MERCYFUL FATE — In the Shadows (review)

MERCYFUL FATE — In the Shadows album cover Album · 1993 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Warthur
It's no Don't Break the Oath - but then again, very little is. Mercyful Fate's comeback album might not measure up to its classic predecessor, but it does a more than good enough job of proving to the world that the Fates still could evoke a hint of that old black magic, though truly there is only a hint of it left. By this point in time, their position as "most Satanic and extreme metal band on the planet" was long past them, never to be regained, but King Diamond and company show little sign of this bothering them, launching into the usual Mercyful Fate schtick - horror and ghost stories, references to the recurring "Melissa" mythology, and an energetic blend of traditional and thrash metal.

The end result is a reunion which is fun and came at just the right time to perk up King Diamond's career (since his string of solo concept albums was beginning to get stale at this point), but at the same time it hasn't aged nearly as well as the band's two classic-era albums have. The opening brace of tracks are decent, particularly The Bell Witch, but as the album progresses it soon runs out of steam. Worth it if you are a big fan of King Diamond or Mercyful Fate, but it doesn't stand in the top rank of either acts' work.
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