Mercyful Fate - What If?

I have been pondering this for a little while now. King Diamond is obviously a divisive figure in metal circles with some people unable to bear his vocal histrionics while others adore his style of singing. The question I want to pose to the wider Academy community is, do you think that Mercyful Fate would have been a better band if King had a more conventional style of singing, or do you think his vocals are so distinct that it is the band's major calling card and they would have been buried amongst the competition without them?

I think I'm right in the middle when it comes to King Diamond's vocals as it depends on the day. Sometimes I don't have the patience, sometimes I can respect what they bring to the table. This morning was apparently a pretty good day as I revisited Don't Break The Oath, which is sadly as deep as my Mercyful Fate depth goes as they were never really my first choice even though I think the album is critically great. 

It's a tough one, because I think while the instrumental section does have the chops, the mid 80's had an explosion of heavier hitters occupying a similar space. You had Iron Maiden in their prime, Judas Priest was still going very strong, Dio had just released Holy Diver, plus a multitude of popular other 80's Hard Rock / Heavy Metal adjacent acts. What I don't know, however, is how popular some of the more obscure classic bands actually were back in the day. I'm assuming Maiden and Priest were packing stadiums, but were droves of people knowledgeable of and listening to Satan or Metal Church? I'm only questioning because these are the kinds of bands that I would imagine Mercyful Fate would be lumped in with if they had a "normal" vocalist.

I still think they would stand out because early Mercyful Fate still has a distinct theatrical evilness to it that other bands weren't really capturing. But I don't think they would reach the cult status they now have of sending one of their songs to someone who hasn't heard any of their stuff to see if they're gatekept by King Diamond or not. I'm also interested in what you think passes as a conventional style of singing, because I could see a middle ground where Diamond leaves some of the theatrics in but reigns in some of the more crazy parts. Like I feel like "Desecration of Souls" is a nice showcase of what he can do with some restraint and leaving the falsetto in the background, whereas I'm sure the followup "Night of the Unborn" is a bit much for people (I know it is for me). I feel like they could have hit a better sweet spot with how much he jumps around, but at the end of the day it would still make it less special and unique whether it's your thing or not. 

I'm also interested in what you think passes as a conventional style of singing, because I could see a middle ground where Diamond leaves some of the theatrics in but reigns in some of the more crazy parts. Like I feel like "Desecration of Souls" is a nice showcase of what he can do with some restraint and leaving the falsetto in the background, whereas I'm sure the followup "Night of the Unborn" is a bit much for people (I know it is for me). I feel like they could have hit a better sweet spot with how much he jumps around, but at the end of the day it would still make it less special and unique whether it's your thing or not. 

Basically, I think, the question I am posing is, do you think MF had the chops and the songs to make it if King's vocal performances were more like, say, Rob Halford who still hit the falsetto's but in a less OTT manner and with more conventional phrasing? Personally, I think the songs were strong enough to propel the band forward, but the visibility of King, both visually and musically, made them stand out from the crowd and perceived wisdom is that it doesn't matter if what they say is good or bad as long as they are talking about you. It had a negative effect on me personally and I struggled with his style back in the day and never really took them seriously, but now I find it to be quite an endearing idiosyncrasy that I can't really imagine the band doing without. Some of the songs are just so good though that I think they would have hit a decent level of popularity anyway, but may not have had the enduring presence that they did.

I think Fate would have been more popular at the time if they had a Rob Halford-style vocalist but I don't think they would have been as enduring without the mystique of the King. The best part of the band was definitely the guitars & drums though as they managed to create a unique atmosphere that's gone on to become incredibly influential, much more so than Diamond himself.