Mercyful Fate / King Diamond Discography

In the shadows - great comeback album for Mercyful Fate!!!! Glad to see the King got back with the old gang to put out a great release. Best thing The King had done since his frist two solo albums, which were basically Mercyful Fate albums anyway.

1994 Mercyful Fate release a follow up to "In The Shadows" simply called "Time". As usual there are changes again. Timi Hansen left the band to be with his family, so Sharlee D'Angelo would take his place. This also marks the first (and last) time Snowy Shaw will be credited and actually play on a studio album by Mercyful Fate or King Diamond.

"Time" basically goes where "In The Shadows" left off but for some reason it's not as good. There a some really great songs off this album don't get me wrong. It just doesn't hit you like the previous or earlier albums did. Maybe partly do to Timi Hansen not being involved. There was always some kind of magic with the line up of Hansen, Shermann, Denner and King. When this team breaks up it struggles somewhat. Its not that Sharlee or Snowy are bad muscians at all. I think Snowy is one hell of a drummer and wish he would have continued with Mercyful Fate but as time went on he jumps from one band to another. Either way I'm glad the reunion album just wasn't a one time thing and Mercyful Fate would be around again for a little while longer.

"Time" also has a first for a Mercyful Fate album. The song "The Mad Arab" is a part 1 of a 2 part song. The song is about Abdul Alhazred the man who wrote Necronomicon.

My favorite tracks off "Time" are "Nightmare Be Thy Name", "Angel Of Light", "Witches Dance", "My Demon", "Lady In Black" and "Afterlife".



1."Nightmare Be Thy Name"
2."Angel of Light"
3."Witches' Dance"
4."The Mad Arab"
5."My Demon"
6."Time"
7."The Preacher"
8."Lady in Black"
9."Mirror"
10."The Afterlife"
11."Castillo del Mortes"

I dig TIME. Sharlee had been in the band since the IN THE SHADOWS tour (he was in the lineup when I saw them in NYC) even though he didn't play on the album, and he seemed to fit pretty well. Of course, over the next couple of years Sharlee would be in about 27 different bands, all at the same time.

Anyway, as PRD said TIME pretty much picks up where SHADOWS left off, and that is not a bad thing at all. Fave tracks for me are "Nightmare Be Thy Name," "Angel of Light," and "Time."

I don't have Time. I really need to track it down.A guy I worked with at my old job had it and I listened to it quite a bit but I haven't heard it in a long time. I remember liking it quite a bit but the only 2 tracks I remember vividly are Nightmare Be Thy Name and the Mad Arab.

"The Mad Arab" is one of my least favorite tracks off this album. I'm jumping ahead of my own thread but I think Kutulu (the Mad Arab Pt. 2) was better.

good job with the thread

Got me interested in getting "In The Shadows"

classify me as one of those who lost interest in KD after the first Merciful Fate break up.


Laterz

Cool!, definetly worth picking up "In The Shadows". I even think the stuff after that is great as well with the exception of one that I will get too soon.

With Mercyful Fate back in action, King decided it was time to continue with his solo work. It would be 5 years since "The Eye". In 1995 King Diamond released "The Spiders Lullabye". This album actually goes back to 1993 when it was mentioned in the liner notes of Mercyful Fates "In The Shadows Album". Where he thanked Andy LaRocque, Sharlee D'Angelo, Mike Wead (who toured with King during "The Eye" tour replacing Pete Blakk and Hal Patino), and Snowy Shaw for their patience and couldn't wait to record the next King Diamond album with them. Unfortunetly they woudldn't be the ones who recorded the album. King relocted to the United States and would once again get a whole new band except for mainstay Andy LaRocque. The new line up consisted Of Herb Simonsen on guitar, Chris Estes on bass and Darrin Anthony on drums, all of the Texas based band Mindstorm. They were chosen due to their proximity of Kings new residence.

"The Spiders Lullabye" unlike most King Diamond releases, the second half of the album was a concept, whereas the first half were just short stories. Mostly dealing with out of body experiences, a killer being put to death by electric chair, a Poltergeist, nightmares, and cursed children. The final short story takes you back to the "Conspiracy" album telling what would have happened if Kings mother and Doctor Landau had buried him alive in a glass coffin so they could see him suffer in agony and perish while Missy kicks dirt in his face.

