p e n g u i n d e v i l

Lately we’ve been engaging in some of that good old time fun… finding things to sell. Though we’ve had some luck on eBay (including my Ulver Trilogie boxed set, something I’d always thought about selling, since I’m not an Ulver fan, but never got around to), I am always open to finding more things to ponder selling. I took a stroll through the CD’s, to see what I might be able to part with and I took a gander at the Mercyful Fate. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve been a Fate fan for quite sometime. I was first introduced to them by Dave Murphy in probably 1984. He was talking about how King Diamond’s vocals go so suddenly from high-pitched to low-pitched and that was because “he’s evil man, evil”. That was enough for me! I knew I had to hear it and I went out and bought Don’t Break the Oath and Melissa and was hooked. I never looked back, but I never really looked forward either. Oh sure, I would pick up the odd Fate or King Diamond album as I came across them, but I never really gave them a listen.

classic.

This week though, I pulled out the four cd’s of theirs that I have. I doubt I’d ever listened to them so I thought they might be fine to part with. Of course, after the last couple of decades of black metal, Fate doesn’t seem quite as evil as they used to. But for someone of my taste who prefers the solace of early 80’s metal, those old albums had just the perfect amount of evil drama, metal sensibilities, layered guitar solos (or would those be “feathered”) and creepiness. But I feared what directions they may have gone in over the last 20 years… Admittedly I did see them here live in the late 90’s and it was one of those “personal greatest moments”, but recordings? You know what? They were pretty good. Here I am with: Dead Again, Time, Into the Unknown and 9.

not quite so classic.

While 9 doesn’t really move me, both Into the Unknown and Dead Again are both worth having around. They both have good songs without real much weakness. The big surprise album was Time. I thought it was quite impressive, right up there with Melissa and Don’t Break the Oath. Well, maybe not with Oath, and it certainly can’t begin to compete with those on cover artwork (but then again, what can), but it’s darn good. Of course, looking them up I do see that Time is the oldest of these and 9 is the newest, continuing on with the stereotype of bands declining with time, but considering that Time was released 10 years after that last album of theirs that I has listened to, I was impressed. Maybe now I need to dig out some King Diamond!

they speak for themselves