Sunday, August 1, 2010

Classic Record Reviews: Don't Break the Oath

Today's classic record is "Don't Break The Oath" by Mercyful Fate. This is a very metal record, put out in 1984, when a lot of metal was going on. As you may know, Mercyful Fate were from Denmark. What makes this record so awesome, in my opinion, is King Diamond. Even though he's on every record by Mercyful Fate, his performance is top notch on this one. King Diamond has a very distinct voice, like that of a possessed pixie. I've found that a large amount of their lyrics are about sacred stuff, like oaths and seances. Based on the lyrics, I think they were interested in creepy and mysteriously evil content. The music is plainly metal, played well to make it sound much more complicated than it is. Sometimes it makes me picture someone doing a pole vault, and sometimes it makes me think of ninjas. The cover art, I'm guessing, is somebody hell-related like Satan pointing and saying " Don't break the oath or I will eat you, weakling." If you do not own this album you're totally missing out on some awesome music.

19 comments:

  1. I agree with the young scribe here.

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  2. "Sometimes it makes me picture someone doing a pole vault.." A BRILLIANT observation!

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  3. This my favorite record by Mercyful Fate. Probably my favorite King Diamond record, period, though No Presents for Christmas is pretty awesome.

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  4. nice review, and this album along with Venom's "Black Metal" and Slayer's "Show no Mercy" influenced my taste in music for the rest of my life, and i hold this album in highest regard.
    Keep up the great blogging

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  5. Fantastic pic. This blog r00lz! Stay metal, kid.

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  6. Great review! I agree.

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  7. you RULE dude, metal is in your blood. please post more album reviews. and agalloch is awesome.

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  8. YOU NEED TO REVIEW 666 By Aphrodite's Child, Orgasm by Cromagnon, Cottonwood Hill by Brainticket, Tago Mago by Can, and other classic psych albums

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  9. such a cute pic Ezra! you look so metal! lol

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  10. don't break the oath or Ezra will eat you, weaklings!

    great blog, young wizard.

    :)))

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  11. I love this one too, and will now think of pole vaulting during that one part of The Oath with that really cool change.

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  12. actually, king diamond is a possessed wood-elf and hails not from denmark as most believe, but from a dark enchanted forest in the north of canada called donchano. as a young wood elf, king diamond (then known as fliffle-flaffel) rode a magic butterfly to what he thought was santa's workshop. little did young fliffle know that he had been blown off course to denmark where his butterfly crashed (and unfortunately died) into yet another dark wooded area.

    alone and afraid, the young fliffle was discovered by a powerful black magician named tyrone. a spell was cast and young fliffle's body was possessed by a deceased opera singer-turned-jewelry store owner named king diamond.

    the rest is history.

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  13. you have such great observations about classic metal bands. This is one of my favorite blogs...ever

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  14. Wow, I don't know if it gets any better than this. Don't Break the Oath is my hands down favorite Mercyful Fate. I used to joke with the waitstaff at the Mecca and say, "Don't Break the Toast" I took the band minus the King to a party when they played in Seattle with Flotsam & Jetsam and Mickey Dee threw up in my car. Actually he threw up out the window on the freeway.

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  15. "put out in 1984, when a lot of metal was going on" lol.

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  16. Man, i put a poster of this killer-ablum's cover to the wall where my bed stands !
    Whenever i am drunk, i look at this poster, because it says: "don't breake the oath, dude ! you have sworn not to vomit !"

    ktrk

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  17. Dude, just stumbled across this blog post while googling the album cover for DBTO...great job! Your analogies are spot-on, and I wager that any philistines who haven't heard this album will be totally moved to buy it - or at least youtube it - after reading your review. The photo with the upside down cross totally compelled me to throw out the horns - DOUBLE horns, dude. Yeah.

    By the way, I am 29 and 70-95% of my age group can't write half as well as you. So keep on doing what you do. Things will change, but as some anonymous hash wizard has pointed out (years ago now), the metal will always flow through your veins. If you haven't yet, check out Burning Witch, the Melvins, Bethlehem's Dark Metal album...Oranssi Pazuzu...Deathspell Omega...Necros Christos (their album "Doom of the Occult" is amazing)...for awesome lyrics and straightforward metal, check out the song Lions In A Cage by Mezarkabul...also, if you have developed a taste for the weirder stuff, check out the the album Deceit by This Heat, and crazy avant-garde 70s stuff like Univers Zero.

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