King Diamond - Conspiracy

At the end of King Diamond's most successful album to date, 1988's "Them", we hear what could be synonymous to a "to be continued" in the track "Coming Home." Once again, King Diamond does not let another year end without releasing the follow up, Conspiracy, which just happened to be the sequel to "Them." So four consecutive album in four years. And not just albums but masterpieces in their own rite. Conceptually, Conspiracy picks up where "Them" left off with King returning to the old house and to '"Them."' The album is just more of the same for King Diamond, an absolute perfect album full of killer riffs, quality solos and epic songwriting. The revolving door that King seemed to be experiencing has spun around again as Mikkey Dee left to join Don Dokken's band and then ultimately land in Motorhead. However, he did appear as a guest on the album so we get to hear Mikkey's flawless drumming with King one last time.

The opener, "At The Graves" is just an absolute epic song that starts with King singing along with some eerie synthesizer "music box" sounds apparently speaking to the spirit if his little sister, "Missy." Then the guitars kick in leading to the riffs. The production on this one is a bit different than the previous three. The guitars are more up front as well as King's vocals seem to have less effects. This takes away from that special atmosphere the previous albums had but not enough to make this any less perfect. The song is long, 8:56 in length but not overlong. The solos are as expected, pure magic and precision. Since the guitars are more up front in this mix, the solos are mixed much clearer and you can really here the musicianship of these two guitarists. Andy La Rocque and Pete Blakk compliment each other as they trade off solos. "Sleepless Nights" follows and is probably the second most notable song by King due to some air play for the video to this song on MTV. This is a straight ahead metal rocker with huge riffs and solos....killer never ending solos. This album should be considered essential to any guitar shredder out there...metal or not.

Once again, King Diamond has created an album that defines heavy metal, once again raising the bar for the rest of the genre. This album goes in a more traditional direction with just crushing riff work as shown on songs like "Lies, '"Amon" Belongs to "Them",' and "Victimized." As for King's vocals, he never sounded better. As I said before, his voice sounds better due to the mix. I remember an interview I read when this album first came out that King purposely did a more straight forward mix on his voice this time around. "What you hear is more of my voice," he had said. You also have epic songs like "A Visit from the Dead," and "The Wedding Dream." The former starting with some clean guitars and King's softer falsetto then leading into epic riffs, soaring vocals and massive solos. The latter starting out with some church organ sounding keys leading to some of King's best non falsetto vocals. This song is huge as well as being epic.  "Something Weird" is probably the only interlude song I still listen to. It's eerie and hypnotizing. The closer is mostly instrumental and is a fitting end to another amazing album.

How does King do this and, more importantly, why aren't their more people recognizing the pure talent in this band? Not only being more prolific than many bands of his time but creating perfect albums, not just contract obligations. The number one thing I hear when there are any King Diamond detractors out there is his vocals, more accurately, the falsettos. Rob Halford was doing it, what was it about King that turned so many off? Isn't his vocals the epitome of heavy metal? And King wasn't done because in a little over a year later King releases the follow up to this album...to be continued....

10/10

King Diamond - "Them"

After the monumental Fatal Portrait and the beautiful Abigail, King Diamond brings us his third album in three years, 1988's "Them". Now one would think that writing that many albums in that short of time in between touring, etc would cause a band to go stale. Well, King Diamond is not just any other band nor is King any other songwriter. Since the recording of Abigail, former Mercyful Fate guitarist Michael Denner was first replaced by Michael Moon for the Abigail tour. After the tour, Michael Moon was sacked and Pete Blakk brought in for the recording of the new album. Also gone was Timi Hansen who was replaced by Hal Patino. The addition of the new members actually added a new dimension to the band and the result is another album that is nothing short of perfect. How does King do it?

"Them" is another concept album where King puts himself in the first person as a boy dealing with ghosts ("Them"), an evil Grandma who controls "Them" as well as possesses his mother with "special" Tea, and an evil doctor who was supposed to help him. Once again, another elaborate and eerie story by a master story teller. After the intro "Out from the Asylum", we go right into probably the most well known King Diamond song, "Welcome Home". A video was made for this song that received a good share of airplay on MTV as well as being used decades later in the comedy Clerks II. That aside, the song is the perfect opener and King used that song for many years as the opener of his shows. From the beginning drum rolls going into the massive riff of the song what you have is a straight ahead heavy metal song showing that the new additions to the band were more than competent to handle King's demands. The riffs are plenty and the solos are absolutely amazing. Pete Black, while I wouldn't say he's better than Michael Denner, has a different approach to his playing and is actually more in the same style as Andy La Rocque giving the songs a more powerful and technical modern power metal sound.

