Description

2017 press with Thomas Holm’s painting of the band in Egypt that was supposed to be the initial cover artwork before it was rejected by the record label. White vinyl with gatefold cover. Limited 125 copies

Mercyful Fate’s debut album, Melissa, took Black Sabbath’s dark occult obsessions to an
extreme, fusing them with the speed and tightened, twin-guitar riffing attack of British metal bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. But the band had a distinctive sound of its own, thanks to the neo-classical flourishes of guitarists Hank Shermann and Michael Denner and the unpredictable vocal leaps of King Diamond, who could jump from a deathly growl to an unearthly falsetto wail in the next line. The band was still finding itself, and some of the songs on Melissa have a tendency to move into long, meandering instrumental sections, but the basic components of Mercyful Fate’s influential European gothic black metal sound were already in place

Track listing:
1. Evil
2. Curse Of The Pharoahs
3. Into The Coven
4. At The Sound Of The Demon Bell
5. Black Funeral
6. Satans Fall
7. Melissa