Into the Coven

Album: Melissa (1983)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song describes a Satanic ritual where a follower gives his soul to the Devil. The lyric was written by the band's frontman King Diamond, who often wrote about Satanism. Guitarist Hank Shermann wrote the music.
  • This is a track from the first Mercyful Fate album, Melissa, which was a big influence on other metal bands. Metallica included part of the song on their Garage Inc. medley "Mercyful Fate."
  • When the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) held hearings in Washington, DC in 1985 to push for a ratings system on albums, this song appeared on their list of 15 songs deemed most objectionable. How this group discovered a somewhat obscure track by a Danish metal band remains a mystery, but they tagged it as "Occult," a label they could have applied to Mötley Crüe, AC/DC or Judas Priest, but those bands were flagged for sex or violence.

    "We thought they must be really bored to have time for this," King Diamond told Rolling Stone. "How they saw those songs said more about them than it did about us - they had some really perverted minds."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Deconstructing Doors Songs With The Author Of The Doors Examined

Deconstructing Doors Songs With The Author Of The Doors ExaminedSong Writing

Doors expert Jim Cherry, author of The Doors Examined, talks about some of their defining songs and exposes some Jim Morrison myths.

Grateful Dead Characters

Grateful Dead CharactersMusic Quiz

Many unusual folks appear in Grateful Dead songs. Can you identify them?

U2 Lyrics

U2 LyricsMusic Quiz

How well do you know the lyrics of U2?

Melanie

MelanieSongwriter Interviews

The singer-songwriter Melanie talks about her spiritual awakening at Woodstock, "Brand New Key," and why songwriting is an art, not a craft.

Ed Roland of Collective Soul

Ed Roland of Collective SoulSongwriter Interviews

The stories behind "Shine," "December," "The World I Know" and other Collective Soul hits.

Carol Kaye

Carol KayeSongwriter Interviews

A top session musician, Carol played on hundreds of hits by The Beach Boys, The Monkees, Frank Sinatra and many others.