To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Mercyful Fate’s debut album, Metal Blade Records is re-releasing the re-mastered version of Melissa. Remastered albums often feel like a record label trying to sell you the same album twice.
However, this release addresses the problem I find when trying to turn my younger metal friends on to the classics of the eighties. Not everyone can hear an album in the context of when it was released.
The limited mastering technology in the early eighties does not always pack the same punch at casual volumes, therefore causing it to not sound as powerful as an album mixed in 2023.
This combined with the tendency of producers back then to slather things in big arena reverb. This re-master allows the Mercyful Fate classic to stand shoulder to shoulder with today’s metal sound.
This remaster is best listened to at high volume through a pair of studio-quality headphones. The first noticeable change of sound is how the guitar packs more punch. The attack of the instruments has been bolstered. This can also be felt by the way the double kick on “At The Sound Of The Demon Bell” in your chest.
That is how it should have always sounded, and how it was delivered in the band’s live performance. King’s vocal layers are clearer, and the guitar and bass being brought up as the vocals are compressed balances out the shrillness of King’s falsetto screams. In some ways, the brighter fuller sounds take some of the darker tones out, but the overall sound has more attack.
If you are too young to remember the impact this album had or are somehow unaware of King Diamond as a musical entity outside of seeing his image as a pop culture figure in metal, then this is an essential listen. Especially so if you are a fan of bands like Ghost who owe a good chunk of their career to Mercyful Fate.
King Diamond plays nice in respecting the present-day politics of the music and has avoided calling out bands like this. History says everything there is to say, and this album is a document to that fact. Not only does this updated version of the album make the band’s influence more apparent, but also allows you to hear that this album was not just heavy for 1983, but holds up against all the Black Metal bands that came after. This is one of the best metal albums ever made. Period.
Buy the album here:
Digital: https://www.metalblade.com/
Merch: https://umg.lnk.to/
10 / 10
WIL LEWELLYN