"Melissa" is the full-length debut for legendary Danish proto black / heavy… Read Full Bio ↴"Melissa" is the full-length debut for legendary Danish proto black / heavy metal band Mercyful Fate.
Released in 1983, "Melissa" featured a unique sound for that time which was somewhere between early Judas Priest and the darker dirges of Black Sabbath chocked with a haunting and brooding evil atmosphere, aggressive musicianship, high pitched shrieks and falsettos and lyrics driven by darkness, death and Satanism. These radical and controversial elements would help inspire the future black metal scene along with acts like Venom, and later Bathory.
The album cover depicts the iconic skull "Melissa" which was later stolen by a fan at a Mercyful Fate gig. Singer/songwriter and band leader King Diamond would make frequent and sometimes veiled allusions to the skull and "Melissa" entity in other Fate albums as well. "Is that you, Melissa" from their 1993 comeback album "In the shadows" was the last known Melissa reference.
Many fans and several extreme metal polls list "Melissa" as one of the top 5-10 greatest metal albums of all time, typically just behind their follow up "Don't break the oath".
Released in 1983, "Melissa" featured a unique sound for that time which was somewhere between early Judas Priest and the darker dirges of Black Sabbath chocked with a haunting and brooding evil atmosphere, aggressive musicianship, high pitched shrieks and falsettos and lyrics driven by darkness, death and Satanism. These radical and controversial elements would help inspire the future black metal scene along with acts like Venom, and later Bathory.
The album cover depicts the iconic skull "Melissa" which was later stolen by a fan at a Mercyful Fate gig. Singer/songwriter and band leader King Diamond would make frequent and sometimes veiled allusions to the skull and "Melissa" entity in other Fate albums as well. "Is that you, Melissa" from their 1993 comeback album "In the shadows" was the last known Melissa reference.
Many fans and several extreme metal polls list "Melissa" as one of the top 5-10 greatest metal albums of all time, typically just behind their follow up "Don't break the oath".
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Melissa
Mercyful Fate Lyrics
At The Sound Of The Demon Bell [SOLO: MICHAEL] Halloween is the night The legend says the …
Black Funeral Bring the black box to the altar Now raise your hands…
Curse Of The Pharaohs Away out in Egypt in the Valley of Kings Where the…
Evil Evil I was born on the cemetery Under the sign of the…
Into The Coven [SOLO: MICHAEL] Howl like a wolf And a witch will open the…
Melissa Melissa I'm kneeling in front of the altar Satan's cross up…
Satan's Fall They're walking by the night The Moon has frozen blue Long b…
Ben - Moderator
on A Dangerous Meeting
Hi Chris, There were 2 interviews in particular which suggested this. (Unfortunately both the references below have since been taken down so the links below are broken)
Firstly in an interview with Loudwire, King Diamond discussed the inspiration behind "A Dangerous Meeting" and stated, "It's a song about a meeting that happened in Denmark, where I'm from, with some people who were into the darker side of things. They had a lot of things with them that I didn't want to have anything to do with. They had skulls, and there was a snake there, and all kinds of stuff that really freaked me out."
Loudwire - "King Diamond Talks Paranormal, Mysterious Fires + New Album 'The Institute'" (February 6, 2020)
https://loudwire.com/king-diamond-the-institute-album-interview/
Secondly in an interview with Metal Hammer, King Diamond stated that the lyrics to "A Dangerous Meeting" were based on his personal experiences, saying, "I have seen things that are unexplainable, and there's no way that science can prove some of the things that I have seen. It's just unexplainable. It's a very, very small percentage of the population that gets to see these things, and it's been with me since I was a child."
Metal Hammer - "King Diamond: The Real Story Behind 'Abigail'" (October 24, 2017)
https://www.loudersound.com/features/king-diamond-the-real-story-behind-abigail
Let me know if I've misunderstood what you've said or if you still think the above information is misleading.
Chris
on A Dangerous Meeting
I'd like to request a fact check on the above information.
"The lyrics to "A Dangerous Meeting" are based on King Diamond's experiences with the occult and paranormal."
King Diamond has actually said that the songs he wrote for Mercyful Fate are myths and legends, and that if anything the stuff he's written is more based on folktales and myths and that King Diamond the band is more based on personal experiences with the occult (though there are exceptions like Nightmare)