Mercyful Fate is a great band. King Diamond (the lead singer) is an acquired taste and you either like him or you don't. The musicianship from the band is top notch. I've personally been a fan since I first heard him back around 1984. Almost anything from this album or Don't Break The Oath is great stuff.
He scared the shit of me back in the magazines..i was just 10 -12 .after i heard slayer reign in blood. As 13 i saw the light of King Diamond Abigail...then after i went to mercyful fate and never turened back.
@Patryn King Diamond’s vocal range is quite impressive, and it absolutely is an acquired taste. Fortunately, I didn’t have to go through the process of acquiring that taste. I was really big into Judas Priest when I found King Diamond. So I was already used to and liked singers with higher ranges. Granted, King Diamond’s falsetto is way over the top but Judas Priest was a good lead up to King Diamond. For most people I always suggest listening to King Diamond’s concept albums first because the falsetto is very much used as a story telling tool, plus then if they continue to listen because of the story being told throughout the concept album eventually by the time the album’s almost over King Diamond’s voice has grown on them. And that’s when they’re ready for Mercyful Fate.
Hell yeah!!! The year is 1986. I am 14 years old. I am at the Jersey shore, Wildwood NJ, with my parents and my brother. I Am on the boardwalk playing games. There was this game where you put quarters down on squares with symbols and numbers and they spin this big wheel on the wall. If the wheel lands on your square you get to pick a prize. Me being the music nut I was I look for cassettes. I see Bon Jovi and other hair metal bands cassettes that I don’t want but there is one that stands out. It has the most evil album cover I’d ever seen. So I pick that one. It was Mercyful Fate’s Melissa. I have no clue what it is but it looks cool. I take it back to the house we were renting for the week and put it in my boom box. I freaked out. It was 1986. I was 14. I had never heard anything like it. The cassette had pics of King Diamond with the upside-down crosses as well as the lyrics. I lost my shit. I was scared. I was a good Catholic boy. Reading the lyrics, I really thought I was going to be possessed....but I loved it. I couldn’t stop listening. I hD to hide it from my parents though. 33 years later this album is still as great as that summer night I first heard it. It is a classic.
I feel u, mate 1985, I'm 15... my friend Abarca (he became a musician later...) can't recommend this Lp enough. We share the same catholic school, la Sagrada Familia, go figure Just the cover gave me chills, so pioneering...and the music!...Satan's Fall!... I never had heard something remotely close, in complexity and pure badassery... melted my face
Either way, I believe you always get your money’s worth buying anything KD. The music great, stories are great, the vocals are great and on and on! They’ve done what Kiss try to do but couldn’t!
Kel's face when that first high note came in was about what I felt when I first heard this back in the day. Like "What the hell is this?" It took a couple weeks of my brother playing it before I got on board. Now, MF and KD are among the best of the best in my book. #mercyfulfate Desecration of Souls or Gypsy
I first heard Mercyful Fate in 1984 on a boom box..lol...my first concert EVER was Mercyful Fate at a place called Mississippi Nights in 1985!! Been listening to them ever since !!!
Oh yeah Thanks so much for the MERCYFUL FATE ONE of my all time pioneers of Black metal and of course King Diamond is just incredible his fange incredible Well you guys are so very cool keep up the great reactions UP THE IRONS and ROCK ON
Thumbs up just for reviewing Mercyful Fate! AND your video was a lot of fun. So many reaction vids are covering Diamond's solo work, but it was in Fate where the catchy chorus and lyrics really stick in your head. Something off Don't Break the Oath next! Cheers.
Mercyful Fate is one of my favorite bands and has been for more than 30 years now. It should NEVER come as a surprise that they influenced ALL 4 of the Big 4 and so many more thrash, death, and black metal bands. That fact CANNOT be argued!!!!
Funny story. In 1988 I flew into Dallas/Fort Worth Airport called DFW to go see my Dad for the first time and I went to the local record store in Irving called Sound Warehouse and I picked up a King Diamond CD and Merciful Fate CD as well. Well as luck would have it I was listening to the King Diamond CD called Them I think it was and my Dad and my Stepmom blew a gasket as all they listened to was Country Music since my Dad was a Semi Professional Country Guitar Player. But I was told ABSOLUTELY NO KING DIAMOND!!!!! So the next day I was playing the Merciful Fate CD and my Stepmom was really digging it and She about shit when I told Her - You really like this band don't You? She said - Yeah they're unique. I said - Well hang on to something because the Lead Singer is King Diamond!!!!!! I showed Her both CD's and She said - I'm going to go buy You a pair of Professional Studio Headphones so You can Crank it all You want. She ended up buying the cassette of Merciful Fate for Her car. I thought wow that's incredible.
