Demon Spell - Blessed Be the Dark

Release Date: April 24th, 2026

Label: Dying Victim Productions

Computer, run Mercyful Fate emulator.

Italian evildoers Demon Spell released their  debut LP, Blessed Be the Dark, on April 24th, and goddamn it, I can’t get enough. I’ve been looking forward to this record since they released their Evil Nights EP in 2024, and it’s exceeded all my expectations. 

This is straight-up the best of ‘80s heavy metal. It’s got galloping rhythms, sick air guitar worthy solos all over, the Iron Maiden and Judas Priest parts, the proggy bits, and of course head banging everywhere, all under a thick layer of darkness, evil and theatrical effects that point to one obvious influence. The best to do it, Mercyful Fate. This is done so well done it’s uncanny. 

Blessed Be the Dark is the raw, energetic occult heavy metal we all need in our lives. A spot often filled with Mercyful Fate, I don’t think the band would argue that they were conceived to clone the Danish heavy metal legends. They don’t want to or try to hide it and I wouldn’t either. Throw in the obvious English touches of Maiden and Priest, and we have Demon Spell here to carry the torch of evil forward. Aside from the greatest themselves, no-one I know of does this sound better.

The song “Curse of the Undead” is basically “A Corpse Without A Soul”. I think it was one of the singles and a friend and I listened to it when it came out, immediately looked at each other, and said “A Corpse Without A Soul”. One of the best Mercyful Fate songs by the way. By that measure, “Curse of the Undead” is one of the best Demon Spell songs. The title track, “Blessed Be the Dark”, is just a sinister fucking heavy metal track that closes this record just as strong and as dark as it started with the wickedly evil “As Lucifer Smiles”. 

Of course, not quite as memorable as Mercyful Fate, but that comes with time, and I believe that time will come. Some people, including myself, don’t like or often have a problem with imitations. Why listen to this when I can just go listen to the better OG? Well well well, of course nothing touches or will ever the OG, BUT, when an imitation is done this well, and this “fatefully” in every way possible, and still has its own undeniable energy to it, the band deserves every bit of praise for capturing something so special. I don’t hear any new Mercyful Fate anyway, and if that ever comes, we can have comfort knowing Demon Spell is here if it goes astray. 

Bless the dark — evil lives on well with Demon Spell from Sicily. Thank you Federico, Francesco, Dario, and Riccardo for being the second coming of the King and the necromancers behind him.

Listen to Blessed Be the Dark, listen to their prior 2024 EP Evil Nights, by whatever merch they have, and if you’re lucky and they play near you, go see them.

Score: 10/10

A Mercyful Fate record this great released in 2026 by a band that is not Mercyful Fate, should be nothing short of a 10/10. Strong album of the year 2026 contender.