BRATS • 18th January 1981 LP

no label 2008
Technically this might be a BRATS record, but you'll recognize a bunch of these songs as classic MERCYFUL FATE tracks, and you might even recognize some of these versions (I know a few are on the Curse Of The Pharaohs boot LP, and some might be on Return Of The Vampire too). Regardless, this is a great bootleg of a BRATS' rehearsal, and a very cool document of the proto-FATE band. The Pre-King Diamond BRATS had a distinct Punkish/NWOBHM sound and released one killer album, but this record sees the band heading towards the full-on Metal of MERCYFUL FATE. "Death Kiss" starts things off and there's no mistaking it as anything other than "A Dangerous Meeting", "Love Criminals" is "Into The Coven", "Powers Of Darkness" is "Return Of The Vampire", and "Night Riders" is the best alternate version of "Curse Of The Pharaohs" I've heard. That leaves 2 songs that I'd never heard before: "Sometimes You're Deadly" is nearly 10 minutes long, and is phenomenal! This song alone was worth every penny of what I paid for this record. "Fightin' For The Knighthood" is another marathon, clocking in at 8:50, but as you'd expect from MERCYFUL FATE, they cram enough riffs into that 9 minutes for 15 songs, so it never gets boring. Top notch boot that's a must have for MF fans, but maybe just a curiosity for BRATS fans.
DOWNLOAD: Brats-18thJanuary1981.rar (84.34 MB)
PS: Just discovered that there's a new BRATS LP out called The Lost Tapes. It's a full album that they recorded before they did the 1980 album... can't wait to hear it!