The evil returns for its ninth instalment and straight for throat with thrashy opener 'Last Rites' - lyrically atmospheric, as expected, King's conducting the demonic choir alongside his own babbling yaps and ear piercing screams. The band as always a masterful spectacle as the doom-laden 'Church Of...' lumbers in, the guitars releasing the bats from the belfry as the occasional keys sprinkles black stardust on those Hammer Horror groans. King Diamond is one of metal's gods, a cooler Alice Cooper to an extent who never sold his soul to commercialism but instead raided graves of a night and conducted Gothic experiments in the basement of some old mansion. Time after time Mercyful Fate deliver their brand of operatic eeriness, blessed this time by Shermann's leads and D'Angelo's killer bass. The band at one moment delivering Slayerized riffs before creeping into some morbid soundtrack. 'House On The Hill' and 'The Grave' are fluent in their vigour, but never once do the band fall into the realm of cheese, their relationship with Satan and the flames of fiery hell always credible to the ears. Invert the cross and succumb to the possession...
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