Michael Denner and Hank Shermann – two ex-members of the classic Mercyful Fate line-up and without a doubt one of the finest duel guitar duos in metal history – have teamed up again and delivered a very powerful sounding album in ‘Masters Of Evil’.
This recording sees these iconic guitar veterans in very fine form with plenty of meaty heavy riffing and top tier lead work unleashed throughout this recording. The music is traditional heavy metal of the highest calibre; classic sounding riffage and wailing solos collide in a raging storm of metallic evil bolstered by a very solid rhythm section who nail down the bottom end tighter than a coffin lid, but then again that is no surprise as another ex-Mercyful Fate and King Diamond member Snowy Shaw is pounding away behind the drum kit here and is an unstoppable percussion powerhouse.
The vibrato/falsetto fuelled vocals of Sean Peck soar powerfully over the music and are the perfect compliment to the twin axe attack of Denner and Shermann and there’s a definite Fate vibe about the whole recording, even down to the lyrical content which takes inspiration from the darkside with tales of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, black masses, black magic, demonic entities, mythical beasts and lycanthropy.
The album artwork of Thomas Holm also evokes the cover of the classic Mercyful Fate album ‘Don’t Break The Oath’ but that is not purely a coincidence as his hands are also responsible for drawing that iconic album cover as well as the cover for ‘Melissa’ and the first four King Diamond album covers from ‘Abigail’ to ‘The Eye’. His art is a very fitting visual accompaniment to the classic old school vibe of the music contained on this recording. This is perfectly executed heavy metal.
All hail the masters of evil.
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