Mercyful Fate

Mercyful Fate is a Danish heavy metal band from Copenhagen, formed in 1981 by singer King Diamond and guitarist Hank Shermann. Mercyful Fate is a pioneer band of the first wave of the Metal Extreme of the early 1980s with Bathory, Venom, Hellhammer or Celtic Frost. Most groups associated with this movement created an influence on Black Metal in the 1990s, particularly in Scandinavia. Since its creation in 1981, Mercyful Fate has produced seven studio albums. After many changes in their line-up and several self-produced demo recordings, Mercyful Fate released its first eponymous EP in 1982, with the line-up composed of King Diamond (song), Hank Shermann (guitar), Michael Denner (guitar), Timi Hansen (bass) and Kim Ruzz (battery). With this line-up, the band recorded these first two studio albums; Melissa in 1983, and Don't Break The Oath in 1984. In 1985 the group split up following artistic differences. In 1993, four of the five members (including King Diamond) resurrected Mercyful Fate to record the same year's album I n The Shadows. During the 1990s, the band had four new studio albums, the line-up changing a lot. Since 1999, the activity of Mercyful Fate has remained outstanding, but from time to time resumes service during the years 2000 as in 2011 with an appearance of part of the line-up for the 30 years of Metallica. Many artists cited Mercyful Fate as inspiration. Kerry King of Slayer explains that he and Jeff Hanneman were great fans of Mercyful Fate when Slayer recorded Hell Awaits.
.