Metal Song Lyrics No Ill Never Be the Same Again Liquid Metal Devils Dozen

Yous knew nosotros wouldn't leave you hanging for too long, yes? Halloween without King'due south solo works would accept been bad enough, but no Mercyful Fate? That's like rock without the roll, a shot without the beer, the Devil without a diabolical program, a knifeless Crocodile Dundee. Thankfully, Last Rites is 100% opposed to having our collective heads upwards our ass, so hither we gather over again, this time for a particularly unsafe coming together.

The original plan was to somehow modify the rules of the game and make a Devil's Dozen that included 6 King Diamond songs, half-dozen more Male monarch Diamond songs, and six added Mercyful Fate tunes to help finalize our trip into everlasting damnation. Then we realized that a plan such as this was ane) fucking lame, and 2) seriously restrictive, because choosing only half dozen cuts across essentially 9 Fate releases is loopier than squirrel on bath salts driving on the turnpike. Hence, this bonus Mercyful Fate Devil's Dozen offered up to really help buuuurrrrn the wickedness of All Hallows' Eve dwelling house.

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If you were around for the intro to the solo King Diamond side of the money yesterday, you recall that Mercyful Fate holds the distinct pleasure of existence the first metal band to actually scare the living bejesus out of me. Being young, naive and Midwestern in the 80s was partly to blame, merely Fate also did a phenomenal job of making literally every element fastened to the band ringout with a sweeping supernatural immorality. This wasn't but some stock evangelic-bashing metallic band belting out the side by side level of "extreme," this was an inexplicable bethel headed by a ghoul that produced actual hymns of blatant Devil devotion—next level fear pizzazz for anyone who perhaps hadn't made up his or her mind virtually the being of Sky and Hell. In a world where Melissa stood as an initiation to those freshly swept into the Devil's arms, Don't Intermission the Oath was the terrifying portent of things to come for the hasty dabblers, and an as deadly alarm offered to those foolish plenty to sever the poisonous bond the record so gleefully celebrates.

For some, the Mercyful Fate chapter ends at that place, with perhaps a dignified nod to the more playful mischief of the '82 EP, but the band is too responsible for one of the unmarried greatest comeback albums in the history of metallic with 1993'south remarkable In the Shadows, and the four records that follow further add to the ring's acclaim, even if generally by bits and pieces. In short, there's a wealth of wickedness to consider here, certainly well enough to warrant an contained Devil's Dozen that'southward worthy of The Human being Downstairs himself.

And so… Who will exist the first to autumn in trance?

[CAPTAIN]

EVIL

[Melissa , 1983]

Something of a signature song for both Mercyful Fate and King Diamond himself, "Evil" is a self-aggrandizing tale that harkens dorsum to blues tunes like "Mannish Boy" and "Hoochie Coochie Man." And while the dejection certainly wasn't above messing with Erstwhile Scratch, King ups the Satanic ante quite a bit and throws in a footling necrophilia to boot. As for the music…well, if you took "Victim of Changes," "Highway Star" and "Freebird" and threw them in a blender, you lot might get close. "Evil" is a white-knuckle ride from its iconic intro and neck-snapping main-riff through umpteen fundamental changes and almost as many guitar solos. And it'south a testament to the dominance of Mercyful Fate's unabridged line-up that the shred-fest that makes upward the final third of "Evil" manages to exist exhilarating, despite containing nary a peep from the group's charismatic frontman.

[JEREMY MORSE]

NUNS HAVE NO FUN

[ Mercyful Fate EP , 1982]

Mercyful Fate'south eponymous debut EP introduced listeners to just about every trait that would define the band's career, and not-quite-just-sometimes-title track "Nuns Have No Fun" included it all. Occult lyrics, harmonized hooks from Denner and Shermann, automobile gun riffage, a deft touch on the hi-lid from Kim Ruzz, and King's full range of vocal capabilities (if less refined in the falsetto department than on afterwards releases). But the thing that can't quite be taught is this band'south and this song'due south titanic swagger . Once Rex shows up for the poesy, expertly weaving a thunderous tapestry with the riffage, at that place is virtually an overload of STRUT going on here.

And in a decade of pop civilization that was basically defined by peacocking, "Nuns Take No Fun" immune Mercyful Fate to prove off their ain particular brand. This has more cockiness than Crockett and Tubbs with the superlative down and blazer sleeves rolled upwardly; more brashness than a bunch of oiled upward fighter pilots playing volleyball; more irresistible arrogance than the irresistibly arrogant way a immature James Spader would vesture his sunglasses; even a smoother sashay than Peter Venkman searching Dana Barrett's apartment for signs of ghosts. Nuns might not accept been having fun, but we sure as shit were.