The album '9' that they put out back around '99, I think, was an amazing resurgence for them. It resulted in me delving into their whole back catalog and checking out King Diamond's solo stuff. #mercyfulfate #houseonthehill #toometalforsomepeople #theshrillinfects
I first heard Mercyful Fate on a metal compilation album called Metal For Breakfast, released in 1984. It was on a Canadian label (Attic Records) so I assume it did not distribute too far outside of Canada, but it is a staple compilation from my early metal days as a teen. The MF song featured on MFB was Black Funeral, also from MF's Melissa album. That song quickly put me on the MF path (soon after followed by the discovery of King Diamond - the man, and the solo band that evolved from the ashes of MF after only 2 albums). I was not big on the Satanic lyrics of MF, but I regarded ALL of the Satanic, violent, death-glorifying lyrics in metal as mostly "gimmickry" for the era. KD albums are what completely cinched it for me, though - having dropped much of the "Satan" stuff from his lyrics in favor of the horror themes and full-conceptual albums telling whole stories complete with tracks of spoken dialogue and ambient sound effect soundscapes was the best thing I ever heard. It was like Stephen King set to music. (Stephen King Diamond? LOL) Further learning about King Diamond soon led me to discover, that despite the pure "gimmickry" of Satanic themes with other bands like Venom and Slayer, King was a self-proclaimed Satanist - but not in the "black masses & blood sacrifices" way that the sanctimonious moral-majority groups like the PMRC and other "Satanic panic" purveyors of puritanical piousness would have you believe. King's beliefs were rational, sound, and sane, and they sent me on a further quest to learn more about the PHILOSOPHY (not religion) of its founder, Anton Szandor Lavey, who started his "Church Of Satan" (or what I call "LaVeyan Satanism") in the late-1960s. Talk about enlightenment. Between that and The Celestine Prophecy (by James Redfield), I got "red-pilled" on a lot of things, long before "red-pilling" became a thing. The only thing better than discovering diamonds, is discovering King Diamond. :-)
Where to even begin man. Mercyful Fate is in my top 3 along with Fates Warning (John Arch era) and Rush (early years) as far as bands that changed everything for me. Mercyful Fate probably had the biggest influence on me as a guitarist and overall musician though. The year was I think '85 (around that) and I was 15 years old and someone gave me the tape casette to Melissa. At the time I hadn't heard anything remotely as dark lyrically or so melodic and inspiring musically. Also at the time I was still considered to be a Catholic so songs that contained lyrics like All Hail Satan! Yes Hail Satan! made a huge impression on me and anyone from Iowa really. I think more importantly though, Mercyful Fate was such a musical cornucopia that had so many flavors and styles to latch onto, it was hard not to find something that caught your attention. Needless to say I fell madly in love with the band and music and King Diamond and Hank Shermann's genius. I still have a bunch of Mercyful Fate and King Diamond vinyl (collector's items) and I saw Mercyful Fate live twice in Minneapolis for the TIme and Dead Again tours. Don't Break the Oath was the first tattoo I ever got on my arm :) There are bands and then there are monumental bands and Mercyful Fate was one of those bands that changed the game for everyone. Back in the day we had a basement/garage band and Evil was one of our favorites along with a plethora of other MF songs. Great fucking band, glad your wife enjoyed it :)
Awesome! Thank you for doing this masterpiece. You know, King’s vocal ”trademark” falsetto wasn’t yet up there where it ended, but still a great album with lots of good memories. You definitely need to do King Diamond’s solo stuff and to do it right, react to one of those concept albums from start to finish. 🤘
I taped this song from radio, thought it belong to King Diamond catalogue, but it was Mercyful Fate. What a ride. Metallica called them once "the riff masters". How right they were. Now you have to go all the way. Please do more Fate/Diamond reactions… I'm so glad that you like it. Not everybody gets into King's voice and music. GREAT !!!
I had already gotten deep into Black Sabbath, Dio, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeth before I was introduced to Mercyful Fate/King Diamond. I got "Melissa" on cassette tape back in.. 1988, I believe it was.. while I was in tech school at Lackland AFB. Loved it immediately tho I was more into Metallica at the time. Later.. around 1989 or 1990, I got "Conspiracy" by King Diamond on cassette.. loved that album even more. Ever since those two albums I have been a MF/KD fan. I took my kids to see King Diamond live at "The Pagaent" in St Louis about 4 years ago. Their first concert. Peace
I took my son to see King Diamond at "Tuska Open Air" in Helsinki, Finland 2013. It was his first "real" concert. The next year we went to see King again, this time at "Jalometalli" in Oulu, Finland.
i from argentina and the cd melissa was a first present from my mom , and introduce me into the black metal a real black , the sound of mercyfull fate is sound nwobhm greatting from argentina
Arguably their best song ever: so ahead of its time technically, with truly black metal lyrics. Those first verses are timeless, classic. I'll admit, it took me some time to become a fan, but it's the pure metal underneath Diamond's vocals which drew me in, from M.F. to his own band. "This is my wife Kel: she's awesome, she's superb, she's my...Everything." Atta boy, Rich. 😎
sorry about the mistake. #ratt dance, from Rhode island #doropesch kiss of death, #kix blow my fuse and #whitelion when the children cry. From Rhode island on all songs listed.
#MercyfulFate - Is That You, Melissa? First girl I ever fell in love with, named Melissa. I had the chance to win her, but chose moving to L.A. to become a "rock star" instead. Even thou I got to play on the famous Guitar Center stage at the Hollywood location (in front of Bruce Kulick & Izzy Stradlin), I missed out on what could've been more special. She told me she moved on with someone else after several months (a nemesis, actually). So becareful of ALL decisions made, peeps! This tune makes me think back to her (esp. the 2nd verse).
