Entertainment Earth

9/06/2022

Metal Legends Mercyful Fate Announce First North American Tour in Over Two Decades! Tickets on Sale Friday, September 9!

Photo by Livia Zita

 Heavy metal icons MERCYFUL FATE today announce their first North American headlining tour in over two decades! The journey will commence on October 25th in Dallas, Texas and weave its way through fourteen cities, closing on November 16th in Atlanta, Georgia. The tour follows the band’s stunning headlining performance at this year’s edition of Psycho Las Vegas.


Vocalist King Diamond comments, “These will be the first MERCYFUL FATE concerts in North American theaters in over twenty years. Memories of a lifetime. Your special chance to see MERCYFUL FATE with the full European festival production, but up close and personal. You cannot miss this… I hereby respectfully invite you to Come To The Sabbath by which you may free your soul and feast with us in the dark Of Night. Witches and Demons, you may come as you are! Satanic Regards - King Diamond 666.”

Support for MERCYFUL FATE will be provided by Kreator and labelmates, Midnight. Various presales are available throughout the week:

Citi Presale: Tuesday, September 6th @ 11:00am ET | Password: Citi BINs
Mercyful Fate Fan Club Presale: Tuesday, September 6th @ 12:00pm ET | Password: EVIL
Ticketmaster Presale: Wednesday, September 7th @ 10:00am ET | Password: MELISSA
Live Nation Presale: Wednesday, September 7th @ 10:00am local time | Password: VENUE
Blabbermouth Presale: Wednesday, September 7th @ 10:00am local time | Password: SABBATH
Knotfest.com Presale: Wednesday, September 7th @ 10:00am local time | Password: OATH
 
All presales end Thursday, September 8th at 10:00pm local time. General onsale date is Friday, September 9th at 10:00am local time at mercyfulfatecoven.com. These shows will sell out! Don't miss it!
 
Additionally, multiple limited VIP packages will be available which will include Meet & Greets, photo opps, private Q&As, exclusive merch, and more starting Wednesday, September 7th at mercyfulfatecoven.com. Secure yours today. 


MERCYFUL FATE w/ Kreator, Midnight:
10/25/2022 Dallas, TX - The Factory
10/27/2022 Phoenix, AZ - Arizona Financial Theatre 
10/29/2022 Inglewood, CA - Youtube Theater
10/30/2022 Wheatland, CA - Hard Rock Live Sacramento
11/01/2022 Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium
11/03/2022 Gary, IN - Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana
11/04/2022 Cincinnati, OH - The Andrew J. Brady Music Center
11/05/2022 Detroit, MI - Masonic
11/08/2022 Silver Spring, MD - The Fillmore Silver Spring
11/10/2022 Brooklyn, NY - Kings Theater
11/11/2022 Laval, QC - Place Bell
11/13/2022 Boston, MA - MGM Music Hall At Fenway
11/14/2022 Philadelphia, PA - The Fillmore Philadelphia
11/16/2022 Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle

MERCYFUL FATE is currently working on a new album and recently gave fans a taste of the new material when they debuted a song called "The Jackal Of Salzburg" in Germany this past June as well as at Psycho Las Vegas. The band's current lineup is King Diamond on vocals, Hank Shermann and Mike Wead on guitars, Bjarne T. Holm on drums and Joey Vera on bass.

MERCYFUL FATE was formed in early 1981 in Copenhagen, Denmark by vocalist King Diamond and guitarist Hank Shermann. They were later joined by guitarist Michael Denner and bassist Timi Hansen, and soon thereafter drummer Kim Ruzz would join to complete the band lineup. The band recorded two demos in 1981 and later signed with Rave On Records in Holland for the recording of their successful self-titled EP, released in November of 1982. The Mercyful Fate EP was soon in heavy rotation around core metal radio stations, launching a new breed of heavy metal with their unique sound.

The band joined Roadrunner Records in 1983 and their debut full-length, Melissa, was recorded and released that same year. The following year, MERCYFUL FATE returned to the studio to record their now legendary Don't Break The Oath full-length, released in September of 1984.

MERCYFUL FATE embarked upon a two month US tour in support of the record, which took them across the States several times sharing the stage with the likes of Motörhead and Exciter. The shows had created a brush fire within the metal community. The band reaped recognition globally, closing the year with a five-date tour in Germany with Motörhead, Girlschool, Helix, and Talon.

MERCYFUL FATE’s first concert of 1985 was in their hometown of Copenhagen at an old movie theater with a large capacity. The show sold out and their stage show exhibited a new level of distinction. The night was a huge victory and a new highlight for the band.

By April of 1985 however, MERCYFUL FATE decided to part ways for each to pursue new challenges. The King Diamond band was born and reaped critical acclaim the following years with five studio albums on Roadrunner Records. King Diamond has since signed with Metal Blade Records and is going stronger than ever before.

In the Summer of 1992, MERCYFUL FATE decided to reunite and penned a new deal with Brian Slagel and his label, Metal Blade Records. In The Shadows was released in 1993 and was an instant triumph furthered by a sold out US tour.

MERCYFUL FATE has gone on to release another five studio albums and have toured Europe, the US, and South America multiple times. The highlight of 1999 was their critically acclaimed album 9 which was followed by a European tour with Metallica, where King Diamond and Hank Shermann joined the band onstage several times for the medley "Mercyful Fate" which Metallica had recorded on their Garage Inc. double tribute album the year prior. Tours in the US and in South America followed, marking the band's last live performances for over a decade. MERCYFUL FATE then went on hiatus, but made a brief appearance when members joined Metallica onstage in 2011 for their 30th anniversary show in San Francisco, California.

For live coverage inquiries, contact earsplitpr2@gmail.com.

1/06/2015

The 175 Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers of all Time Pt. 14: 30-21

30. Slayer- South of Heaven- Artist Larry Carroll and illustrator Howard Schwartzberg designed the cover for this the fourth album from these thrash metal legends. Both the awesome cover and the album itself are favorites of mine. The cool looking skull, leaning, inverted crucifix, and cathedrals dripping blood forming a pool of blood are just classic and the best cover Slayer has.






29. Testament- Souls of Black- The fourth album by these Bay Area thrashers saw the band try different types of influence in their sound. I so remember seeing this amazing cover with these dark phantoms and being completely captivated by it!








28. Morbid Angel- Domination- The fourth album by one of the greatest death metal acts in the world, saw them make their major label debut. The computer generated image of a desolate world with the huge pentagram that is the band's symbol, in the foreground really pops thanks to the vivid colors. 







27. Motorhead- Inferno- The seventeenth album by these British legends has amazing art by Joe Petango. The band's coolest cover, I think. 










26. Kreator- Pleasure to Kill- The second album by Germany's kings of thrash metal is a subgenre classic. And, the cover where their demon mascot battles skeletons is pretty badass and evokes a very metal version of a Sinbad/ Ray Harryhausen movie.








25. Dimmu Borgir- Godless Savage Garden- This compilation album by black metal band Dimmu Borgir features a haunting beauty sitting on a throne in a garden that looks like Batman villianess Poison Ivy would be right at home at it.








24. Mercyful Fate- Don't Break the Oath- The second album by Mercyful Fate has what might be their most iconic cover as Satan, himself, points to you from the very depths of hell!





23. Cannibal Corpse- Butchered at Birth- The second album by these death metal legends had what is one of their most, if not their most, controversial cover. This was enough so that it it in fact landed on WatchMojo.com's recent list of the most controversial covers, of all time. But, when you have a cover where two zombies are aborting an embryo from a butchered woman's body, while other dead and decaying embryos hang, well, that was bound to piss someone off! Not me though. I think it fucking rules!




22. Cradle of Filth- Midian- The fourth album from this extreme metal band was inspired by the novel Cabal by Clive Barker and the his subsequent film, Nightbreed, based on said book. Midian is where the monsters live, both sources tell us. The excellent cover by JK Potter has monsters, including a beautiful goth chick with bat wings (what else would expect from CoF?) and the entrance to Midian.





21. Vital Remains- Icons of Evil- The sixth album, and last to have Glenn Benton on vocals, of this brutal death band has a cover inspired by Mel Gibson's controversial The Passion of the Christ (a sample of which is used in the opener of the album). One difference from the film, though is that the one doing the hammering on Christ has a ring with a pentagram on it.

The 175 Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers of all Time Pt. 13: 40-31

 The 175 Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers of all Time Pt. 12: 50-41

The 175 Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers of all Time Pt. 11: 60-51

The 175 Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers of all Time Pt. 10: 70-61

The 175 Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers of all Time Pt. 9: 80-71

The 175 Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers of all Time Pt. 8: 90-81 

The 175 Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers of all Time Pt. 7: 110-101 

The 175 Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers of all Time Pt. 6: 120-111 

The 175 Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers of all Time Pt. 5: 130-121

The 175 Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers of all Time Pt. 4: 140-131 

The 175 Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers of all Time Pt. 3: 150-141

The 175 Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers of all Time Pt. 2: 160-151

The 175 Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers of all Time Pt. 1: 175-16