The second half of the album, the concept, is about a man named Harry who is terrified of spiders. Out of desperation he finds a doctor who can cure his arachnophobia. Unfortunetly for Harry the doctors treatments were nothing more than torture sessions. The doctors nurse brings in a box containing a Wolf Spider. They try to calm Harry down and assure him everything will be ok. They unleash the spider and during the night Harry was bitten. The next day Harry complains of intense pains. The doctor dismisses harry's statements. Later that night Harry was found by the staff dead and covered head to toe in a spiderweb like cocoon. From there Harry was taken to the Morgue along with other patients who have died for reasons unknown where spiders begin making their homes in empty eye sockets.

When I saw this album in a music store that was near my house I couldn't wait to get home and listen to it. I really like the album. Its not my favorite but It proves that king doesn't always need to do a complete concept album. "The Spiders Lullabye" story was told in enough songs to give you the point and make a decent story out of it. I even liked the short story songs. I think it worked. The only thing I wasn't pleased about was the production. It wasn't bad or unlistenable it was just missing that sound from previous albums. It was just a little flat sounding which is unfortunetly how the rest of his releases would sound due to Andy LaRocque's production. The wierd thing is I've heard other things that Andy has produced and in most cases they sound better than King Diamond releases. So maybe its King who is pushing for the sound to be like it is. It just needs to be beefed up.

My favorites are "From The Other Side", "Killer", "The Pltergeist", "Moonlight" and "Room 17".


1. "From the Other Side"
2. "Killer"
3. "The Poltergeist"
4. "Dreams"
5. "Moonlight"
6. "Six Feet Under"
7. "The Spider's Lullabye"
8. "Eastmann's Cure"
9. "Room 17"
10. "To the Morgue"

I think that the Spider's Lullabye is a very good listen. There's a lot of good tracks on here with Six Feet Under and To The Morgue being my favorites. And just to show how little I pay attention to the stories on concept albums, I had no idea that this thing was split the way PRD said it was.

Hahaha didn't you think it was odd that this guy Harry was only mentioned at the last half of the album?

Like I said, just goes to show how little I pay attention. It did seem a little off that it didn't all fit together but I never really dug deeper to clarify things for me.

Ok sorry for the long break, Where are we? Ah yes! 1996. This year would bring 2 releases by King. The first would be another Mercyful Fate album called "Into The Unknown". Snowy Shaw has since left from the drum slot and in came Bjarne St. Holm. Bjarne actually plays a little similar to Kim Ruzz in ways so he fit rights in. Mercyful Fate doesn't really change to much with their writing so theres nothing really new here except for the sound of the album which is probably the heaviest they ever done. This album also concludes the "Mad Arab" song which was on the last album. I think this one is much heavier than part 1 and it's just a little more catchier. I love this album from beginning to end. It's really a great record. During the tour of this album Michael Denner decides to leave to be with his family. This sadly breaks up any chemistry this bad had together and can be felt in the next releases, but we'll get to that soon.


1."Lucifer"
2."The Uninvited Guest"
3."The Ghost of Change"
4."Listen to the Bell"
5."Fifteen Men (And a Bottle of Rum)"
6."Into the Unknown"
7."Under the Spell"
8."Deadtime"
9."Holy Water"
10."Kutulu (The Mad Arab Part Two)"

The second release is King Diamonds "The Graveyard". Pretty much the same thing goes for this album. Nothing really changed much with this release. As usual its another Concept album this time dealing with a Mayor who molested his own daughter. Here's a description from Wikipedia:

In this story, King's character is an employee for a crooked, perverted and immoral mayor, Mayor McKenzie. One night, King's character happens to walk in on his boss molesting his daughter, Lucy. King doesn't keep quiet about this, but the mayor testifies that King is insane and has him locked up in Black Hill Sanitarium. After years of being there, King sees his chance to escape and takes it. Now mentally destroyed, King runs off to the local graveyard to hide from the police. Plotting his revenge against Mayor McKenzie, and killing people who pass through the graveyard at night, King is obsessed with a rumor that if you die in a graveyard and lose your head, your soul does not escape, and it lives forever in your head. With that thought in the back of his mind, he kidnaps Lucy McKenzie, the mayor's daughter and calls the mayor out to the graveyard for the two of them to play a game. Eventually, Mayor McKenzie does arrive after King sends a letter to him pretending to be Lucy. Before he arrives, King buries a sleeping Lucy in one of seven empty graves, the tombstones of which read "LUCY FOREVER".

King eventually reveals himself to the Mayor and knocks him out and blindfolds him. When he regains consciousness, King gives him a shovel and tells him to dig up his daughter. There are seven mounds, and he'll have three guesses or else he'll kill both of them. The Mayor gets the third guess right, but King knocks him out cold once more and ties him up to a tombstone.

