Ah yes, another masterpiece released by King Diamond and company. Mercyful Fate’s fifth LP and third of the 90s is more of the same: traditional heavy metal infused with touches of speed, power, and progressive metal with King’s extreme yet magnetic falsetto at the forefront, and the unbreakable two man riff factory of Hank Shermann and Michael Denner laying down the foundation for King to spin his horror stories. But I wouldn’t have them any other way.

For an album released in 1996 that isn’t a death or black metal release, Into the Unknown is shockingly high quality. 90s trends be damned, Mercyful Fate doesn’t give a fuck about trends or fitting the mold of the current times. They exist simply to write killer music. Ironically, this was their most commercially successful album and I’m sure by this point the reunion was going strong enough that they were both gaining traction with their original 80s fanbase as well as gaining plenty of new fans that were likely looking for some old school heavy metal amongst the sewage of 90s groove metal that was littering the charts.

This is unfortunately the last Mercyful Fate album before Michael Denner would depart, and instead be replaced with Hexenhaus guitarist Mike Wead. Wead is a great guitar player and to this day is active in both King Diamond (the band) and Mercyful Fate but this last album with Michael Denner was the last that felt like the Mercyful Fate that made masterpieces like Melissa and Don’t Break the Oath. I still love the last two albums they made with Wead but they re-adjusted their sound both in composition and even a little in production values after this one. Much like later era Death, later era Mercyful Fate can be described as still great, just a little different.

180gr LP