Mercyful Fate – “Into the Unknown”
I would definitely say that this release is better than “Time”. (Opinions vary.) Starting with the “Uninvited Guest”, which has a tight and professional sound. “Kutulu (The Mad Arab Part 2)” demonstrates a more complete guitar sound. Also, the new drummer, Bjarn T. H. is a more modern metal drummer. He definitely has his own sound. The overall sound of “Into the Unknown” is chunkier and darker.(Yeah, maybe compared to my anal cave, but not compared to the old and better days of FATES career!) “Holy Water” is by far the catchiest tune here. The simple and catchy style of the song contrasts well with some of the more complicated material like, “Fifteen Men (And a Bottle of Rum)”. KING D. voice is not very variable, not anything like the old stuff. There is one thing that is strange to me, why is it that Michael and Hank, the two excellent guitarists, find it impossible to get more melody in their solos? I know they can do it because they have done it on “Melissa” and on “Don’t Break the Oath”, but they just don’t do it now and that takes away a big part of what made this band great. (That’s because this reformation isn’t MERCYFUL FATE, they should have changed the name to UNBEARABLE FATE or something. Just my bitching.) Finally, this is a good release, except for the gripe about Mr. Denner and Mr. Shermann.