Mercyful Fate

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风格: #重金属　#黑金属
地区: Denmark 丹麦

艺人介绍

1980年，来自丹麦的MERCYFUL FATE以其独一无二的邪恶、黑暗的音乐氛围吸引了当时地下重金属音乐界的关注，而正是从那时起，乐队开始了自己传奇的音乐生涯。乐队最初是由King Diamond发起的，在阵容稳定下来之前，曾有两到三个吉他手和不同的鼓手、贝司手与Diamond合作过，并曾经录制了一些小样。乐队最初的一些活动至今已经存在多种版本，譬如King Diamond（主唱）是如何在一个寒冷的冬夜找到Michael Denner（吉他），然后又如何在昏暗的酒吧遇到Hank Shermann（吉他），不过这些我们都无从考究，所以就让我们从这三个人正式联合在一起的时候开始我们的故事。

阵容相对稳定后，乐队又创作了一些歌曲。荷兰厂牌Rave On为MERCYFUL FATE录制了最初的两盘Demo样带，被歌迷复制后命名为Nuns Have No Fun（也叫Mercyful Fate或Corpse Without A Soul）在地下发行，这张样带里的一些歌曲已经具有非常出色的重金属潜质了，例如沉重的音色和复杂的编排，而且到现在这张私制专辑已经成为了重金属收藏家梦寐以求的珍品。

Nuns Have No Fun为乐队赢来了独立厂牌Roadrunner的一纸合同。1983年，MERCYFUL FATE发行了乐队的首张专辑Melissa（梅丽莎），这张专辑后来被评价为重金属历史上最重要的专辑之一，主唱King Diamond恶魔般的嗓音以及Shermann和Denner营造出的华丽的双吉他配合使这张专辑在当时的地下重金属音乐界引起了轰动。

过了一年，MERCYFUL FATE发行了第二张专辑Don't Break The Oath（不要打破誓言），在这张专辑中，令人着迷的力量、魔法和黑暗得到了更充分的体现，使得这张专辑中获得了更大的成功。而乐队在美国成功的进行了巡演也标志着MERCYFUL FATE成为了一支国际知名的重金属乐队。不过，这也是乐队此阶段的最后一张专辑，因为在专辑发行后乐队即因为乐队成员在音乐上的观点不和而宣告解散。但不管怎样，MERCYFUL FATE通过这两张专辑展示给世人的是一种极具爆发力和艺术价值的重金属音乐，后世的重金属乐队们从中获益匪浅，尤其是黑金属和前卫金属。

解散后，主唱King Diamond以自己的名义继续着MERCYFUL FATE的传奇，他先后和Michael Denner、Andy La Rocque、Pete Blakk等多位吉他手合作，制作了一张张出色的金属专辑，类似Fatal Portrait、The Eye和Abigail这样的专辑现在都已经成为重金属历史上经典的专辑。直到后来重组MERCYFUL FATE后，King Diamond还一直继续发表着个人专辑，包括后来出色的Spider's Lullaby和Voodoo等佳作（我们将在King Diamond的传记中另行详细讲解这些专辑）。同时，还有两张MERCYFUL FATE早期未发表曲目和精选专辑问世，它们是The Beginning（起源）和Return Of The Vampire（吸血鬼的回归）。

解散八年以后，MERCYFUL FATE又令人惊喜地重新出现在世人面前，他们与着名的Metal Blade公司签约，发行了专辑In The Shadows（影子中），这张专辑中King Diamond、Michael Denner和Hank Shermann依然是无比强大的，戏剧化的嗓音，精妙的吉他编排以及沉重的音色证明MERCYFUL FATE仍然是重金属这一领域里的顶尖乐队。实际上，这张专辑比起当初的两张专辑毫不逊色，可以说是当年最好的重金属专辑之一（专辑最后还请来了乐队的老乡，METALLICA鼓手Lar Ulrich客串演出）。之后乐队又发行了专辑Time（时间）以及一张演唱会的EP唱片The Bell Witch（钟铃女巫），从而巩固了自己在重金属历史上的位置。

在随后的时间里，全球重金属音乐的发展陷入了低潮，80年代那些叱咤风云的重金属明星们此时不是偃旗息鼓休养生息便是去跟风模仿以致把自己的音乐弄得面目全非，然而我们的MERCYFUL FATE，正如那句谚语“真正的传奇永远不会消逝（A true legend never dies）”所说的那样，依旧高擎金属大旗，顽强的挺过了最困难的时刻，直至再次赢来新的辉煌。

MERCYFUL FATE再次回到了美国达拉斯的Sound Lab录音棚录制了乐队的第五张作品Into The Unknown（进入未知），这是一张回归乐队传统风格的唱片，歌词一如既往的沉浸在黑暗氛围之中，精心的构思将各种荒诞的情节巧妙的串联在一起，该专辑尽管在重金属低潮的时期发行，仍取得了很大的成功。

之后乐队又接连发表了专辑Dead Again（重死）和9，虽然较之同期Diamond的个人专辑，这两张专辑略显疲软，但比起那些初出茅庐的新乐队来，MERCYFUL FATE显然对重金属有着更深刻的理解。他们的声音仍然是独一无二的，你无法把他们归于激流金属，或者死亡金属，或者黑金属，或者前卫金属，因为他们就是那么独特，甚至到现在都没有一支乐队和他们相似。

诚然，我们现在生活的这个世界依然充满了黑暗，重金属音乐也并没有完全摆脱前一阵低潮的影响，但MERCYFUL FATE一直坚持以它精妙绝伦的重金属音乐给我们这些重金属的忠实信徒以最好的享受，他们是世界上最出色的重金属乐队之一。

Mercyful Fate is an influential Danish heavy metal band often cited among the influences in the black metal, thrash metal, power metal, and progressive metal genres.[citation needed]

Career

The band was founded in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1980 from the remaining members of Hank Shermann's band Brats and King Diamond's band Black Rose. In early 1981, they helped Michael Denner with demos for his band Danger Zone. Soon, Shermann, Denner, Diamond, and Denner's bass player Timi Grabber realized their potential as a unit and started performing as Mercyful Fate. The band experienced the usual member changes for a new band, as Denner left (and later returned). In addition, the drummer position was a revolving door, but Kim Ruzz finally established himself as the drummer.