While the Mayor slowly regains consciousness, King digs up Lucy and takes her out of the coffin while he starts to torture the Mayor. To King's surprise, Lucy ends up pulling down on a cord that sends a sheet of broken glass from a broken chapel window down on King, decapitating him. The legend he was obsessed with turns out to be true, as his living head beckons Lucy not to leave him as she walks away with her Daddy. To his relief, Lucy takes King's head and puts it in her backpack, promising to say "Not a word to Daddy". So King can protect her from Daddy forever.

I have mixed feelings about this album, I've actually had mixed feelings about Kings albums since "The Eye" even though that album grew on me. The Spiders Lullabye was ok but it seemed kind of unfocused not being a full concept album. "The Graveyard" even though was a full concept album this time just doesn't really have enough good songs. When there are good songs though their good but for the most part they are just ok. I also think the production is a little weak on this one as well. I probably listen to this one the least out of all the albums, but its not really all that bad. It's an interesting story but I honestly just don't know what it is, its just not what it could have been.


1. "The Graveyard"
2. "Black Hill Sanitarium"
3. "Waiting"
4. "Heads on the Wall"
5. "Whispers"
6. "I'm Not a Stranger"
7. "Digging Graves"
8. "Meet Me at Midnight"
9. "Sleep Tight Little Baby"
10. "Daddy"
11. "Trick or Treat"
12. "Up From the Grave"
13. "I Am"
14. "Lucy Forever"

Into the Unkown is a decent enough release. I wsa able to find my copy at a used shop for a good price and it was money well spent,I think.Deadtime and Kutulu are the two that standout to me right now.


The Graveyard is okay.There are some good songs on it but the rest are just kinda there (not good,not bad). The only 2 that pop into my head are Heads On The Wall and Up From The Grave.

Into the Unknown - good album! I haven;t heard the Graveyard, so I can;t comment on it

INTO THE UNKNOWN is a decent disc, I especially dig "The Uninvited Guest," "Fifteen Men (and a Bottle of Rum)," the title track and "Ktulu." This was the last MF disc that I really got into biggy styley, after Denner left the band they began to sound more and more like King Diamond's solo band and less like MF.

1998 once again saw king release 2 albums, the first being Mercyful Fates "Dead Again". "Dead Again" would be the first MF album withough Michael Denner and it shows. Denners replacement Mike Wead is no slouch when it comes to guitar. He's been in such bands as Hexenhaus, Memento Mori, Abstrakt Algebra, The Haunted, Edge of Sanity, Witch, Firegod, Candlemass, and The Project Hate. Wead is an excellent guitar player but he just does not work well with Mercyful Fate. Another first with "Dead Again" is the production. Its very muddy and raw sounding. There are also no keyboards or any kind of background noise. Its pretty much just straight up guitars, bass, drums and vocals.

Don't let the album cover fool you with the outline of the devil from "Don't Break The Oath". This sounds nothing like it. This is my least favorite album. I swear every time I listen to this I get an instant headache and I have no idea why. Thats not to say there aren't any good songs on it, because there are. Its just a very bland album and with Denner missing it just doesn't work.

Songs I like off of this are "Torture", "The Night", "Since Forever", and "Dead Again" which I think is the longest MF song they ever done. Its a very wierd song with twists and turns some parts work some don't but for some reason I like it. The lyrics are really wierd especially for King.



1."Torture (1629)"
2."The Night"
3."Since Forever"
4."The Lady Who Cries"
5."Banshee"
6."Mandrake"
7."Sucking Your Blood"
8."Dead Again"
9."Fear"
10."Crossroads"

The other album released in 1998 is King Diamonds "Voodoo". Most of the line up was the same for this album except for the drummer. Darrin Anthony was involved in a car accident and left him unable to continue with the band so his replacement was John Luke Hebert. Shortly after the recording Herb Simonsen left the band to be with his family. His replacement during the tour was none other than Glen Drover of the band Eidolon (and soon to be Megadeth for a short time). After touring Chris Estes left the band and was replaced by David Harbour.

The story on "Voodoo" is (taken from wikipedia)

"Voodoo takes place in the year 1932 and deals with the affairs of the Lafayettes, a family consisting of Sarah (who is pregnant), David, and Grandpa. They move to an old colonial house on the Mississippi River, just north of Baton Rouge, which also happens to have been built next to a voodoo graveyard.

Unknown to the Lafayettes, the colonial house's servant, Salem, is involved in voodoo. Salem partakes in voodoo rituals at the graveyard, along with Doctor le Croix, a voodoo sorcerer, Madame Sarita, and Lula Chevalier, a girl who is never seen.