[ZACH DUVALL]

A Unsafe Meeting

[Don't Pause the Oath , 1984]

I guess it makes sense that my favorite Mercyful Fate song is the opening rails on the beginning album I owned. The ominous cover fine art was more than than enough to convince a 13 year old to fork over plenty backyard mowing money for this blind buy cassette. When I hit the play push I was floored besides as a fleck confused. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why King Diamond chose his vocal mode, and I both loved it and hated it. But those riffs. Holy hell, those glorious riffs. They set their teeth and kept me revisiting Don't Break the Oath, although it admittedly took me a while to finally come to love Rex's voice. Now, I know the LR readers don't give a speckled turd most a younger, fifty-fifty dumber version of me and my first heed to Fate, merely yous do have your ain story, and I'll bet you all the same call back that feeling. At that place'south nothing like that first trip the light fantastic with a band that is on a direct route to the pantheon of metal. And I hope this feature helps connect you lot to that experience.

"A Dangerous Meeting" could hands stand on the merits of its key riffs and vocals, but the vocal'south structure and balance are truly masterclass. Hank Shermann's focus on the minor things are what puts this track amongst the very best of the vaunted Mercyful Fate catalog. The intro sequence and solo before the outset verse is of course the well-nigh obvious example, just shortly thereafter there's the quickened bass line over a contorting slower solo. And the funereal church building bells in what seemed to be the song'south outro. And on and on. This stick and move attack makes the most of the song's lean five-minute run-fourth dimension, allowing a but ridiculous pile of hooks crammed into this phenomenal tune.

[MATTHEW COOPER]

ANGEL OF Low-cal

[Time, 1994]

How do yous follow up one of the best (and some might debate the best) metallic reunion albums of the last 25 years? M.I.S.South.: Keep It Satanic, Stupid. Well, mostly Satanic, as Time throws some emphasis toward H.P. Lovecraft, witches, ghost children who merely appear in mirrors, dying preachers, and angels and demons contesting it out in Espana. For its function, "Affections of Light" focuses on the catchy trickster from deep down in the darkest well and his veiled deception every bit a shining beacon of low-cal. And yep, the ruse works, equally a second deal is struck one time once again with the Prince of Low-cal. Hey, merely posers make the Adjuration just in one case, correct? Musically, Fate keeps it simple, stupid, which is smart, because "Affections of Lite" is direct, damn-well-nigh danceable, and features one of those impossibly tempting, wickedly contagious choruses that Male monarch has offered up seemingly hundreds of times in his career. Smoothen in all your glory, indeed.

[CAPTAIN]

SHADOWS

[In the Shadows , 1993]

It'due south one of those things that almost becomes trite when talking about Mercyful Fate, merely "Shadows" is basically a perfect goddamned heavy metal song. The hammering chug that these riffs ride off into syncopated stabs is straight out of the same playbook that makes Melissa one of the best albums of whatever kind, anywhere, and the richer production on this album only serves to highlight only how impeccable the songwriting is. My favorite little impact here is how King softly doubles the audio-visual guitar (or keyboard?) arpeggio at the end of the chorus. And that double-tracked guitar solo that waltzes in at about 1:xxx ? Are you lot fucking kidding me? If you lot are ever unfortunate enough as to become trapped in conversation with some kind of terrible dweeb who insists that heavy metal lived and died in the 1980s, permit me to humbly submit In the Shadows as proof positive that the by is but truly live if you refuse to let it ossify and become a museum piece. Listen to this certificate of impossibly fluid heavy metal mastery, sure, but then get and do something about it.

[DAN OBSTKRIEG]

SATAN'S FALL

[ Melissa , 1983]

It would be impossible to proper name Mercyful Fate's greatest song — hell, we had a hard enough time getting it down to the peak thirteen — simply information technology's non too difficult to option their well-nigh accomplished moment of song arrangement. At eleven-and-a-half minutes, "Satan's Fall" is their 2d longest tune (with "Dead Again" coming in at fourteen minutes decades afterward), and it bears all the hallmarks of early Fate'due south celebrity — riff after glorious riff, King's distinctive melodic sense and range, some shredding solos from Shermann and Denner, a serious nuance of progressive rock influence, and a menacing darkness that was guaranteed to scare your church-going auntie. The combination of King's "Bringing the blood of the newborn kid" and that stuttering riff is pure metallic hook greatness, and in that location'south still ten minutes of glory to go… With nearly a dozen distinct sections that never repeat, "Satan'due south Fall" is a master form in how to structure an epic-length metallic song and keep it interesting.

