Falsetto too much for me but good raw album (Melissa - Mercyful Fate)

Member Name: dangaroo

Product:	Melissa - Mercyful Fate
Date:	18/09/08 (31 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice grimey sound to it

Disadvantages: Overboard on the falsetto for me

Melissa is the debut album by King Diamond led Danish metal band Mercyful Fate it was released in 1983 and is considered along with an early EP "Nuns Have No Fun" to have effected the future of black metal largely as it consists of "evil" material - that is to say, anti-christian messages due to the album revolving around the story of a skull "Melissa" which King Diamond carried on stage until it disappeared at a concert, the album in Alice Cooper style follows the life of a protagonist who has lost his partner to a priest, the album goes through various personalities - confusion, sadness, hope, anger and a lust for revenge. If you are a fan of King Diamond then you will love this, personally I find his falsetto irritating and it gets on my tits after a while but the music itself and indeed the lyrics are enjoyable. The band sound raw, almost similar to Samhain and they really rock. When King Diamond isn't screeching in a falsetto voice, the vocals are fine but there are not a great deal of moments like that. To someone who finds falsetto bearable then this could well get a 5 but considering my opinion on the style of singing, I can only offer it a 3.

1. "Evil" - 4:45
2. "Curse of the Pharaohs" - 3:57
3. "Into the Coven" - 5:11
4. "At the Sound of the Demon Bell" - 5:23
5. "Black Funeral" - 2:50
6. "Satan's Fall" - 11:23
7. "Melissa" - 6:40
8. "Black Masses" - 4:31
9. "Curse Of The Pharoahs" - 3:52 (BBC Radio 1 Session)
10. "Evil" - 4:02 (BBC Radio 1 Session)
11. "Satan's Fall" - 10:29 (BBC Radio 1 Session)
12. "Curse Of The Pharaohs" - 4:26 (demo)
13. "Black Funeral" - 2:54 (demo)

Summary: Early King Diamond with Mercyful Fate...a high pitched Samhain!