The Lafayettes hear the voodoo drums from the ceremonies in the graveyard. They call a secret meeting with Salem to discuss what should be done. The Lafayettes decide to destroy the voodoo burial ground. Salem does not want this to happen, so he sneaks out at midnight to talk to Doctor le Croix. Le Croix gives Salem money to buy some goofer dust, and tells him that the Lafayettes must all die.

Salem puts a snake in David's room, mixes haunted graveyard dirt in Grandpa's food, and, after talking to the dead Baron Samedi, pours goofer dust on Sarah while she sleeps. David and Grandpa become very ill, and Sarah becomes possessed with a voodoo spirit.

Grandpa manages to call Father Malone, an exorcist. Father Malone travels to the colonial house to rid Sarah of her possessor. He fails, and is rendered unconscious from exhaustion. While he is unconscious, Lula brings the heavy, nail-riddled ceremonial cross of Baron Samedi to the possessed Sarah. Sarah attacks Malone with the cross, almost killing him. Grandpa comes in and tells Sarah to stop, and she does, which saves Father Malone's life. Grandpa calls the police and ambulance, which arrive two hours later.

The story concludes with Salem speaking about the aftermath of the situation, which also reveals that he escaped the events of the mansion. He explains that the Lafayettes abandoned the old colonial house after leaving the hospital. Sarah's child was born and it was speaking "in the strangest tongue...backwards. Some expert had uttered the word...'Voodoo'..."

I think "Voodoo" is a great album. Definetly a lot better than "The Graveyard" and "Voodoo" actually kind of brings back the feeling of how "Abigail", "Them" or "Conspiracy" gives you chills when listening to it. The story is interesting, the music is good and the production improved alot. I listen to this from time to time and never get sick of it. Some of the things in between songs are really creepy and this would make for a great movie. Suposedly most of this story is actually true. This is a great album so I can't really pick any favorite songs since I like them all.


1. "Louisiana Darkness"
2. ""LOA" House"
3. "Life After Death"
4. "Voodoo"
5. "A Secret"
6. "Salem"
7. "One Down Two to Go"
8. "Sending of Dead"
9. "Sarah's Night"
10. "The Exorcist"
11. "Unclean Spirits"
12. "Cross of Baron Samedi"
13. "If They Only Knew"
14. "Aftermath"

I don't have Dead Again yet so I can't comment on it. Voodoo onthe other hand is a GREAT album. I love it. This thing ranks up there as one of my favorite King Diamond cds. I really don't think there's a weak song on it. (Maybe it has something to do with my interest in Voodoo,I don't know).

Also should mention the nice solo by Dimebag Darrell on the title track.

I don't mind 'Dead Again' not my favorite album by Mercyful Fate but it is not horrid, like someone said earlier at this point Mercyful Fate and King Diamond's solo career were almost interchangeable style and songwriting wise.

DEAD AGAIN just didn't do anything for me. The breakup of the Denner/Shermann guitar team robbed MF of a big part of their signature sound. Bought it, kept it for a while, never listened to it, so I finally traded it.
Great album cover though. Love that silhouette of the DON'T BREAK THE OATH demon.

007 wrote:

I don't have Dead Again yet so I can't comment on it. Voodoo onthe other hand is a GREAT album. I love it. This thing ranks up there as one of my favorite King Diamond cds. I really don't think there's a weak song on it. (Maybe it has something to do with my interest in Voodoo,I don't know).

Also should mention the nice solo by Dimebag Darrell on the title track.

DOH! I remembered to write something about Dimebag doing that solo but completely forgot to write it in there. haha

1999 Mercyful Fate Releases the album simply titled "9". "9" is something King has used a lot throughout his career. Why there wasn't 9 songs on the album I have no idea haha. But either way I think "9" was pretty good. Certainly a lot better than "Dead Again". All of the same players from the "Dead Again" line up were involved, but I think they were able to get a little more experience on how to work with eachother. I also think the album isn't as rough sounding as the last one was. Its still not as good as the Denner/Shermann team but I think the album works. As of now it looks like it is Mercyful Fates Final album, and I wouldn't be surprised because of the whole "9" theme. I think the album is pretty good all the way through and I like all the songs. It's not a classic but it's a strong album.


1."Last Rites"
2."The Church of Saint Anne"
3."Sold My Soul"
4."House on the Hill"
5."Burn in Hell"
6."The Grave"
7."Insane"
8."Kiss the Demon"
9."Buried Alive"
10."'9'"

Supposedly Mercyful Fate is on the backburner for now because King Diamond (the band) sells more than Mercyful Fate. I'm thinking the bands done but I guess we will see eventually what will happen. There is a live DVD that is set to be released by the end of 2010 featuring old songs, intereviews etc.

