For those of you who read my last post, I spent last week at the Psycho Las Vegas music festival with my very first photo pass. So without further ado, I’m kicking off my first photo post from the festival with images from the band I never saw live but always wanted to – Mercyful Fate.
Mercyful Fate was formed in early 1981 in Copenhagen, Denmark, by lead vocalist King Diamond and guitar player Hank Shermann. They were signed by Rave On Records in Holland, and recorded their EP “Mercyful Fate”, which was released on November 8th 1982 and was soon in heavy rotation around the core metal radio stations.
King Diamond – Vocals
The band would then sign a new deal with Roadrunner Records in 1983 to make their first full length album “Melissa”, recorded and released that same year. That album, as DECIBEL magazine would go on to proclaim, “hit the metal world like a shrieking hammer to the face”, while METALSUCKS added, “Melissa showcased how slow, intentional music with an almost operatic quality could still be crushing and heavy as hell.”
Mercyful Fate would then go on to release their legendary album “Don’t Break The Oath” on September 7th 1984 and it was a song from this album that would push this already heavy metal loving teenager (and your favorite photographer) over the edge and into the black (metal).
Hank Shermann – Guitar
I first heard “Desecration of Souls” back in 1984 while listening to WNYU’s Hellhole radio program (which, as they themselves claim, features “the most blasphemous and grim metal from across the world”). The show, (which is still going strong) would air at 9pm every Tuesday and was “must hear radio” for not only myself but for my fellow metalhead Jose, who lived in the same building as me and has been one of my dearest friends for over 40 years now.
That song just blew us away (shook us to our souls, actually) and as we desperately scrapped up enough money to buy the album, the album blew us away as well. Not just the crunchy guitar riffs but lead singer King Diamond’s falsetto shrieks that would define his vocal style and separate him from his peers. It is still one of my favorite albums (heck, I’m listening to it as I write this post!).
Joey Vera – Bass
“Don’t Break The Oath” became the first underground metal album to fall two slots short of making the “Billboard” magazine album chart. It reached #202. The album “is undeniably Mercyful Fate’s best album, one that was way ahead of it’s time” stated MetalReviews.com, while METAL RULES rated the album #1 in their list of Top 50 Extreme Metal Albums (with “Melissa” ranked #2!).
Mike Wead – Guitar
The band would disband in 1985 as frontman King Diamond (Kim Bendix Petersen) would enjoy a successful solo career. The band would reunite in 1992 and release several additional albums while touring Europe, the US and South America many times. After a successful European tour with Metallica, Mercyful Fate would go on hiatus in 1999 and never perform again.
They would reunite after 23 years to headline Psycho Las Vegas last month. And guess who was there with a photo pass? Your boy.
Bjarne T. Holm – Drums
To have been in the photo pit as Mercyful Fate closed out Psycho Las Vegas and not just see them live (finally!) up close and personal but to have the opportunity to photograph this legendary band was easily the highlight of my three days at the festival. There were many other great bands and many great moments at this dynamic festival I was happy to capture with my Sony A7RIII and a few good lenses (so stay tuned!)
Enjoy the photographs…
FULL GALLERY HERE
