Possibly because they got wind that seminal Danish
heavy metal
band
Mercyful Fate
was set to re-form after a ten-year hiatus and sign with a rival label,
Roadrunner Records
moved to clear its vaults of any remaining material (and therefore prevent the boys from easy recycling) with 1992's
Return of the Vampire
collection. The results: nine rarities evenly spread between early demos and never-heard tracks were of course embraced with devotional rapture by the band's loyal contingent of aging fans. And with good reason, as, except for a few very poor-sounding demo relics like
"Death Kiss"
and
"You Asked for It"
(early versions of the classic
"A Dangerous Meeting"
and B-side
"Black Masses,"
respectively), there's enough black magic here from the core creative duo of vocalist
King Diamond
and guitarist
Hank Sherman
to slake the thirst of the most demanding collector. Even taking into account the band's at times subpar performances, hearing primitive versions of
Melissa
's
"Curse of the Pharaohs"
The Beginning
"A Corpse Without Soul"
is already exciting enough; but experiencing the truly surprising and bizarre title track, or figuring out which portions of
"On a Night of Full Moon"
were later reworked into
Don't Break the Oath
"Desecration of Souls"
is twice as fun. And it doesn't get any better than eight-minute opener
"Burning the Cross"
-- a fully formed epic that could have easily made its way onto either
or
; it's that good. Finally, true fanatics are offered two peculiar tracks,
"Leave My Soul Alone"
"M.D.A.,"
which were actually recorded by lead guitar player
Michael Denner
's pre-
Fate
outfit with the help of
Diamond
Sherman
. In short, this is quite the tasty morsel for serious
fans, but somewhat pointless for casual listeners. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia