Don't Break the Oath
{{Infobox album
| name = Don't Break the Oath
| type = studio
| artist = Mercyful Fate
| cover = MercyfulFateDBTO.jpg
| alt =
| released = 7 September 1984
| recorded = May 1984
| venue =
| studio = Easy Sound Recording, Copenhagen, Denmark
| genre =
| length = 47:30
| label = Roadrunner
| producer = Henrik Lund
| prev_title = Melissa
| prev_year = 1983
| next_title = The Beginning
| next_year = 1987
}}
{{Music ratings
|rev1 = AllMusic
|rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite web|title=Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath review |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/dont-break-the-oath-mw0000651526|publisher=AllMusic|first=Steve |last=Huey}}
| rev2 = Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal
| rev2Score = 10/10{{cite book | last = Popoff | first = Martin | author-link = Martin Popoff | title = The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties | publisher = Collector's Guide Publishing | date = November 1, 2005 | location = Burlington, Ontario, Canada | isbn = 978-1894959315 | page= 220}}
| noprose = yes
}}
Don't Break the Oath is the second studio album by Danish heavy metal band Mercyful Fate, released on 7 September 1984 through Roadrunner Records.
The album was remastered and subsequently re-issued on Roadrunner Records in 1997. This reissue came with the bonus track "Death Kiss (Demo)", which would eventually evolve into the album's lead-off track, "A Dangerous Meeting".
Music and lyrics
The style Mercyful Fate employed on Don't Break the Oath resembled a mixture of heavy metal with progressive elements, lyrically preoccupied with Satan and the occult and distinguished by King Diamond's theatrical falsetto vocals. Very influential to future black metal bands due to its lyrical content, the music itself tends toward progressive forms such as dramatic modulations, tempo and tone changes.
According to Louis Pattison of Pitchfork: "On Don’t Break the Oath, the Copenhagen quintet were drawing power from the rollicking tempos of hard rock, the neo-classical techniques of prog, and the brutish heaviness of UK standard bearers Venom. Then, on top of that, they threw in King Diamond, a genuine Satanist whose operatic vocals dripped with evil grandeur, but who was also capable of a pathos-laden wail curiously reminiscent of the Cure’s Robert Smith."{{Cite web |last=Pitchfork |date=2018-09-10 |title=The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-200-best-albums-of-the-1980s/ |access-date=2025-06-07 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}}
Legacy
The album received critical acclaim, and Metal Rules named this the greatest extreme metal album of all time.{{cite web|url=http://www.metal-rules.com/polls/index.php?id=7|title=Top 50 Extreme Metal Albums|website=Metal Rules|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405003815/http://metal-rules.com/polls/index.php?id=7|archive-date=April 5, 2018|access-date=April 16, 2019|url-status=dead}} Louis Pattison of Pitchfork wrote: "Thanks to Diamond’s distinctive corpse paint, Mercyful Fate are often pigeonholed as a sort of proto-black metal band. But ultimately, Don’t Break the Oath isn’t great because it’s a roadmap to some future sound; this is ’80s metal in excelsis."{{Cite web |last=Pitchfork |date=2018-09-10 |title=The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-200-best-albums-of-the-1980s/ |access-date=2025-06-07 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}}
Track listing
{{track listing
| all_lyrics = King Diamond
| headline = Side one
| title1 = A Dangerous Meeting
| music1 = Hank Shermann
| length1 = 5:10
| title2 = Nightmare
| music2 = Shermann
| length2 = 6:20
| title3 = Desecration of Souls
| music3 = Shermann, Michael Denner
| length3 = 4:54
| title4 = Night of the Unborn
| music4 = Shermann
| length4 = 4:59
}}
{{track listing
| headline = Side two
| title5 = The Oath
| music5 = Diamond
| length5 = 7:31
| title6 = Gypsy
| music6 = Denner, Diamond
| length6 = 3:08
| title7 = Welcome Princess of Hell{{cite web|url=http://www.wonderingsound.com/feature/king-diamond-kim-bendix-petersen-dreams-of-horror-metal-blade-us-tour-interview/|title=King Diamond Interview|last=Ludwig|first=Jamie|date=October 22, 2014|website=Wondering Sound|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820063939/http://www.wonderingsound.com/feature/king-diamond-kim-bendix-petersen-dreams-of-horror-metal-blade-us-tour-interview/|archive-date=August 20, 2016|access-date=April 16, 2019}}
| music7 = Shermann
| length7 = 4:03
| title8 = To One Far Away
| music8 = Denner, Diamond
| length8 = 1:31
| title9 = Come to the Sabbath
| music9 = Diamond
| length9 = 5:19
}}
{{track listing
| headline = 1997 re-release bonus track
| title10 = Death Kiss
| note10 = demo
| length10 = 4:30
}}
Personnel
Mercyful Fate
- King Diamond - vocals, keyboards, harpsichord
- Hank Shermann - guitars
- Michael Denner - guitars
- Timi Hansen - bass
- Kim Ruzz - drums
- Benny Petersen - guitar (on track 10)
Production
- Henrik Lund - producer, engineer
- Niels Erik Otto - engineer
- Thomas Holm - cover art
Charts
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Chart performance for Don't Break the Oath |
| scope="col"| Chart (2020)
! scope="col"| Peak |
|---|
| {{album chart|Germany4|66|id=44737|artist=Mercyful Fate|album=Don't Break the Oath|rowheader=true|access-date=June 12, 2020}} |
References
{{reflist}}
{{Mercyful Fate}}
{{Authority control}}