Metal Blade
Mercyful Fate - Melissa
Mercyful Fate is a Danish heavy metal band from Copenhagen, formed in 1981 by vocalist King Diamond and guitarist Hank Shermann. Influenced by progressive rock and hard rock, and with lyrics dealing with Satan and the occult, Mercyful Fate were part of the first wave of black metal in the early to mid-1980s. Many of the bands from this movement went on to influence later black metal musicians in the 1990s, particularly in Norway. - V Melissa is the debut studio album by Danish heavy metal band Mercyful Fate, released on 30 October 1983. It was the first album released by Roadrunner Records. This was also the first Mercyful Fate effort to get an official release in the United States through Megaforce Records, as the self-titled EP was a highly sought after import, and the BBC sessions were only available on bootleg tapes. - Some of the material on the album had it's roots in demos recorded when the musicians were members of the underground bands Black Rose and Brats: "Curse of the Pharaohs", which was originally titled "Night Riders" on an old Brats demo, was retitled after King Diamond changed the lyrics originally written by the Brats bassist; "Love Criminals", actually the first song Mercyful Fate ever wrote, was renamed "Into the Coven", which was originally meant to be the title of the album too. The album also contains "Satan's Fall" which, as Michael Denner recalls, took ages to learn and elicited an eerie feeling the few times he heard it. Hank Shermann wrote the music for this song, which was composed during many sleepless nights on his unplugged guitar in his living room. The band kept rehearsing the song for a long time in it's unfinished form, as Shermann continuously added new parts. According to Denner, there are about sixteen different riffs in "Satan's Fall", which was the band's longest song with a running time over 11 minutes, until the band released Dead Again, on which the title track is 13 minutes long.
UPC/ISBN: 039841613063
Product Information
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This policy outlines our standard for new release and shipped comics, and the industry-standard guidelines we follow.
OUR STANDARD
Books without a stated grade will be offered as Near Mint 9.4 or better. We do not guarantee 9.8 condition on any book unless specifically noted.
We use industry-standard grading guidelines from:
- Â CBCS Comic Grading Scale
- Â Overstreet Comic Grading Standards
- CGC grading standards
If you're new to comic grading, the resources above are a great place to start.
WHY WE DON'T GUARANTEE 9.8
Modern comic printing is an imperfect process. Books are printed in massive
runs, bound at high speed, and shipped in bulk to retailers. Even brand
new books off the truck will exhibit minor production characteristics,
and that's normal, and consistent with industry standards across every
retailer.
A 9.8 grade represents near-perfection, and the reality is that not every printed book qualifies for that grade no matter where you buy it from.
We can absolutely commit to NM 9.4 or better. We cannot commit to 9.8 on every book, because that's not how comics are made.
WHAT QUALIFIES AS NM 9.4
Per industry standards, a book may exhibit the following minor characteristics and still grade as Near Mint 9.4, as long as there's no accumulation of defects:
Bindery characteristics:
- Minor to moderate corner tears
- White edges along the spine (common on most modern printings)
- Covers slightly offset from interior pages (common on cardstock covers)
Printing characteristics:
- Slight color rub on back covers
- Small paper wrinkles present from the paper roll prior to printing
- Wavy paper texture from the printing process
Spine characteristics:
- 2-3 small color-breaking spine ticks
- Minor non-color-breaking spine dings
These are normal modern production characteristics, not damage from handling or shipping. They are present on books across the industry, regardless
of retailer.
OUR RETURN & EXCHANGE POLICY
We do not accept returns or exchanges on books that meet our NM 9.4 or better standard.
We will replace or refund:
- Books damaged during shipping (clear shipping damage, not pre-existing print characteristics)
- Books that fall below NM 9.4 standard (significant spine damage, major creasing, tears, etc.)
- Wrong cover or wrong issue shipped
For premium variants (1:25, 1:50, 1:100, 1:250, 1:500 incentive covers, signed editions, exclusive variants), we apply enhanced QC during pull and packing. If a premium variant arrives outside our standard, contact us within 7 days of delivery and we will work with you on a replacement.
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