Picture, if you will, this scenario: you were once one of the most influential heavy metal bands to have ever existed. Despite only releasing two full-length albums, you had made an amazing name for yourself. You were also seen as one of the darkest bands out there, proudly proclaiming Satanic beliefs in your lyrics, which were surrounded by a slightly muddy sonic attack and \u2013 most notably \u2013 falsetto vocals which could chill the listener\u2019s soul.<\/p>\n
Now, it is nine years since you last released an album of new material. Your band\u2019s leader has made a name for himself with his own solo efforts \u2013 not necessarily Satanic, but definitely horror-based. Other band members tried for a time to forge their own way, with little success.<\/p>\n
There you have it, friends\u2026 a quick summary of Mercyful Fate circa 1993. After almost a decade-long hiatus, King Diamond and crew \u2013 well, four-fifths of the original crew, with Kim Ruzz replaced on drums \u2013 returned to attempt to reclaim their metal throne with In The Shadows<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Oh, there are many notable improvements over Mercyful Fate\u2019s first two albums. Diamond\u2019s vocals are rich and clear, as he shows he was more than simply a higher-pitched frontman. And the overall production quality of this album is far superior. So, props to the band in those two regards.<\/p>\n
But In The Shadows<\/i> has one key element missing \u2013 namely, the demonic theme. The nine songs (ten if you count the later addition of \u201cReturn Of The Vampire\u2026 1993,\u201d featuring one Lars Ulrich behind the drum kit) continue in the suspenseful style of songwriting that Diamond had been perfecting in his solo career. But without the possible hint of the listener being possessed simply by listening to this disc or reading the lyrics, it hardly feels threatening, and just takes on the air of a typical heavy metal album.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s the problem\u2026 Mercyful Fate were not initially a \u201ctypical\u201d band. But the passage of time had allowed many other acts to take up the inverted cross and make names for themselves. So, perhaps when they were writing this album, Mercyful Fate looked at both their previous albums and the other acts out there and thought, \u201cbeen there, done that\u201d.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s really a shame, because songs like \u201cThe Bell Witch,\u201d \u201cShadows\u201d and \u201cA Gruesome Time\u201d all had the possibilities of being classic songs in the Mercyful Fate discography, taking their places alongside tracks such as \u201cBlack Funeral,\u201d \u201cA Dangerous Meeting\u201d and \u201cCome To The Sabbath\u201d. But, when compared to their earlier material, these songs don\u2019t have that same bite that fans might have been hoping for.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t to say that In The Shadows<\/i> isn\u2019t an enjoyable listen; there are moments that each listener will find which suggest that this could have simply been a case of Diamond and crew just blowing the cobwebs out and rediscovering their musical footing. (Judging from the fact that the demonic imagery wouldn\u2019t return until their 9<\/i> album, though, one could argue that this is just wishful thinking.)<\/p>\n
There is enough on In The Shadows<\/i> to make it worth the time to listen to it, and Diamond\u2019s voice has never had the power and range like he shows on this album. But the stylistic shift of the songwriting does knock the listener for a loop, and at times makes it feel like some of the emotional punch of the music has been sent packing. All in all, it just makes me wonder why the band thought this album was the right one for their long-awaited return. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6343],"rating":[5619],"class_list":["post-45669","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-mercyful-fate","rating-rating-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=45669"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=45669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}