Kim Ruzz

Kim Ruzz — born in Denmark in 1962 — was the drummer of Mercyful Fate's classic line-up, present on Melissa (1983) and Don't Break the Oath (1984). His function on those records is harder than it appears. Hank Shermann's compositions do not follow song structure: they are long, change tempo and key several times, and pass through sections that never return. Ruzz had to mark those transitions without letting the tracks fall apart — structural reading, not display. His style is direct and dry, with little ornament, inherited from British heavy metal at the turn of the 1980s. That restraint is what allows the harmonised guitars and King Diamond's falsetto to occupy the foreground. He left music after the band dissolved in 1985 and took part in none of the later reunions — an unusual situation among members of classic line-ups, who tend to return. His recorded work amounts, essentially, to two albums, both considered founding.