1461 - Mercyful Fate Doomed by the Living Dead 1982

Mercyful Fate's debut release has always been overshadowed by "Melissa" and "Don't Break the Oath". Although those two albums will probably remain Mercy's most cited legacy, the black magic began with the legendary EP, "Mercyful Fate", also known as "Nuns Have No Fun", with the line-up of King Diamond (vocals), Hank Shermann (guitar), Michael Denner (guitar), Timi Hansen (bass) and Kim Ruzz (drums). The main riff in "Doomed by the Living Dead" definitely harnesses the thrash "attitude" that would soon be a prominent force in metal. Denner and Sherman's playing is amazing. The guitar riffs, solos, and melodies complement each other perfectly.

1043 - Mercyful Fate Evil 1983

Mercyful Fate's debut album, "Melissa", took Black Sabbath's dark occult obsessions to an extreme, fusing them with the speed and tightened, twin-guitar riffing attack of British metal bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. All of the music is written by gutiarist Hank Shermann. Opener "Evil" beguns with a killer slab of Shermann's guitar work and followed by King Diamond's trademark wail.

965 - Mercyful Fate Come to the Sabbath 1984

This amazing "Come to the Sabbath" is included in Mercyful Fate´s sophomore effort, "Don´t break the Oath". This has everything, evil lyrics, mean attitude, awesome solo, aggression and melody fused together perfectly.

Come come to the sabbath
Down by the ruined bridge
Witches and demons are coming
Just follow the magic call

385 - Mercyful Fate The Bell Witch 1993

After releasing a few solo albums, King Diamond returned with guitarists Michael Denner and Hank Sherman to make "In The Shadows". The creepy "The Bell Witch" starts with an excellent opening riff. Denner’s and Sherman’s solos are exceptionally crisp on this track.

187 - Mercyful Fate Into the Coven 1983

Even though the band is not British, Mercyful Fate is from Denmark to be exact, basically what you're getting here is the darker side of NWOBHM. 'Into The Coven' starts out a bit odd, with a guitar solo over an acoustic guitar prelude in a much different key and atmosphere than the rest of the album. Shortly after it turns into a strong, typical Mercyful Fate song full of great guitar leads and riffs. This is a song that has an atmosphere that just grabs you by the throat, pulls you into the song and doesn't let you go until it's over.

124 - Mercyful Fate Melissa 1983

Mercyful Fate hails from Denmark and is arguably Venom´s side kicks in the pioneering of the black metal genre. They played traditional heavy metal but their lyrics were mostly about evil and Satanism. Also, their lead singer, King Diamond, would wear capes and face paint.In 1983, they released their first LP entitled Melissa. Their debut was an astoundingly powerful metal album from start to finish.
'Melissa' closes the album with a melodic/nostalgic atmosphere. The skull King Diamond used to carry on stage was inspired on the album Melissa. The title track of the album is very different from the rest of the album, as it is much slower than the other songs (which are speedier and more aggressive). The lyrics tell of a male protagonist (usually identified as King Diamond himself by fans) who lost the love of his life, a witch who was burnt at the stake by a Catholic Priest. The story builds itself up around the emotions of the protagonist, who first feels sadness and uncertainty, hope for her to still be alive, and then rage over his loss. He swears revenge on the priest who burnt her, proclaiming that he must die in the name of hell. The song ends with a whisper that hints Melissa's spirit is still with the protagonist.

52 - Mercyful Fate Curse of the Pharaohs 1983

'Curse Of The Pharaohs' is probably one of the best tracks of the classic debut album "Melissa". The riffs in this song are midtempo and very strong and in total, the song is quite catchy. The song has a distinct Black Sabbath-vibe, the intro is unmistakably Mercyful Fate. The guitar work on this track is dead on and King doesn’t use his falsetto as much as he did previously, making this track another well known one. The echo that closes the song was a nice touch as well. Bass Player Timi Grabber and Guitarist Michael Denner would later appear on the first two King Diamond albums.