[ANDREW EDMUNDS]

A CORPSE WITHOUT SOUL

[Mercyful Fate EP, 1982 ]

Ane of the best aspects of Mercyful Fate's debut EP is the rawness of the ring'southward sound. This is likely the event of a miniscule budget and extremely express fourth dimension, but the imperfections the recording captures somehow make the songs better. "A Corpse Without Soul" is no exception. Out of the gate the ring sounds rushed, with Sherman spitting out a frantic solo earlier any sort of theme is fifty-fifty established, almost equally if this song isn't seven minutes long and he's not going to have like eight more chances to show off. Soon plenty, though, that blues-rock boogie riff kicks in, and only Mercyful Fate could go far sound then evil. In dissimilarity to the choirs of layered, pitch-perfect vocals King Diamond would later exist known for, he sounds desperate here, fifty-fifty a little ragged, and it fits the song's subject thing—the horrifying realizations of a recently soul-dispossessed private—perfectly.

Eventually, the band mellows out a bit for some bully interludes, the second of which features a bang-up picayune harmonized passage that comes across like a demonic version of Thin Lizzy. The terminal minute, even so, is raging solo after raging solo, gloriously capped by what is probably the highest and most piercing scream of Rex Diamond'southward long and illustrious career—enough to give God tinnitus.

[JEREMY MORSE]

THE Former OAK

[ In the Shadows , 1993]

At most nine minutes in length, "The Old Oak" is among the longest songs of Mercyful Fate's career. And yet the song, which is features plenty of switches in volume and mode, is largely defined by excelling at the simpler things in heavy metal. We could ramble on and on about how the intro is a simple-all the same-perfect combination of simple riff and simple-yet-foreboding lead that y'all but couldn't master. Or how the verses run into Male monarch doubling his natural phonation with either a uncomplicated turn to falsetto or a simpler touch of demonic growls. Or how those leads aren't particularly complex, right? The theatrical, audio-visual interludes wonderfully understated? Utterly bones riffs that human activity every bit foundation for King's charismatic takeover? We could blather endlessly about how it all seems so perfectly simple, and how this is the blazon of classic heavy metal track that drives a get-go band absolutely nutters as they try to figure out how to turn the simplistic into pure gold, only to fail repeatedly.

Sure, nosotros could wax endlessly most Mercyful Fate's intangibles, and how they're all fully on display on "The Old Oak." Just wouldn't nosotros rather simply wail out "It's the old oak hanging TREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE " until nosotros lose our voices? Yes, of form.

[ZACH DUVALL]

THE Oath

[ Don't Break the Oath , 1984]

The divergence between using night themes and actually being evil is often blurred in heavy metallic, but the accented devotion shown to our dark Lord in "The Oath" is undeniably over the top. The championship, placement, and introductory theatrics of the track are an early on sign Male monarch Diamond intended "The Oath" to be the centerpiece of the anthology, just the stupid amount of unforgettable riffing, howling, soloing and praise given to Lucifer in simply one song has been plenty to bring night joy to the globe for over iii decades and counting. Denner and Shermann bring some of their finest work to the table in a vocal where both guitars seem to be gleefully dancing in the moonlight all the way to The Oath'southward final seconds. The insane vocal functioning is nothing new to Male monarch Diamond, but the energy with which every annotation is belted out is at an all time loftier hither. To top it all off, Timi Hansen's bass lines are as catchy as ever, and Kim Ruzz's progressive timing on the kit is nothing brusque of remarkable. "The Oath" is one of the few examples of the greatest skills of each member of Mercyful Fate converging at the right fourth dimension to grade one of the virtually memorable moments throughout heavy metal's unabridged history.