My first introduction to King Diamond was The Spider's Lullaby and In the Shadows (ordered both from Columbia House due to the picture of King). My first reaction to the falsetto's was the same as Kel's. Dug the music, but took a few listens to love the vocals. Years later I played Arrival from the Abagail album for my rap loving cousin and his reaction was "Yo! That ni@@a can sing his ass off!"
*EDIT: I think I can speak for a majority of Mercyful Fate/King Diamond fans when I say that when we show some one these bands and they’re hearing it for the very first time, that we intentionally leaving out King Diamond’s vocal range, because the reaction when they hear him hit those falsetto notes not expecting it at all they’re reaction is utterly priceless. Watching their eyes get wide and they tilt their heads to the side. It’s just great. And those falsetto notes, there’s just something about King Diamond’s voice when he does them that if you didn’t like it right off the bat once listen to a couple more songs it just grows on you and eventually you go from “man, I don’t know,” to “That man has the voice of a Fallen Angel.”* I’m a skateboarder, have been for 13 years. One thing about skateboarding is that skateboarding and music go hand -in-hand. All skateboard videos by board companies, shoe companies, etc, have a song playing for each Skateboarder’s part. The part is then edited in a way that the pop of the board, or general sounds the tricks make are timed with the beats of the song playing. Why am I bringing this up you may be asking yourselves. I mention it because the first time I ever heard Mercyful Fate was on the Intro to the Cataclysmic Abyss video by the Board company Foundation. The song was Corpse Without a Soul. From the second that guitarist started shredding in the intro of the song. P.S. I’m a MetalHead. And then here came King Diamond with falsetto talking about Satan stealing his souls wondering a graveyard. From that moment I started listening to anything I could find of King Diamond’s music be it from Mercyful Fate or his band named King Diamond, and became a fan instantly. I gotta say my favorite song by Mercyful Fate is Satan’s Fall. Hands Down.
#Mercyfulfate A Dangerous Meeting from Portugal actually it was so awesome here goes a few more ) it is my very favourite band them and king diamond ofcourse #Mercyfulfate my Demon #Mercyfulfate The Oath #Mercyfulfate Curse of the pharaohs #kingDiamond Victimized #KingDiamond Sleepless Nights #KingDiamond Lurking in the dark enjoy you two are great, keep Heavy !
If you're getting into Merciful Fate/King Diamond you're in for a treat. You definitely should listen to "Come to the Sabbath", "Into the Coven", "A Corpse without Soul", "Satan's Fall", "Abigail", "Curse of the Pharaohs", "Black Funeral", "Nuns have no Fun", "The Oath", "The Uninvited Guest". Enjoy!
I dont have a metal wife, or even a metal accepting wife. I'm jealous bro. I had a smile on my face the entire time. You two are great together. Loved the vid.
I believe when it comes to King Diamond’s band, A good song would be “Trial” only because she can get a good feel on how he tells horror stories; changing his voice with different characters. #KingDiamondTrialSC
This made me smile, your talk after made me smile and laught more..thank you!! You are the best couple! LIve long and lets Melissa take the revenge on her soul in the sabbath to come....you all mercyful fate fans know that don't you?
Man that was awsome, please give us more: #MercyfulFate-TheOath #KingDiamond-Abigail (It will be truly great if you do the whole album) #KingDiamond-Room17
Looking for more, sure. These guys are really open-minded musically and love their music (unlike some other reactors). I've given up my "Abigail" full album reaction requests on another channel (you know well too) and I'm now putting all my eggs in one basket. By the way "Them", "DBTO" and "Melissa" would be awesome too.
Mercyful Fate... Gods! Back in 1983, my Brother aged 13, purchased the Melissa album, debut by Mercyful Fate... after listening to it, he said " someone just outshined and outclassed Judas Priest with their fucking debut album!" 36 years later, he still stands by that bold statement, my Brother and I worship Judas Priest and Iron Maiden! This album by the Danes is just one word: PERFECTION!!!
My opinion, masterpiece album and i suggest also one bests albums as is dead again, unfortunately it's sinfully underrated but it's my at least one favorite album ever!
You should check out The Melissa trilogy by Mercyful Fate "Melissa" "Come to the Sabath" and "Is that you Melissa". Mercyful Fate and King Diamond are not only about the music, but also about story telling. And Melissa's story is amazing and you can learn it without having to listen to a whole album, unlike Abigail's.
