Black Metal, Genre, Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal

Mercyful Fate – Mercyful Fate EP (Review)

32 Comments

Released in 1982, Mercyful Fate’s self-titled debut is often referred to as the “Nuns Have No Fun” EP but I reckon even Mother Theresa would be hard-pressed to not get a kick out of this. The Danish band battered out a high-energy update on the pace-shifting, riff-laden approach of bands like Diamond Head and Priest but earned recognition as one of the “first wave” black metal bands by virtue of being extremely, extremely evil. While their style is fairly traditional, Hank Shermann’s riffs and solos are pure malevolence and the unique range of corpse-painted vocalist King Diamond is alternately threatening and ghostly, hitting high notes only Rob Halford can hear on Devil Eyes. A Corpse Without Soul and Doomed By The Living Dead are thrashing, twisting workouts with wonderful vocal hooks. Try not singing along with “I’m a corpse, I’m a corpse, I’m a corpse without soul”. The band’s seminal albums would be more cerebral and progressive occult offerings, but the four songs here have a more boisterous and naïve sense of blasphemy. The graveyard scares, pentagram pants, “fucking angels” and a C-word laden ode to religious sisters make Mercyful Fate a uniquely diabolical, gleeful and headbanging entry in their impressive career. None more fun.

*Buying Note: This EP is also available in its entirety as part of the compilation The Beginning, which is a must-buy too.

32 thoughts on “Mercyful Fate – Mercyful Fate EP (Review)”

  4. Never got into the whole makeup over the beard deal with this guy….
    Back in Highschool some dudes were into this Mercyful Fate big time as they did get some press over here and whatnot..
    Don’t know what it was but I just couldn’t and still can’t…
    But I will still read your stuff and comment hahaha

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      6. Wow man what a great segue to a album/tour..
        Sixx I’m so surprised he didn’t write a concept album after he supposedly died back in the late 80’s for a minute or wtf it was….Kick Start My Heart indeed…oh wait a minute Sixx follows trends …forgot about that part..

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  6. None more fun is a good call. I did not know this was out there. I was impressed by how great the soulless corpse embedded song sounds despite being “early.” King Diamond is fun!

    I saw on the tweet sidebar that you had noted Mark Shelton’s passing. Despite occasionally liking music that’s all about people dying, I don’t like it when people die, especially unique, eccentric folk like Mark Shelton who have contributed a deluge of fun to the world.

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    1. Deluge is a great, appropriate word! Really sad and shock news about Mark. Crystal Logic is a big fave of mine.

      Glad you dug this one, it’s a great EP to get if you like the band. A rare instance of an EP where none of the songs appeared again on albums. So essential for that reason as well as the fact that it’s excellent!

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