Warthur
Another excellent and influential fusion of traditional heavy metal and proto-thrash from Mercyful Fate. Leading off with incredible songs such as Curse of the Pharaohs or the iconic Evil, the album does tend to drag towards the end, with the meandering progressive rock-influenced Satan's Fall and Melissa taking a little too long to cover a little too few musical ideas; still, this isn't enough to prevent this being a great album, though I tend to prefer Don't Break the Oath, which I feel has more memorable, standout songs and paces itself better than this one. Apparently the band befriended Metallica at around the time this album was recorded; for my money, this one and Melissa are compelling evidence that Mercyful Fate ought to be the fifth member of the Big Five of thrash.