Published on Oct 17, 2000
Back in 1987, fans of the black metal band Mercyful Fate had to
be drooling when
The Beginning was released. The Danish band, led by King
Diamond, had imploded after two ground-breaking (not to mention
eardrum-shattering) releases, leaving many to wonder just what had
happened. Anything new from the band – even if it was just a matter
of cleaning out closets – would have been treated like a sacred
text.
The Beginning is indeed a closet-cleaner release – but that
doesn’t make this a bad album. Taking the entire
Mercyful Fate EP (long out of print, even in 1987) and
adding on some cuts recorded live for radio and one studio outtake,
and you have the third Mercyful Fate album… and a little
more.
The four tracks from the original EP are interesting to listen
to in that there are not a lot of effects piled on to Diamond’s
vocals. This was done out of time limitations, but it shows off a
rawer side to Mercyful Fate that may have surprised some people.
(It also showed a rawer side to their satanic leanings – not
softer, but not quite as graphic as they’d become on albums such as
Don’t Break The Oath.)
Of these tracks, two stand out as being quite good. “Doomed By
The Living Dead” is a track which demonstrates Diamond’s vocal
prowess up-front, in your face. (He also does this, albeit to a
lesser extent, on “Devil Eyes”.) The other track, “Nuns Have No
Fun,” is legendary among Mercyful Fate fans – and is an interesting
listen, even if you don’t necessarily agree with the imagery that
Mercyful Fate promoted. (It’s intriguing that, in the liner notes,
they didn’t reproduce the cover of the original EP – that kind of
made the song “Nuns Have No Fun” seem tame. You can, of course,
find the original artwork online at Mercyful Fate fan pages.)
The remainder of
The Beginning is mostly comprised of tracks recorded for the
BBC. The sole exception, “Black Masses,” is a track that didn’t
make the cut for
Melissa, the band’s first full-length outing. Why it wasn’t
included on the album I don’t know; it’s just as good as anything
that was on
Melissa. (The song was eventually released as the b-side to
the “Black Funeral” single.)
I can’t say that the “live” versions of tracks such as “Curse Of
The Pharoahs” or “Satan’s Fall” add much to the original studio
versions. If anything, they prove that Mercyful Fate was capable of
re-creating the power of these songs in a live setting, but that’s
really about it. These particular tracks aren’t bad in any sense of
the word, but they’re really geared toward the diehard Mercyful
Fate fans.
The Beginning is interesting in that it captures the early
days of a band who were one of the first to actively perform black
metal and who enjoyed a relatively large following for their style
of music. (I seem to recall reading that
Don’t Break The Oath nearly cracked the Billboard 200 – an
amazing feat for an album that heavy at that time.) Sure, this is
one that the diehard Fate freaks swarm over, but even for the
casual listener, it’s not a bad way to spend 40 minutes or so.
In time, of course, Mercyful Fate would re-unite, and the dreams
of new material from the band would come true for everyone. But
even if the band had chosen to end it with
The Beginning, it would have been understandable – and they
would have, at least, left an enjoyable “for-the-fans” release.