Wrapping up this week with something evil. Mercyful Fate were one of the early pioneers of what would evolve into Black Metal. Led by the corpse paint wearing King Diamond, Mercyful Fate formed in the early 80's and released two critically acclaimed records before breaking up. The band got back together in 93 after an almost ten year hiatus. 'In The Shadows' marked the return of the band, even featuring a guest drummer in Lars Ulrich from Metallica. Fast forward to 98, after a few solid releases and tours, it's announced that axeman Michael Denner would be leaving the band. 'Dead Again' marks the first album without the guitar duo of Shermann/Denner. Fans would question how the new record would sound. Replacing a legend isn't the easiest thing to do either. In comes Mike Wead, who briefly was in King Diamond, but was more known for his work in Memento Mori, Abstrakt Algebra and Hexenhaus. The end result of the lineup shift was the underrated 'Dead Again'. A really solid album rounded out with the epic 13 minute title track. It's a shame that the band only released one more record before taking another hiatus. The band by the way hasn't released an album since 99. But if you're looking for some good late 90's metal consider grabbing this one.
'Dead Again' remains one of my favorite Mercyful Fate albums to date. Lyrically speaking it's kinda funny in parts. Take 'Torture (1629)' a song about a supposed witch. The lyric here, "The Inquisitor had left her behind, Gone for a bite, food on his mind". Or even in the title track, "This is such a weird song". Very tongue in cheek from a amazing writer. Overall this album felt like a return to the older days. 'Dead Again' and 'Since Forever' are two of the more haunting songs here and are for me some of the better tracks. Given everything that's happened in the King Diamond camp over the years, I'm not holding my breath for a new Mercyful Fate album anytime soon, but it's been good to see the original lineup play again.
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