The Dark Sides - King Diamond

Them - King Diamond

Another great entry in the highly consistent King Diamond discography, "Them" is one of the band s defining works, and easily the peak of their silliness, however tongue-in-cheek it s intended to be. A concept album that wants to be a cheap horror film, "Them" tells the tale of a grandma s return home from a mental asylum, her reunion with the ghosts in the attic and the initiation of her young grandson to share her fate. There s a lot of stuff about drinking tea as well, with track four possessing the only tea-based heavy metal chorus that I m aware of. It s clearly ridiculous, and however much the band and King Diamond himself throw themselves into ...

Them - King Diamond

Another great entry in the highly consistent King Diamond discography, "Them" is one of the band s defining works, and easily the peak of their silliness, however tongue-in-cheek it s intended to be. A concept album that wants to be a cheap horror film, "Them" tells the tale of a grandma s return home from a mental asylum, her reunion with the ghosts in the attic and the initiation of her young grandson to share her fate. There s a lot of stuff about drinking tea as well, with track four possessing the only tea-based heavy metal chorus that I m aware of. It s clearly ridiculous, and however much the band and King Diamond himself throw themselves into ...

Abigail - King Diamond

Released way back in 1987, King Diamond s Abigail is a concept album based around numerology and possession by spirits, no less, played in the NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) style. It comes across like a creepier, darker version of Iron Maiden, complete with rousing dynamic heavy metal riffs and some excellent melodic solos. Each song continues the album s narrative, which is a Hammer Horror style ghost-tale set in the 18th century complete with multiple characters each with their own lines. Both story and dialogue are voiced by vocalist King Diamond via a mix of rasped/growled narration and insanely high pitched, Bruce-Dickinson-with-hits-nuts-in-a-vice ...

Abigail - King Diamond

Released way back in 1987, King Diamond s Abigail is a concept album based around numerology and possession by spirits, no less, played in the NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) style. It comes across like a creepier, darker version of Iron Maiden, complete with rousing dynamic heavy metal riffs and some excellent melodic solos. Each song continues the album s narrative, which is a Hammer Horror style ghost-tale set in the 18th century complete with multiple characters each with their own lines. Both story and dialogue are voiced by vocalist King Diamond via a mix of rasped/growled narration and insanely high pitched, Bruce-Dickinson-with-hits-nuts-in-a-vice ...

Abigail - King Diamond

pregnant wife down the stairs to kill her bastard daughter Abigail. But the stillborn corpse intends to wreak its revenge on the house’s occupiers forevermore, and the album begins, as King Diamond himself helpfully screeches in the opening song, in the summer of 1845. The concept is entertaining and the music strangely fitting, in a hairy eighties heavy rock kind of way. One of metal’s most intriguing frontmen, the music always takes second place to King Diamond’s extreme vocals and shock rock stage act (I can reveal that his inevitably disappointing real name is Kim Petersen), but these early albums manage to strike something of a balance. ‘Abigail’ is by far the ...

Abigail - King Diamond

pregnant wife down the stairs to kill her bastard daughter Abigail. But the stillborn corpse intends to wreak its revenge on the house’s occupiers forevermore, and the album begins, as King Diamond himself helpfully screeches in the opening song, in the summer of 1845. The concept is entertaining and the music strangely fitting, in a hairy eighties heavy rock kind of way. One of metal’s most intriguing frontmen, the music always takes second place to King Diamond’s extreme vocals and shock rock stage act (I can reveal that his inevitably disappointing real name is Kim Petersen), but these early albums manage to strike something of a balance. ‘Abigail’ is by far the ...