[KK]

WITCHES' Dance

[Time , 1994]

Here's a thing I never knew before Mercyful Fate taught me otherwise: witches tin can fucking trip the light fantastic toe. Flat out. No joke. And I'g non talking about some overnice tap dancing or ballet, witches just go downwardly and boogie. Luckily, King Diamond has known this, like, forever. Fortunately, on Mercyful Fate's 1994 release, Time , he decided to teach us about that very field of study. Witches just dancing the trip the light fantastic. Featuring double solos, starting time by Denner, then a solo battle between Shermann and Denner, the guitar work across "Witches' Trip the light fantastic toe" is perfect, accompanied by King'south unmistakable falsetto and an altogether catchy song melody. Throughout, Male monarch harmonizes with himself, layering his vocals like a choir and punctuating his verses with grunts, shouts and ghoulish screams. "Witches' Trip the light fantastic toe" is a great example of King's power to embrace metal's cheese cistron and make memorable, unmistakable and addictive tunes.

[MANNY-O-War]

Expletive OF THE PHARAOHS

[ Melissa , 1983]

Would you believe that the ramp upwardly for this round of Devil's Dozen is the first time I've heard this i? Of course y'all would. I might be lying, likewise. I'grand sure I gave Melissa a spin at some indicate. To put a cherry-red on this blasphemy, I HAD heard information technology equally part of Metallica's Mercyful Fate medley…in their Guitar Hero game (it was a long time before I owned a copy of Garage Inc.) So that either makes me the least qualified staffer to write about information technology, or the most qualified. For the sake of this discussion, let'south get with the latter.

For my money, it'southward the standout runway from the ring's full-length debut. King Diamond's reigned-in (relatively speaking) vocal lines permit room for the guitar duo of Hank Shermann and Michael Denner to spend ample fourth dimension in the spotlight. Hey, this band isn't scary at all, and I can really get downwards with this Egyptian stuff. The production sounds pretty banal and dated at outset, but once y'all can get by that—and you volition after a few listens—it sounds remarkably fresh and relevant. "Curse of the Pharaohs" is a huge reason why Melissa is held in such high regard, and why the bar was set and then high for subsequent works.

[DAVE PIRTLE]

Come TO THE SABBATH

[ Don't Interruption the Oath , 1984]

Belongings a vital place on what is arguably the unmarried greatest heavy metallic album of all fourth dimension, "Come to the Sabbath" represents an invitation for the ages, and hey, yous're invited! And it won't only be you, demons and witches volition be at that place. At over five minutes, at that place'southward enough of time for Rex to woo yous into his Satanic revelry. Harpsichords, a solo by Hank Shermann and some knee-slapping riffs pepper the runway making information technology seasoned like a fine spiral ham (which might just be served at this feast!) As always, Male monarch shows off his unique vocal talent while inviting you to praise the unrepentant fallen affections. Satan with him. While he might keep company with the creatures of the underworld, Rex's voice is handed down from on loftier, a gift for those worthy enough to mind. And so just head on down by the ruined bridge and become set up to feast (or exist feasted upon.)

[MANNY-O-WAR]

Egypt

[ In the Shadows , 1993]

Listen, at that place are lots of interesting, insightful, even important things i could say about "Egypt," the leadoff rail from Mercyful Fate'south world-demolishing reunion anthology, only I don't really want to say any of those things. All I really want y'all to do is get listen to the goddamn vocal. Hell, get heed to the whole album RIGHT Now. Seriously, I'll expect. Howdy, hello, how are you, I call back In the Shadows is amend than Don't Suspension the Oath. Not a especially pop opinion, really, but are you listening to "Egypt"? Tin can you lot hear how fucking hungry Denner and Shermann are to exist back in the identify they belong? One of the things I've ever institute interesting when binging the unabridged Fate/Diamond catalogs (considering when you do one, c'mon, yous've gotta exercise both) is that, despite the fact that the overall sound is at least 90% the same, at that place'due south a tremendously different feel from ane to the other. Because King is such a focal, magnetic presence, it's piece of cake to think of goose egg else, simply "Egypt" is a helpful cosmetic. The song does what it does purely because of the guitars. That Eastern-tinged chorus hook that King sings ONLY exists because the guitars want it to be. King Diamond solo is the sound of tremendous heavy metal built around King's army of voices and the stories they want to tell; Mercyful Fate is the audio of an army of guitars with stories to tell and the tremendous heavy metal voice that ices their mathematically perfect cake. "Egypt" is the pure, platonic platonic of utterly uninhibited rejuvenation.

[DAN OBSTKRIEG]

At the sound of the demon bong
Everything will plow to Hell
Ascension… rising… rising… It'south Halloween
Rising… rise… The ghost will rise

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Source: https://yourlastrites.com/2017/10/31/a-devils-dozen-mercyful-fate/