choose one band (or 2 in 1 so to speak) as my favorite of all time??? These would definitely be it.
I have all the albums from both bands--I only wish I had the picture discs on Vinyl - but back then I didn't have a record player.. Started with cassettes then onto CD. I'm sure I still have a few KD/MF on Cassette somewhere but most got ruined being to close to a magnet of some sort.

I'll scan and post a few pics from a concert many moons ago.

I could rattle off all the albums but some are much better than others.
Even with the dynamic vocals, and the several line up changes, many of the new albums had a frsh sound, while some were a bit samey.

Mercyful Fate essentially let loose and did not fear to include the 'evil' lyrics, however the "Kind Diamond" band kept more to a storyline for the albums. Abigail is one to be heard no doubt.

Between the two bands, there are a lot of albums, but I would suggest you look up the discographies and try to listen to them in chronological order and get a feel for how their sound changed over the years and the different lineups.


As for Celtic Frost--Another big player in my teen years. Back then, to me they were one of the heaviest and darkest. Something went seriously wrong with Vanity--they went 180 poser, but they made a fairly decent comeback with Montheist a few years ago--not the same as thier old school stuff, and definitely different but definately back to the dark side if you will. Look for some pre CF stuff in Hellhammer--Oh yeah dark and heavy is right--I just got a couple new Hellhammer CDs for Christmas.


With Venom--Hmm 1st, absouletly one of my favs, but be forewarned, they have a horrid SQ. But that's part of the 'charm'. Don't expect it to be a good demo band for you're 2 ch. rig. They are an aquired taste to those that didn't grow up on them IMHO. But I can listen to them anytime.

organ

Very cool. I will start with the older CF stuff first.
I have no problem with bad production. I can enjoy older stuff from 1349, Mayhem, Emperor, etc. Some of them are so low fidelity it's not funny lol. I agree that it gives them their 'charm'.

Toolfan66

I love old Mercyful Fate but I just can't listen to it anymore reminds me to much of my Cocain days. IMHO Mercyful Fate was one of the best underated bands of that time I am not just talking about King Diamond, the band by it's self was **** AWESOME.

FYI Melissa & Don't break the Oath have been rereleased on Vinyl. many times I have wanted to pull the trigger it just was not the best time of my life I was in a very dark place in my young life i just don't want to revisit.

Venom I never liked I don't know why just did'nt do it for me kinda like Exciter yuck..
Like said above they are an aquired taste.

If you want dark I say listen to Death!! wish I still had those CD's.

mmadden28

TOOLFORLIFEFAN wrote: »

... it just was not the best time of my life I was in a very dark place in my young life i just don't want to revisit.

Sorry to hear that man. I know what you mean about certain music reminding you of certain times-of course that works for both good times and bad times. There's a few titles that remind me of bad times too, but honestly I just think it was certain crappy 80's pop :rolleyes:
...

TOOLFORLIFEFAN wrote: »

If you want dark I say listen to Death!! wish I still had those CD's.

From Death, my vote is for the album Leprosy, esp the song Leprosy.

http://www.amazon.com/Leprosy-Death/dp/B000003C5C/ref=ntt_mus_ep_wlb_dpt

Toolfan66

Was'nt King Diamond's mom some well known Opera singer?

mmadden28

With Hellhammer there is not much too choose from. Actually I thought they only ever had 1 album before Celtic Frost. I bought Apocalyptic Raids on cassette from Tower records in Philly way back when and for at least 2 decades I never ever saw any Hellhammer albums in any stores so I coveted that cassette. Now they have it on Amazon (gotta love the internet), and thus why I got both for Christmas.

I haven't heard the Demon Entrails, but it appears to be a compilation of sorts-but I see a few familiar titles and some I don't know so I'm really looking forward to hearing it.

But definitely check out Apocalyptic Raids. And for an especially interesting song (OK let's just call it a track), Triumph of Death is epic. I remember back in my youth riding my bike to work with my boom box on my handlebars, listening to that track as I drove past the senior citizens waiting for the bus to Atlantic City, I had that track blaring and oh man the looks of horror on their faces was priceless. I was smiling from ear to ear-:D-I'm not sure why, but perhaps it was just a little of the evil in me back then. :rolleyes:

For Celtic Frost; Morbid Tales/Emporer's Return, then ToMega Therion, then Into the Pandemonium.
Into the Pandemonium is an interesting album, with big kettle drums, French Horns, Opera singers, a hip hop sounding mix, and even a cover of Mexican Radio. Very odd but still a heavy album with awesome riffs and such and one I like very much even with the subjective oddities in it. I think there are probably camps where Frost fans either loved it or hated it. I love it!
Whatever you do avoid Cold Lake (IMHO). I'm not sure I ever even heard Vanity (in an earlier post I said Vanity but I really meant Cold Lake)-I actually gave up on CF at that time. I might give another try.
Then of course their latest release (2006) was Monotheist. I fugured why not-lets give them a try again. My initial thoughts were that its a very dark and depressing album of sorts. To me didn't have too much of the old Frost sound, but after a few listens it started to grow on me. I for get which track(s) but with the sound of the vocals I keep picturing Davy Jones (Pirates...) singing the song--something about the way he sings the words and the way Davy spoke int eh movie...Anyway its worth a listen.


Now with all that - I have the sudden desire to buy the remastered CF albums again....

mmadden28

TOOLFORLIFEFAN wrote: »

Was'nt King Diamond's mom some well known Opera singer?

I'm not sure-I wouldn't be surprised--but I recall he was classically trained. I think one of his inspirations is Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring or something like that. Now all this is really old info that I recall from way back when.

mmadden28

Lasareath wrote: »

Make sure you listen to Fatal Portrait as well!!!!!!

http://www.lala.com/#album/360569445167093586/King_Diamond/Fatal_Portrait

hehe, No Presents for Christmas is actually in my Christmas music mix. :eek: Hey I had to .

Lasareath wrote: »

...
When I was 12 I started to listen to them, everyday I would listen to the whole album Melissa on a Sony Walkman Cassette player!

Melissa was the first MF album I heard, then KD-Abigail if I recall. Actually these two albums I believe are what actually steered me towards metal back then.