Now this is personally my favorite King Diamond album and I think it's due to the consistency of the album. Songs like "The Invisible Guests" and "Mother's Getting Weaker" are just power metal crushers that are fast and loaded with hooks, riffs, and melodies. The choruses are catchy and, of course, the solos are just godly. King's voice on this album is a mix of his (mostly) falsettos and his eerie lower register. He even sings in his melodic lower "Mercyful Fate" register that was missing on the two previous albums. These songs are complex and technical without being pretentious. Then you have songs like "Bye, Bye Missy", "A Broken Spell", and "The Accusation Chair" that are you straight ahead metal rockers but with hooks and a complexity that makes them more than ordinary. Drummer Mikkey Dee also shows his skill on these songs, showing that he's just not a double bass and no fills player. He is technical and a mater of his craft. He's one of the best to ever grace the genre.

"Tea" is actually one of my favorite songs by King Diamond. Part "ballady" and part galloping rocker it just has this heavy main riff that trades off with a beautiful clean guitar riff for the catchy as fuck chorus. Then in the middle it speeds up a bit for the massive solos that trade off between the two guitarists. King's voice is in top form for this one as well. Then after the beautiful acoustic title track you have the epic "Twilight Symphony". This song, though not quite on par with "The Black Horsemen" from Abigail, it's damn close. The riffs are huge and the chorus is epic and melodic with King's falsetto voice layered in harmonies that sound like choirs. This song is the last proper song on the album going into the outro "Coming Home" which gives you the sense that this concept will be continued (as it was on the follow up, Conspiracy).

While many will say that Abigail is King's best solo album and even I feel like "The Black Horsemen" from that album is the best metal song of all time, this songs on "Them" go together so well making this album my favorite over Abigail. This album also defines heavy metal as did the previous album making King one of the most prolific artists in heavy metal. The ability to write thee albums in a row, three years in a row is not something just anyone can do. This trio of albums are part of what made me love heavy metal to this day and is also the reason why King Diamond is my all time favorite metal artist. There are no other albums that can touch this, period!

10/10

King Diamond - Abigail

So after the debut, Fatal Portrait, which was nothing less than perfect in it's execution, King Diamond is faced with the task of making another album that is just as good if not better. Released in October, 1986 we have the follow up, Abigail. Abigail was the first in a long line of concept albums that King came to be known for. This one is an eerie tale about the spirit of Abigail La Vey who was still born 68 years prior to the events of the album. The spirit of the still born child takes over the body of Miriam Natias who happens to be the wife of Jonathan La Vey, a descendant of the man who killed Abigail's pregnant mother thereby killing her. So not only is King creating a concept here, but a rather elaborate one at that. But what is more important is the music. King took what he accomplished on Fatal Portrait and expanded on it. How can you perfect perfection?

The album begins with a brief but eerie intro, "Funeral", with some keys and some spookie sounding spoken words. The intro goes right into "Arrival" and from the start of the song you can tell that you are in for something truly groundbreaking and special. The production is much better than the debut with the guitars further up front in the mix and the keys mixed just right to set the atmosphere. Where King mostly used his falsetto on Fatal Portrait, he begins to use his voice here to create the characters. He has not abandoned his falsetto but there is more of a balance in his voice on Abigail. The song is riff laden and complex with tempo changes and many facets to it. Once again, we have the same line-up as the debut so the guitar work is outstanding.

The remainder of the album is more of the same, absolute genius. This is the album that set the bar for all heavy metal albums to follow. Songs like "A Mansion in Darkness", "The 7th Day of July 1777", and "The Possession" being the true precursor to what would be considered to be power metal today. These songs are speedy and powerful complex songs with fast riffing and huge melodies. Of course the soloing is just godly with Andy La Rocque and Michael Denner showing their prowess once again. Of course, songs like these also rely heavily on the rhythm section and Mikkey Dee and his ridiculously good drumming and Timi Hansen on the bass get the job done perfectly. Then you have straight up metal riff fests like "The Family Ghost". "Omens", and "Abigail" that just grab you by the throat and do not let you go. And if you think this album is perfect at this point, the best is yet to come.