Gotta love Mercyful Fate...in case you didnt know King Diamond is Danish hey Michael Denner as well hey the band started out in Denmark so members Danish...i´m Danish as well...actually they broke up ....back in the days...but Lars Ulrich was the guy who made them reunite with the album In The Shadows...he even Lars i mean played drums on a retake on that album song " Return of the vampire " 1993 version Mercyful Fate then opened up for Metallica and Lars said he ran around backstage like a 12 year old kid yaaaaaaaaaay lol...#everheard Black Rose King Diamonds first band?? before joining Michael and Shermans band Punk btw Brats...But King didnt wanna sing punk...so they change name to Mercyful Fate...rest is history #black sore funny hammonorgan ect and danish talk never released anything other than this many years later ruclips.net/video/FV_DvaIb6nw/видео.html #KingDiamond in the fire from RoadRunner all star album ruclips.net/video/BdNi0K2FLek/видео.html
My first exposure to King Diamond/Mercyful Fate was the "In the Shadows" album in a bargain bin at a small-town, Bible-Belt record store back in '93 or '94 - I'd seen some of the other albums in record store shelves before, but had only barely heard of him before, not having actually heard King's vocals nor even known him or his bands by reputation beyond brief appearances in a video a psychology teacher had shown us once on satanic music, and the cryptic statement of my friend at the time who saw me looking at the track list in the record store that day: "Oh no, not that band! It's awful. You'll hate it, put that down!" I bought it anyway, my curiosity really raised now, ran home with it as soon as I could, and played it from the beginning, with the song "Egypt" - and, in spite of misgivings about the vocals at first, loved that song. Realizing that he sang that way on all the songs left me a bit uncertain, but the rest of the album grew on me, too, and I ended up just throwing up my hands and saying "whatever - I can live with the vocals and they're really not THAT much weirder than the thrash and death metal vocals I've been getting used to over the last several years, the music is cool, the songs are cool in the campy sort of over-the-top way that make classic horror movies so much fun for me to watch... I'd be willing to buy other records from these guys!" I gave the King Diamond/Mercyful Fate "Dangerous Meeting" split compilation a try next, and with that, I was hooked - I'm a fan of both bands now. My friends never did "get it", but they barely got much of anything that wasn't Def Leppard or maybe Iron Maiden back in those days....
Mercyful Fate - one of the originals from the PMRC's "Filthy Fifteen" list. www.ultimate-guitar.com/static/article/draft/66745_7nW20C7dbj3nN3L-_34845.jpg You should react to some of King Diamond's solo work too.
Definitely have her listen to "Melissa" before you transition into King Diamond. That song definitely seems to have strongly influenced his solo sound and themes. At a minimum, I hope we get to see Kel's first reaction to "Welcome Home" from King Diamond. That is a metal classic and has been referenced in movies.
I agree. "Melissa" and preferably a song or two off the "Don't Break The Oath" album (maybe "A Dangerous Meeting", "The Oath" or "Come to the Sabbath"). "Welcome Home" and Graaaandmaaaa!! are things to hear and see (if possible). The best thing would be a full album reaction, simply because most of "them" are concept albums.
#beardfish #thismatterofmine Just wondering if you could squeeze in This Matter of Mine by Beardfish this evening. No worries if you can't. Thank you for your awesome reactions!!
Mercyful Fate is a great band. King Diamond (the lead singer) is an acquired taste and you either like him or you don't. The musicianship from the band is top notch. I've personally been a fan since I first heard him back around 1984. Almost anything from this album or Don't Break The Oath is great stuff.
He scared the shit of me back in the magazines..i was just 10 -12 .after i heard slayer reign in blood. As 13 i saw the light of King Diamond Abigail...then after i went to mercyful fate and never turened back.
The high pitched stuff he does is really hard to get used to if you’re used to growling vocals
Perfectly put
Yup! Don't Break The Oath is my favorite album of all time.
@Patryn King Diamond’s vocal range is quite impressive, and it absolutely is an acquired taste. Fortunately, I didn’t have to go through the process of acquiring that taste. I was really big into Judas Priest when I found King Diamond. So I was already used to and liked singers with higher ranges. Granted, King Diamond’s falsetto is way over the top but Judas Priest was a good lead up to King Diamond.
For most people I always suggest listening to King Diamond’s concept albums first because the falsetto is very much used as a story telling tool, plus then if they continue to listen because of the story being told throughout the concept album eventually by the time the album’s almost over King Diamond’s voice has grown on them. And that’s when they’re ready for Mercyful Fate.
Hell yeah!!! The year is 1986. I am 14 years old. I am at the Jersey shore, Wildwood NJ, with my parents and my brother. I Am on the boardwalk playing games. There was this game where you put quarters down on squares with symbols and numbers and they spin this big wheel on the wall. If the wheel lands on your square you get to pick a prize. Me being the music nut I was I look for cassettes. I see Bon Jovi and other hair metal bands cassettes that I don’t want but there is one that stands out. It has the most evil album cover I’d ever seen. So I pick that one. It was Mercyful Fate’s Melissa. I have no clue what it is but it looks cool. I take it back to the house we were renting for the week and put it in my boom box. I freaked out. It was 1986. I was 14. I had never heard anything like it. The cassette had pics of King Diamond with the upside-down crosses as well as the lyrics. I lost my shit. I was scared. I was a good Catholic boy. Reading the lyrics, I really thought I was going to be possessed....but I loved it. I couldn’t stop listening. I hD to hide it from my parents though. 33 years later this album is still as great as that summer night I first heard it. It is a classic.
Dude! that is an EPIC tale that I love! so happy that Mercyful Fate uplifted your taste in music!
I feel u, mate
1985, I'm 15... my friend Abarca (he became a musician later...) can't recommend this Lp enough. We share the same catholic school, la Sagrada Familia, go figure
Just the cover gave me chills, so pioneering...and the music!...Satan's Fall!... I never had heard something remotely close, in complexity and pure badassery... melted my face
Love Mercyful Fate. Rest in peace Timi Holm Hansen "Grabber". Greetings from Denmark.
❤️
R.I.P Timi
Greetings from Poland
Hank sherman and Mr Denner created one of the best metal guitar sounds EVER....
I wish they could capture that raw sound back!