In 2002 The team of Denner and Shermann would get back together along with Hal Patino and Bjarne T. Holm to create a new band with vocalist Martin Steene (of Iron Fire) called Force of Evil. I really can't comment on the band because I heard one song and didn't really like Steenes voice, which was odd because I like Iron Fire maybe I'll have to check them out again and see for myself what else they had to offer. Either way they only lasted 2 albums before everyone went their seperate ways. Steene went back to reform Iron Fire, Denner went back to his family, Hal Patino rejoined King Diamond and Bjarne I have no idea.

In 2009 King Diamond got a call from Lars Ulrich about the new Metallica Guitar Hero game. They wanted to feature King Diamond and Mercyful Fate in it in some way. So they came up with an idea to have a King Diamond character in the game. They also wanted to have a Meryful Fate song. They were going to use the old recordings but found out that they were lost, so King got most of the original line up of Mercyful Fate back together with the exception of Kim Ruzz and recorded "Evil" and "Curse Of The Pharaohs". There hasn't been any talk about an album or anything since.

I didn't want to jump the gun there but I figured I was on some sort of roll with Mercyful Fate stories that I should just continue it, so I can get the King Diamond stuff finished with haha.

Yeah I think 9 is a pretty soild album as well. All the songs are a good listen with the 2 I like best being Burn In Hell and Buried Alive.And although I'm not much of a cover guy,I gotta say the cover to 9 is pretty cool looking.


And that's a pretty cool story about Guitar Hero. I'd never heard that before.

"9" suffers from the same problem that DEAD AGAIN did -- sounded more like a King solo album than an MF album. Oh well. Hopefully if there's ever another MF disc, both Denner and Shermann will be on board. Without those two guys on guitar it just doesn't sound like Mercyful Fate.

007 wrote:

And that's a pretty cool story about Guitar Hero. I'd never heard that before.

The songs are on Itunes if you want to hear them. They got them really close to the original version guitar wise. Kings vocals are a little different but I still think they did a pretty good job.

In the year 2,000, In the year 2,000! Sorry just had to do that haha. King Diamond releases House Of God. As usual its a concept album. Heres a sum up of the story (from wikipedia, where else?)

The album's thematics are loosely based around Rennes le Chateau. The thirteen tracks tell the story of a weary traveler who is led to a church for lodging by a terrifying but compassionate wolf creature. Once there the wolf transforms into a beautiful woman who seduces the traveler into a soul selling deal. Once imprisoned in the Chateau the traveler descends to the bowels of the building and finds a crypt, wherein lies the body of "Christ". Disillusioned and heartbroken the traveler prepares to commit suicide, only to learn that God and the Devil are toys of even higher entities. The album begins with a haunting monologue:

"Upon the Cross he did not die, they tortured him, but he survived. Smuggled across the open sea, to Southern France, tranquility. There he married Magdalene, and founded another dynasty. A church was built upon a hill, to serve all of the gods at will."

This is the first album to feature Glen Drover on Guitar and David Harbour on Bass. I don't know what it is, but this album wasn't as good as "Voodoo" was. For some reason the production went downhill. The album sounds really dull. The worst part of the whole album is the drumming. It sounds as if John Luke Hebert just had no inspiration at all in playing. Actually I'm not even sure he even played on the album because I've heard talk of king using programmed drums on the more recent albums. The most noteable song called "Help!" has the same constant drum beat in it through the whole thing. I would like the song if it wasn't for that, but because its so boring I can't listen to it. The performance of the whole album leaves me bored and I really hate to say it. Thats not to say that there aren't any good songs because there are its just a very bland sounding album.

I like the story line and the blandness sound of the album I guess works in a way because the story is pretty depressing as it gets toward the end. This would have been a really great album if the performances weren't so boring. Kings voice also seems a little wierd. I can't point my finger on it but theres also just something about it. Maybe its just the album where his age started to come through. After this album though it gets better again.

Favorite songs are "The Trees Have Eyes", "House Of God", "The Pact", "Just A Shadow", and "Catacombs".


1. "Upon the Cross"
2. "The Trees Have Eyes"
3. "Follow the Wolf"
4. "House of God"
5. "Black Devil"
6. "The Pact"
7. "Goodbye"
8. "Just a Shadow"
9. "Help!!!"
10. "Passage to Hell"
11. "Catacomb"
12. "This Place Is Terrible"
13. "Peace of Mind" (Instrumental)