Mercyful Fate
Don't Break The Oath
Album Review by Diesel 11 Mercyful Fate is not the most well-known name in metal. Most newbies to the genre will just scratch their heads if you bring them up. However, every true metal fan has at least heard of Mercyful Fate. These Danes arrived in the '80s and began striking fear into the hearts of Christians with their Satanic and occultic lyrics. Venom may have been bad enough already, but these five men were the ultimate nightmare for everyone who heard. Releasing their first album,
Melissa, in 1983, they followed up that album the next year with the heavier, darker, and much more Satanic
Don't Break The Oath.
Depending on when and how you're listening to it,
Don't Break The Oath could make you feel like you're burning in a lake of fire. From the opening to the ending, there's some great metal here, and it all sounds like you're visiting a cult that worships Satan with guitar, drums, bass, and high-pitched chanting. Some of the songs on the albums are more horror-styled than Satanic, but then there are those where you could just take away the music and you'd be all set for a Black Mass. Mercyful Fate's Satanic image was enough to bring in young teens who didn't like their parents telling them what they could and couldn't listen to. While there may be whole albums detailing devil worship song by song, at the time, this was the most anyone had ever heard or wanted to hear.
This album is one of the few where you mostly enjoy the album as a whole or you don't. The songs are purely what makes up the album; there's really no good or bad song here, they are all on the same level. Of course you could pick favorites if you wanted to. The highlight in my mind, and many others' minds, is "The Oath". Beginning side two of the album, it has one of the best openings of any song ever, thanks to a great organ riff, before launching right into the rest of the guitar-driven song. King Diamond does some of his finest vocal work here, and the lyrics are taken straight from a Black Mass.
That's not to say that it's the only song on here that could be considered the best. In fact, there are many people that look at the closing track, "Come to the Sabbath", as the finest thing the band has ever done. They wouldn't be far wrong, as it is a creepy metal song featuring some great guitar work, and King Diamond outdoes himself here as well. Another highlight is "A Dangerous Meeting", the opening track of the album. The song is the perfect way to kick off the album, and is a warning to all who dare to meddle with the spirit world without any knowlege of it.
Throughout the album, the other songs all help make this album what it is. While the aforementioned three are the highlights, the rest of them are all excellent songs as well. "Desecration of Souls" has King Diamond stay in a low pitch for almost all of the song; "Gypsy" and "Nightmare" are classic Mercyful Fate tracks with chilling lyrics; and "Welcome Princes of Hell" is like a love letter to Satan from King Diamond. "To One Far Away" is an interesting song because of the fact that it's an instrumental, but the music is so chilling that it's still a perfect track. "Night of the Unborn" is perhaps the most chilling song on the entire album, and it's ending lyric ("
Forgive them, they didn't die") really seals the deal.
Hank Shermann and Michael Denner are together one of my favorite guitar duos of all time. They are the backbone of Mercyful Fate, and their guitar work helps make
Don't Break The Oath such a fiery album. King Diamond has some of his best moments here too, especially on tracks like "The Oath" and "A Dangerous Meeting", and in the latter he sounds like he's sorely sorry for the fools who died by meddling with the spirits. Shermann and Denner are the best guitarists King has worked with (though Andy LaRoque from Diamond's solo band, King Diamond, is definitely a good one too). I feel I should mention that listening to this album was a much more awesome experience than listening to King Diamond's solo classic
Abigail, which is a great concept album but not as good as
Don't Break The Oath, in my opinion.
This album really should not have worked. It really shouldn't have. The lyrics in "The Oath" really shouldn't fit the song. The songs should have been too Satanic to fit the album. But instead, this album works really well. I mean, really,
really well. I would dare to call
Don't Break The Oath a pretty much perfect album. Nothing is perfect, but for what it is, it's certainly very, very close. There is a reason that this album has gone on to be influence many black metal albums and be considered one of the greatest metal albums ever. I have yet to listen to Mercyful Fate's debut masterpiece
Melissa, but all I can say is it's gonna be tough to beat their sophomore classic.
Individual Song ScoresA Dangerous Meeting: 10
Nightmare: 8
Desecration of Souls: 9
Night of the Unborn: 8.5
The Oath: 10
Gypsy: 9
Welcome Princes of Hell: 8
To One Far Away: 9
Come to the Sabbath: 10
Total Album Score: 9/10