Either way, I believe you always get your money’s worth buying anything KD. The music great, stories are great, the vocals are great and on and on! They’ve done what Kiss try to do but couldn’t!
They'rw the King in your style
Kim Ruzz was such an amazing drummer. I'm 52 and I remember buying this LP the week it was released in the States.
Kel's face when that first high note came in was about what I felt when I first heard this back in the day. Like "What the hell is this?" It took a couple weeks of my brother playing it before I got on board. Now, MF and KD are among the best of the best in my book. #mercyfulfate Desecration of Souls or Gypsy
If Kel could see 'ole King Diamond in his kabuki makeup when he belts those jarring high notes out it would have been MORE perfect...
I first heard Mercyful Fate in 1984 on a boom box..lol...my first concert EVER was Mercyful Fate at a place called Mississippi Nights in 1985!! Been listening to them ever since !!!
This entire album is jam packed with so many god damn riffs it eats modern metal bands alive. It doesn’t fucking end.
Epic reaction! I've been listening to Mercyful since the beginning and I'm Going to see them in November for the first time! 🤘
Oh yeah Thanks so much for the MERCYFUL FATE ONE of my all time pioneers of Black metal and of course King Diamond is just incredible his fange incredible Well you guys are so very cool keep up the great reactions
UP THE IRONS and ROCK ON
Thumbs up just for reviewing Mercyful Fate! AND your video was a lot of fun. So many reaction vids are covering Diamond's solo work, but it was in Fate where the catchy chorus and lyrics really stick in your head. Something off Don't Break the Oath next! Cheers.
Mercyful Fate is one of my favorite bands and has been for more than 30 years now. It should NEVER come as a surprise that they influenced ALL 4 of the Big 4 and so many more thrash, death, and black metal bands. That fact CANNOT be argued!!!!
Like your Videos so much. Greetings from Germany. Wish you all the best.
Up there with my favourite bands of all time. Hail to the King!
Funny story. In 1988 I flew into Dallas/Fort Worth Airport called DFW to go see my Dad for the first time and I went to the local record store in Irving called Sound Warehouse and I picked up a King Diamond CD and Merciful Fate CD as well. Well as luck would have it I was listening to the King Diamond CD called Them I think it was and my Dad and my Stepmom blew a gasket as all they listened to was Country Music since my Dad was a Semi Professional Country Guitar Player. But I was told ABSOLUTELY NO KING DIAMOND!!!!! So the next day I was playing the Merciful Fate CD and my Stepmom was really digging it and She about shit when I told Her - You really like this band don't You? She said - Yeah they're unique. I said - Well hang on to something because the Lead Singer is King Diamond!!!!!! I showed Her both CD's and She said - I'm going to go buy You a pair of Professional Studio Headphones so You can Crank it all You want. She ended up buying the cassette of Merciful Fate for Her car. I thought wow that's incredible.
A tremendous LP from 1983. Every tune is great!
The album '9' that they put out back around '99, I think, was an amazing resurgence for them. It resulted in me delving into their whole back catalog and checking out King Diamond's solo stuff.
#mercyfulfate
#houseonthehill
#toometalforsomepeople
#theshrillinfects
I gave that album to my son in his 9th birthday. He was really into King Diamond and Mercyful Fate.
Well, now you gotta do Abigail
King Diamond-The Invisible Guests, that solo is amazing!
All solos are great🙂
I first heard Mercyful Fate on a metal compilation album called Metal For Breakfast, released in 1984. It was on a Canadian label (Attic Records) so I assume it did not distribute too far outside of Canada, but it is a staple compilation from my early metal days as a teen.
The MF song featured on MFB was Black Funeral, also from MF's Melissa album. That song quickly put me on the MF path (soon after followed by the discovery of King Diamond - the man, and the solo band that evolved from the ashes of MF after only 2 albums). I was not big on the Satanic lyrics of MF, but I regarded ALL of the Satanic, violent, death-glorifying lyrics in metal as mostly "gimmickry" for the era. KD albums are what completely cinched it for me, though - having dropped much of the "Satan" stuff from his lyrics in favor of the horror themes and full-conceptual albums telling whole stories complete with tracks of spoken dialogue and ambient sound effect soundscapes was the best thing I ever heard. It was like Stephen King set to music. (Stephen King Diamond? LOL)
Further learning about King Diamond soon led me to discover, that despite the pure "gimmickry" of Satanic themes with other bands like Venom and Slayer, King was a self-proclaimed Satanist - but not in the "black masses & blood sacrifices" way that the sanctimonious moral-majority groups like the PMRC and other "Satanic panic" purveyors of puritanical piousness would have you believe. King's beliefs were rational, sound, and sane, and they sent me on a further quest to learn more about the PHILOSOPHY (not religion) of its founder, Anton Szandor Lavey, who started his "Church Of Satan" (or what I call "LaVeyan Satanism") in the late-1960s.
Talk about enlightenment. Between that and The Celestine Prophecy (by James Redfield), I got "red-pilled" on a lot of things, long before "red-pilling" became a thing.
The only thing better than discovering diamonds, is discovering King Diamond.
