Influenced by progressive rock and hard rock, with lyrics dealing with Satan and the occult, Mercyful Fate were part of the first wave of black metal in the early to mid-1980s.
Inspirirani progresivnim i hard rockom, pišući tekstove koji govore o Sotoni i okultizmu, Mercyful Fate bio je dio prvog black metal vala od početka do sredine osamdesetih godina prošlog stoljeća.