On October 30, 1983, MERCYFUL FATE released "Melissa", a debut that changed heavy metal's trajectory forever. Recorded in Copenhagen with producer Henrik Lund, it was also the very first album issued by Roadrunner Records. King Diamond's spectral falsetto soared over Hank Shermann and Michael Denner's intricate twin-guitar attack, wrapping genuine occult themes in some of the most sophisticated songwriting the genre had yet heard. "Evil" and "Curse of the Pharaohs" became instant classics, "Into the Coven" later landed on the PMRC's infamous Filthy Fifteen list, and the eleven-minute "Satan's Fall" stitched together roughly sixteen riffs into one black mass of an epic. METALLICA covered the band in their Garage Inc. medley, SLAYER's Kerry King cited the record's influence on "Hell Awaits", and Rolling Stone ranked "Melissa" number 17 among the 100 greatest metal albums ever.