:-)
Where to even begin man. Mercyful Fate is in my top 3 along with Fates Warning (John Arch era) and Rush (early years) as far as bands that changed everything for me. Mercyful Fate probably had the biggest influence on me as a guitarist and overall musician though. The year was I think '85 (around that) and I was 15 years old and someone gave me the tape casette to Melissa. At the time I hadn't heard anything remotely as dark lyrically or so melodic and inspiring musically. Also at the time I was still considered to be a Catholic so songs that contained lyrics like All Hail Satan! Yes Hail Satan! made a huge impression on me and anyone from Iowa really. I think more importantly though, Mercyful Fate was such a musical cornucopia that had so many flavors and styles to latch onto, it was hard not to find something that caught your attention. Needless to say I fell madly in love with the band and music and King Diamond and Hank Shermann's genius. I still have a bunch of Mercyful Fate and King Diamond vinyl (collector's items) and I saw Mercyful Fate live twice in Minneapolis for the TIme and Dead Again tours. Don't Break the Oath was the first tattoo I ever got on my arm :) There are bands and then there are monumental bands and Mercyful Fate was one of those bands that changed the game for everyone. Back in the day we had a basement/garage band and Evil was one of our favorites along with a plethora of other MF songs. Great fucking band, glad your wife enjoyed it :)
Hahaha! Rich.. that certainly was amazing guitar playing!
Playing and shredding on that Kelecaster !!!!!
great video guys
Awesome! Thank you for doing this masterpiece. You know, King’s vocal ”trademark” falsetto wasn’t yet up there where it ended, but still a great album with lots of good memories. You definitely need to do King Diamond’s solo stuff and to do it right, react to one of those concept albums from start to finish. 🤘
I taped this song from radio, thought it belong to King Diamond catalogue, but it was Mercyful Fate. What a ride. Metallica called them once "the riff masters". How right they were. Now you have to go all the way. Please do more Fate/Diamond reactions… I'm so glad that you like it. Not everybody gets into King's voice and music. GREAT !!!
I had already gotten deep into Black Sabbath, Dio, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeth before I was introduced to Mercyful Fate/King Diamond. I got "Melissa" on cassette tape back in.. 1988, I believe it was.. while I was in tech school at Lackland AFB. Loved it immediately tho I was more into Metallica at the time. Later.. around 1989 or 1990, I got "Conspiracy" by King Diamond on cassette.. loved that album even more. Ever since those two albums I have been a MF/KD fan. I took my kids to see King Diamond live at "The Pagaent" in St Louis about 4 years ago. Their first concert.
Peace
I took my son to see King Diamond at "Tuska Open Air" in Helsinki, Finland 2013. It was his first "real" concert. The next year we went to see King again, this time at "Jalometalli" in Oulu, Finland.
First paycheck, first album "don´t break the oath"...never looked back(-86)
i from argentina and the cd melissa was a first present from my mom , and introduce me into the black metal a real black , the sound of mercyfull fate is sound nwobhm greatting from argentina
you have a great mom , amazing
You're a lucky guy, my mom never would do something like that
Arguably their best song ever: so ahead of its time technically, with truly black metal lyrics. Those first verses are timeless, classic. I'll admit, it took me some time to become a fan, but it's the pure metal underneath Diamond's vocals which drew me in, from M.F. to his own band.
"This is my wife Kel: she's awesome, she's superb, she's my...Everything." Atta boy, Rich. 😎
sorry about the mistake. #ratt dance, from Rhode island #doropesch kiss of death, #kix blow my fuse and #whitelion when the children cry. From Rhode island on all songs listed.
I listened to this albums thousands of times!
i love mercyful fate and king diamond! im actually going to be driving a bit over 6 hours to see them live on their current north america tour :p
California. 1986. Loved it from first listen. Though I had to train my ears to understand his voice. 😂
One of the greatest metal albums of all time
Yep. This one and Oath were a savage one-two puch combo
#MercyfulFate - Is That You, Melissa?
First girl I ever fell in love with, named Melissa. I had the chance to win her, but chose moving to L.A. to become a "rock star" instead. Even thou I got to play on the famous Guitar Center stage at the Hollywood location (in front of Bruce Kulick & Izzy Stradlin), I missed out on what could've been more special. She told me she moved on with someone else after several months (a nemesis, actually). So becareful of ALL decisions made, peeps! This tune makes me think back to her (esp. the 2nd verse).
Sick album . One of my all time favs 😎😁
I don't usually have many feelings without music, but the way you guys react together is actually quite endearing.
Thanks so much Paul. Means a lot to us 🙏🏽🤘❤️
@@Kel.N.RichReactions I'm glad, guys.
Gotta love.Mercyful Fate!
Yall r AWESOME
This is very good song and album! Definitely one bests albums ever, great classic.
You guys should listen to DEATH- Trapped in a corner, for some amazing guitar work and lyricism, fun to watch you two as always
Now those are some light, sunshiney lyrics to brighten any day!
😂😂😂🤣
The album " 9 " by mercyful fate is truly bad ass
It is their worst one in my opinion, but yes, it is still bad ass!
@@megadev9099 guitar playing is incredible
@@megadev9099 it's the "weaker" of the disco for sure!
My first introduction to King Diamond was The Spider's Lullaby and In the Shadows (ordered both from Columbia House due to the picture of King). My first reaction to the falsetto's was the same as Kel's. Dug the music, but took a few listens to love the vocals. Years later I played Arrival from the Abagail album for my rap loving cousin and his reaction was "Yo! That ni@@a can sing his ass off!"
LOVE IT...SUBSCRIBED
I first time hear this in 1984 and i love it ;)
*EDIT: I think I can speak for a majority of Mercyful Fate/King Diamond fans when I say that when we show some one these bands and they’re hearing it for the very first time, that we intentionally leaving out King Diamond’s vocal range, because the reaction when they hear him hit those falsetto notes not expecting it at all they’re reaction is utterly priceless. Watching their eyes get wide and they tilt their heads to the side. It’s just great. And those falsetto notes, there’s just something about King Diamond’s voice when he does them that if you didn’t like it right off the bat once listen to a couple more songs it just grows on you and eventually you go from “man, I don’t know,” to “That man has the voice of a Fallen Angel.”*
I’m a skateboarder, have been for 13 years. One thing about skateboarding is that skateboarding and music go hand -in-hand. All skateboard videos by board companies, shoe companies, etc, have a song playing for each Skateboarder’s part. The part is then edited in a way that the pop of the board, or general sounds the tricks make are timed with the beats of the song playing.
Why am I bringing this up you may be asking yourselves. I mention it because the first time I ever heard Mercyful Fate was on the Intro to the Cataclysmic Abyss video by the Board company Foundation. The song was Corpse Without a Soul. From the second that guitarist started shredding in the intro of the song. P.S. I’m a MetalHead. And then here came King Diamond with falsetto talking about Satan stealing his souls wondering a graveyard. From that moment I started listening to anything I could find of King Diamond’s music be it from Mercyful Fate or his band named King Diamond, and became a fan instantly.
I gotta say my favorite song by Mercyful Fate is Satan’s Fall. Hands Down.
#Mercyfulfate A Dangerous Meeting from Portugal
actually it was so awesome here goes a few more ) it is my very favourite band them and king diamond ofcourse
#Mercyfulfate my Demon
#Mercyfulfate The Oath
#Mercyfulfate Curse of the pharaohs
#kingDiamond Victimized
#KingDiamond Sleepless Nights
#KingDiamond Lurking in the dark
enjoy you two are great, keep Heavy !
If you're getting into Merciful Fate/King Diamond you're in for a treat. You definitely should listen to "Come to the Sabbath", "Into the Coven", "A Corpse without Soul", "Satan's Fall", "Abigail", "Curse of the Pharaohs", "Black Funeral", "Nuns have no Fun", "The Oath", "The Uninvited Guest". Enjoy!
KING DIAMOND!!!!
I dont have a metal wife, or even a metal accepting wife. I'm jealous bro.
I had a smile on my face the entire time.
You two are great together. Loved the vid.
Haha...luv your smirk ..🤘
mercyful fate is an absolute fav band for me, pure musical perfection...
Hello Im a fan of you both forever 💘 Im Christopher Jones from northwest Indiana Griffith Indiana
Great song.
I believe when it comes to King Diamond’s band, A good song would be “Trial” only because she can get a good feel on how he tells horror stories; changing his voice with different characters. #KingDiamondTrialSC
¡Sublime, siempre!
Ya te digo...
OH YES!!!
Kick Ass reaction 🤘🏽 seriously you two need to make custom bobble heads of yourselves for those head bobbing moments!!!!!!!!!!
We'll do it, ya know. Me in my Hulk Shirt and Kel in her Peek-a-boo tops. So fun, Uncle Awesome!!!
Loves Mercyful Fate !! She’s a keeper.
i listened for the first time in 84, in a very poor quality cassette, and i'm listening with frequency till now, awesome band, top notch musicians.
King Diamond!
Not my favourite band (but I like them!)and its good to hear such a diversity in your videos. Much appreciated.
#CradleofFilth :
From the Cradle Of Enslave (Uncensored) [Official Video] : ruclips.net/video/YnbOhSGVbRg/видео.html
Such an incredible song!
#mercyfulfate Come to the sabbath
This made me smile, your talk after made me smile and laught more..thank you!! You are the best couple! LIve long and lets Melissa take the revenge on her soul in the sabbath to come....you all mercyful fate fans know that don't you?
”Melissa”, ”Come to the Sabbath” and ”Is That You, Melissa” should be done together.
@@ANationalAcrobat You are a friend you know it, i agree with all of yer words, :)
@Aethyrs Always good to see MF/KD fans. Hope they’ll do the Melissa trilogy.
@@ANationalAcrobat got say, i never liked that is that you melissa, my sister loved it and it got her to to love king ..so i bow down
@@ANationalAcrobat yes
Great reaction
King Diamond is always a good choice....
Kel is a trophy!
If you want to learn about heavy metal, simply listen to anything with king diamond on it
This is the best heavy metal song ever. Along with Beyond the realms of death.
Man that was awsome, please give us more:
#MercyfulFate-TheOath
#KingDiamond-Abigail (It will be truly great if you do the whole album)
#KingDiamond-Room17
Looking for more, sure. These guys are really open-minded musically and love their music (unlike some other reactors). I've given up my "Abigail" full album reaction requests on another channel (you know well too) and I'm now putting all my eggs in one basket. By the way "Them", "DBTO" and "Melissa" would be awesome too.
There's The King for you.Always slapping you with something good.The song is from '86 but you can't get tired of it.
when you listen to the whole album you will appreciate it!