The album closer is without a doubt the best heavy metal song in existence, "The Black Horsemen". This song is so epic I don't even know where to begin to give a proper description. It begins with a beautiful acoustic passage and after about a minute some eerie sounding voices come in along with King's beautiful falsettos harmonized. Then come the riffs and this huge sound with guitars, acoustic guitars and symphonic keys just creating music as such I've never heard before. This is classical music, just plugged in. It's heavy, beautiful, complex and melodic all at once. As I said, any heavy metal song made after this has this song as it's standard. Them some heavy shoes to fill!!

As the song says, "That's the end of another lullaby...." and by the time this album is done you find yourself in amazement as to what you just heard. I got to see King play these songs live when he was touring for this album and atmosphere and feeling were the same as if I was part of the album. Abigail is an album that comes along once in a lifetime. It will never be topped nor has there been an equal. If there is any album you must have in your lifetime, this is it.

10/10

King Diamond - Fatal Portrait

My love of King Diamond goes back to the early Mercyful Fate days and I have been a massive King fanboy since I first heard his shrieking falsettos and evil lyrics in 1983. I've run a King Diamond fan site since 1997 and was even a guest in King's home in April of 1999. I do seem to prefer King Diamond's solo material just a bit over the Mercyful Fate material so I think it seems proper for me to now revisit the early days of his solo band and review the albums that so many have enjoyed for decades. I begin with the first full length album Fatal Portrait. Released on February 17, 1986 we see King leaning in a more epic heavy metal direction with a shift in the lyrics from the overtly Satanic to more of a horror story telling direction.

Right from the beginning of this album you can tell that this is a new and fresh King Diamond. Mercyful Fate was a heavy metal band that drew influences from a more earlier generation like Deep Purple or Uriah Heep. With this new band we see King helping to create and define heavy metal as a distinct genre. You can even hear the beginnings of power metal and even symphonic metal with King being one of the first to incorporate keyboards (especially harpsichord) into heavy metal music to create more atmosphere. "The Candle" starts things off with it's eerie intro with it's evil spoken voices and pipe organ sounds. From there it bursts into the riffs and double bass galloping that would have been called power metal if released in the 90s. Although King would go on to create complete concept albums, this album is only a partial concept album and this is the first of five songs that make up a story. Kings uses mostly falsettos on this album and it is here that I think King truly perfected his style.

King brought bassist Timi Hansen and guitarist Michael Denner from Mercyful Fate and with the addition of guitarist Andy La Rocque and drummer Mikkey Dee we see that King will always surround himself with top notch musicians. We all knew Michael Denner's abilities as a melodic soloist but with Andy La Rocque we see a virtuoso in every respect. The two guitarists contrast with each other to create a variety of solos that create another aspect to the music. Drummer Mikkey Dee is one of the best drummers to ever pick up the sticks and with Timi Hansen rounding out the rhythm section what we wind up with what is probably the best line up in heavy metal.

The songs on this album are epic in every way with massive riffs and godly solos that seem to go on forever. Along with "The Candle" we have four more in the "Portrait" story, "The Jonah", "The Portrait", "Dressed in White" and, with a few songs not being part of the story in between, the last song on the album "Haunted". These are the best songs on the album with no shortage of catchy hooks and melodies. Of the songs not part of this story we have "Charon" which is probably the song on here most like something Mercyful Fate would have written. We also have, of course, King's homage to the holiday that is most fitting to King and his image, "Halloween". This is a mid paced rocker that is also a bit reminiscent of Mercyful Fate and is a fitting song for King to memorialize the ghoulish holiday.

This is the beginning of a band that would define heavy metal for generations. Love him or hate him, King Diamond's influence cannot be debated. With this album we see the creation of epic heavy metal. King Diamond made heavy metal music that could not be lumped into the just mindless noise that the parents of my generation thought it was. Instead he made it an art form and he was, and still is, a master of his art. This album is essential for any metal head. If you don't own this album, what the fuck are you waiting for?

10/10