Mercyful Fate - In the Shadows (1993)^{Release ID: 402}

Mercyful Fate, despite being held in high regard by many heavy metal fans are an inordinately divisive band. Or, to be more accurate, singer King Diamond with his falsetto histrionics is able to elicit singularly strong negative reactions in some. Personally I don't have a problem with him, sure sometimes I wish he would reign it in, but generally I don't have a problem with his vocal style, but I can definitely hear why others might. One thing we will never know is whether the band would have had as much success as they have without Diamond's unique vocal approach to set them apart. Personally I believe the songs and riffs are strong enough to have ensured a considerable following, but you just never know do you - the music business is a notoriously capricious beast.

Anyway, the good news for both the King Diamond pro and con camps is that on this first reunion release KD seems to have toned down his more outlandish vocal tendencies and utilises them more effectively by confining them to passages to which they seem to be more suited (of course, alternatively, this may just annoy both camps equally). Personally I think In the Shadows (ironically) allows the rest of the band to emerge from King's shadow and to shine on their own terms with the lead guitar work especially benefitting from this curtailing of vocal excess. As on their early releases there are plenty of memorable riffs present, the opening brace of Egypt and Bell Witch in particular having brilliant main riffs, as does the following track, The Old Oak, but this track does give in to some songwriting excess and becomes a bit cheesy in the middle section despite some excellent soloing. Room of Golden Air even features a riff that sounds a lot like Dave Mustaine on Hangar 18. For me the riffs and the solos are the real strength of this album and I found that it succeeded in spades where both these aspects are concerned, axemen Shermann and Denner deserving great praise for their work here. Lyrically it's a bit silly at times and KD will always present a problem for some listeners, but as I mentioned earlier he has reined it in a bit, although he does try to break free occasionally - Thirteen Invitations for example - and I found these to be the less enjoyable parts.

I had not listened to In the Shadows before this month's feature, although I was familiar with a couple of tracks and whilst it isn't quite up there with the band's earlier material it is still a strong heavy metal release and certainly shouldn't disappointed anyone who is already a Mercyful Fate fan.

Okay, after my emotional review of the massively overrated Abigail I have elected to get the Mercyful Fate review that is part of the same clan challenge out of the way in the same night.  Now, it is safe to say that In The Shadows starts better than expected.  Opener Egypt has kind of an interesting structure to it and goes through the options of pace and variety (of guitar style) almost effortlessly.  It holds my interest over KD's vocals that for the main part are thankfully not his usual high-pitched keening style and as a result he doesn't distract me as much as usual.

I mean normal service is soon resumed on The Bell Witch with his cringey, spoken word vocals and shrieking wails grating like nails on a chalk board.  His attempts to sound menacing again falling really short on how he probably thinks they sound.  Shermann and Denner's riffing and lead work are exceptional though and are clearly the driving force when allowed some air time over the vocals.  You can feel the fire and venom behind the riffs and melodies that the duo fire on The Old Oak and that urgent, pressing riff really drives the track forwards, kept perfectly in pace with the drums of Nielsen.  This tells me what I always knew to be right, that despite me acknowledging KD to be a poor vocalist, he is carried well by his comrades in Mercyful Fate (on this record at least).  This feels like a heavy metal record instead of some hastily thrown together, shabby riff collection with someone crooning over the top like with most of KD's output.

This is not to say that I am madly in love with In The Shadows - there's still the problem of me just being unable to get along with the vocal style.  However, the other band members are allowed time to shine a bit and this makes for a better album as the real talent starts to come through.  The odd (tango-like) riffing of Shadows is actually a welcome source of drama beyond what usually solely comes out of KD's mouth.  On this track he just ends up mumbling like some demented old man an occasion and it actually works because enough momentum has been built up by the music to give him some relevant space.  This assertion of KD's place in the music is important in helping me (finally) start to gain some entertainment from Mercyful Fate's music.

I still think it is unnecessarily dramatic but I am often snapped back into some semblance of attention on a consistent basis by those guitars.  Detract from the six strings wizardry as they still inevitably do, KD's vocals are marginally more palatable because there is focus permitted away from them.  Lyrically it is a naive record (not sure if this is a concept album but its clunky lyric writing make it sound like one) written to embellish the dark fantasy of the album no doubt but still coming of as laughable overall.  When the band stop fucking around and just play heavy metal it is actually far more entertaining and it is this aspect alone that boosts the rating for the record to the level that it does.  Play it to me as an instrumental only and you might get a half mark more (although the instrumental track on here is a bit too all over the place for my liking).

I know, there's no pleasing me!