Mercyful Fate- Melissa (1983)
Rating: 95%
Exploding through speakers like a heavy metal blitzkrieg
from hell, Mercyful Fate set turntables on fire with their debut album Melissa.
With uncompromising heaviness, impressive musicianship, and shocking satanic
imagery, the album became an instant hit with metal fans the world over. The powerful and sinister style the
band showcased on Melissa came to define the genre of black metal and exists
today as a classic example of old-school 80’s metal.
Featuring
the unique vocals their corpse-painted lead singer, the great King Diamond, as
well as the rapid, skillfully-executed duel guitar stylings of Hank Shermann
and Michael Denner, Melissa scorched like no other and helped push forward the
boundaries of extreme metal. The band had already garnered cult status among the
underground metal scene with their seminal EP Nuns Have No Fun, which featured
a big-titted nun nailed to a burning crucifix on the cover, but it wasn’t until
Melissa that the band refined their style and gained significant popularity.
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| 'Nuns Have No Fun' EP |
Like
an explosion of thunder crashing down from the heavens, the heavy-hitting
crunch of Shermann and Denner’s duel guitar assault kick-off the album opener
‘Evil’, a track that more than lives up to its name. King Diamond’s high-pitched scream soars over the opening
riff, introducing the listener to his uniquely sinister vocal style in a most
epic fashion. ‘Evil’ is a driving
metal song that manages to be as heavy and shocking as Venom while maintaining
the hard rock groove of Deep Purple. It should also be mentioned that drummer Kim
Ruzz offers an absolutely frantic and pounding performance on the song that
gives it an extra boost of energy.
The more traditional, NWOBHM-inspired song ‘Curse of the Pharaohs’ follows,
offering the listener a chance to catch their breath and immerse themselves in
an ominous and wicked realm. King Diamond truly shines on this track, showing
off his wide-range of vocal prowess.
The
following song ‘Into the Coven’ gained notoriety in the mid-80’s when it was
included on the PMRC’s Filthy Fifteen, a hitlist of 15 songs recommended to be banned, cited for
its occultism. Honestly, they chose the correct song to go after, because ‘Into
the Coven’ is a powerful descent into madness, taking the listener on a ritual
to sacrifice their soul to satan. The band continue their winning streak with
two more ferocious slabs of metal in ‘At the Sound of the Demon Bell’ and
‘Black Funeral’, the latter featuring perhaps King Diamond’s greatest ever
vocal performance.
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| Mercyful Fate in 1983. King Diamond on far-right without make-up |
The
epic ‘Satan’s Fall’ kicks the album up a notch in what can only be described as
11-minutes of pure Armageddon. The musicianship truly shines on this track,
Shermann and Denner have a field day serving up their most devastating arsenal
of riffs while the rhythm section drive the song forward with a perfect balance
of power and groove.
The somber
and doomy ballad Melissa closes the album in a depressing way. Melissa is
technically great featuring outstanding vocal melodies by King Diamond and a
complex structure and musicianship, but I feel as though the album deserved a
more scorching and high-energy song to close with and that Melissa should have
appeared earlier on. Personal opinion aside, ‘Melissa’ is a masterfully
composed and performed song by a band in their creative prime and easily holds
its own among the other classics on the record.
Mercyful
Fate are universally respected in the Metal community from fans across the wide
spectrum of subgenres precisely because their music features so many different
elements and cannot be confined to any specific genre besides heavy fucking
metal. Melissa stood out during heavy metal’s most prolific period and
established Mercyful Fate as some of the most cutting edge music on the scene.
The album still holds up to this day, influencing musicians and recruiting
listeners to the legiance of satan.
Besides
the original vinyl print, I recommend the 2005 Roadrunner Cd set which includes
a bonus DVD and several bonus tracks one of which, Black Masses, is good enough
to have been on the album itself.
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