In early 1982, the band contributed to the Ebony Records sampler Metallic Storm. Later on in the year, Mercyful Fate recorded its first material, Mercyful Fate, on vinyl for the Dutch label Rave On. The release included heavy and evil material that would later inspire the black metal genre (although Venom and Bathory are as equally considered as the forefathers of black metal).

Following the EP, the band released Melissa in 1983 and Don't Break the Oath in 1984, which are now considered by many to be classics in both the power metal and black metal genres. Following the tour (which saw them play in the United States for the first time) in support of Don't Break the Oath, Diamond split ways with Mercyful Fate in April 1985 as a result of frustration over creative differences with Hank Shermann. With him, Diamond brought band mates Hansen and Denner to found a new band under his own name. Diamond's new venture continued the tradition of Mercyful Fate, but with a more progressive, conceptual twist to it. In response, Hank Shermann formed the band Fate, which pursued a more AOR direction.

Reunion

In July 1992, the band reformed and signed a contract with Brian Slagel's Metal Blade Records. All the original members without Kim Ruzz (replaced by Morten Nielsen) reformed and released In the Shadows in 1993. The album featured a re-recording of "Return of the Vampire", with Metallica drummer and Mercyful Fate enthusiast Lars Ulrich playing on the track. In the years since, the band has released four other albums, with the last being 9. Similar to the band's first run, members have left and been replaced; Michael Denner left and was replaced by Mike Wead, Drummer Nielsen was later replaced by Snowy Shaw who was then replaced by Bjarne Holm, Bassist Timi Hansen left quickly and was replaced by Sharlee D'Angelo. Following the release of 9, King Diamond put Mercyful Fate on hold and continued his solo career. Shermann, Denner, Holm and (King Diamond Bass player) Hal Patino formed Force of Evil, which incorporates many of the themes of the original Mercyful Fate.

In a March, 2008 interview, King Diamond stated that Mercyful Fate is currently "hibernating", but had never split up. Though he does not know when the band will become active again, he said "It's definitely not finished, at least in my book.". [1] With the Re-union in 1993, the same lineup returned for the album and European tour, with the exception of Drummer Kim Ruzz, who was replaced by Snowy Shaw. Bassist Timi Hansen also left after the European leg of the tour, and was replaced by Sharlee D'Angelo.

The Lineup remained the same for "Time" but for "Into the Unknown", Snowy Shaw was replaced by Bjarne Holm on drums who was initially asked to join the band in the beginning but could not make the commute from Sweden.

Unfortunately, Michael Denner had also parted ways with the band at this point, to stay with his wife and family. His replacement was Mike Wead, who recorded with the band for "Dead Again" As well as "9" and has proven to be a sufficient replacement for Michael Denner.

A quasi-reunion occurred when some original members reunited to re-record tracks for the Guitar Hero: Metallica game in August 2008, as the original master tapes could not be located.[1]

Melissa

"Melissa" is the name of a skull King Diamond used to carry on stage, and also a fictional deceased witch that appears in three songs. Before the recordings of the album Melissa, King Diamond had acquired a human skeleton that he named "Melissa". He used the femur bones to make his trademark microphone handle. The skull was apparently stolen during a show in the Netherlands.

The skull was inspiration behind the album Melissa, and 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, who was 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.

The second song Melissa appears on is on the album Don't Break the Oath in the song "Come to the Sabbath", once again at the climax of the album. The lyrics tell about a Satanic coven holding a sabbath, in which the protagonist emerges to perform a ritual to "put an evil curse on the priest who took the life of Melissa". Though she is not the focus of the lyrics this time, because of her mention the song is known as a "Melissa song". Additionally, one of the main characters on the King Diamond's album Them was named "Missy", which is a common diminutive of Melissa.

The final song Melissa appears in is on Mercyful Fate's reunion album In the Shadows on the song "Is That You, Melissa?". The lyrics tell of the protagonist once again in sorrow about the loss of his love. He begins to hear her voice and goes to the coven to have them perform a ritual to speak with her ghost. The coven objects, saying that it is against the rules. The protagonist is visited by Melissa's spirit who shares a kiss with the protagonist. The subject of the song is argued by some; one side says the lyrics are not a continuation of the Melissa story but a tribute by the band to their past, while the other side sees it as the end of the Melissa story. It is widely accepted that she is the girl on the album cover of "In the Shadows" facing the old oak tree. After In the Shadows, Melissa has not been mentioned any more in both lyrics and artwork.

Members

Current members

King Diamond (Kim Bendix Petersen) - vocals, keyboard

Mike Wead (Mikael Wikström) - guitar

Hank Shermann (Rene Krolmark) - guitar, bass guitar

Bjarne T. Holm (Bob Lance) - drums

Sharlee D'Angelo (Charles Peter Andreason) - bass guitar

Session members

Lars Ulrich - drums

Mercyful Fate　仁慈的命运

艺人介绍

热门评论

最新简评（共80条）

Mercyful Fate 仁慈的命运

艺人介绍

热门评论

最新简评（共80条）

Mercyful Fate　仁慈的命运