Dude yes. So I like Mercyful Fate a little more than king diamond but they both slay. So happy to see reactions to the King.
"Melissa" by Mercyful Fate is a classic goodie!
Hehe, u keep finding my fave bands. One of the first prog metal bands, if u have the time some day, listen to The Oath.
Mercyful Fate... Gods! Back in 1983, my Brother aged 13, purchased the Melissa album, debut by Mercyful Fate... after listening to it, he said " someone just outshined and outclassed Judas Priest with their fucking debut album!" 36 years later, he still stands by that bold statement, my Brother and I worship Judas Priest and Iron Maiden! This album by the Danes is just one word: PERFECTION!!!
Fucking love this band!
Good one!
King still does it at 60 years of age...
ive been a fan from the start...1983.
Melissa is a Great song also !! 🤘🤘
My opinion, masterpiece album and i suggest also one bests albums as is dead again, unfortunately it's sinfully underrated but it's my at least one favorite album ever!
it's a different style of singing and King Diamond's operatic style is mindblowing.
You should check out The Melissa trilogy by Mercyful Fate "Melissa" "Come to the Sabath" and "Is that you Melissa". Mercyful Fate and King Diamond are not only about the music, but also about story telling. And Melissa's story is amazing and you can learn it without having to listen to a whole album, unlike Abigail's.
Melissa is a F*****G GREAT ALBUM !!!!!!!!
Goosebumps every time I hear it......
Mercyful Fate Melissa one of my all time favorite albums!!
#WoodsOfYpres - I Was Buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery!
kiss my ashes
@@jsepps73 goodbye
Gotta love Mercyful Fate...in case you didnt know King Diamond is Danish hey Michael Denner as well hey the band started out in Denmark so members Danish...i´m Danish as well...actually they broke up ....back in the days...but Lars Ulrich was the guy who made them reunite with the album In The Shadows...he even Lars i mean played drums on a retake on that album song " Return of the vampire " 1993 version Mercyful Fate then opened up for Metallica and Lars said he ran around backstage like a 12 year old kid yaaaaaaaaaay lol...#everheard Black Rose King Diamonds first band?? before joining Michael and Shermans band Punk btw Brats...But King didnt wanna sing punk...so they change name to Mercyful Fate...rest is history #black sore funny hammonorgan ect and danish talk never released anything other than this many years later ruclips.net/video/FV_DvaIb6nw/видео.html
#KingDiamond in the fire from RoadRunner all star album ruclips.net/video/BdNi0K2FLek/видео.html
My first exposure to King Diamond/Mercyful Fate was the "In the Shadows" album in a bargain bin at a small-town, Bible-Belt record store back in '93 or '94 - I'd seen some of the other albums in record store shelves before, but had only barely heard of him before, not having actually heard King's vocals nor even known him or his bands by reputation beyond brief appearances in a video a psychology teacher had shown us once on satanic music, and the cryptic statement of my friend at the time who saw me looking at the track list in the record store that day: "Oh no, not that band! It's awful. You'll hate it, put that down!" I bought it anyway, my curiosity really raised now, ran home with it as soon as I could, and played it from the beginning, with the song "Egypt" - and, in spite of misgivings about the vocals at first, loved that song. Realizing that he sang that way on all the songs left me a bit uncertain, but the rest of the album grew on me, too, and I ended up just throwing up my hands and saying "whatever - I can live with the vocals and they're really not THAT much weirder than the thrash and death metal vocals I've been getting used to over the last several years, the music is cool, the songs are cool in the campy sort of over-the-top way that make classic horror movies so much fun for me to watch... I'd be willing to buy other records from these guys!" I gave the King Diamond/Mercyful Fate "Dangerous Meeting" split compilation a try next, and with that, I was hooked - I'm a fan of both bands now. My friends never did "get it", but they barely got much of anything that wasn't Def Leppard or maybe Iron Maiden back in those days....
Mercyful Fate - one of the originals from the PMRC's "Filthy Fifteen" list. www.ultimate-guitar.com/static/article/draft/66745_7nW20C7dbj3nN3L-_34845.jpg
You should react to some of King Diamond's solo work too.
Megadeth-Bad Omen,that rhythm guitar is awesome.
She is awesome
Los Black Sabbath dos estos si lo son un chingo de cambioos como deve ser Balck Sabbath dosss 😄👍
Definitely have her listen to "Melissa" before you transition into King Diamond. That song definitely seems to have strongly influenced his solo sound and themes. At a minimum, I hope we get to see Kel's first reaction to "Welcome Home" from King Diamond. That is a metal classic and has been referenced in movies.
I agree. "Melissa" and preferably a song or two off the "Don't Break The Oath" album (maybe "A Dangerous Meeting", "The Oath" or "Come to the Sabbath"). "Welcome Home" and Graaaandmaaaa!! are things to hear and see (if possible). The best thing would be a full album reaction, simply because most of "them" are concept albums.
#Mercyfulfate The Bell Witch.
Great track. Back in Tennessee I saw...
#beardfish
#thismatterofmine
Just wondering if you could squeeze in This Matter of Mine by Beardfish this evening. No worries if you can't. Thank you for your awesome reactions!!
We were cooked...early am rise to work...Later. Soon!!!!
One of the best albums of all time