We’ve had a spooky good time with King Diamond this October, haven’t we? From the classic tales of the 80s at the beginning of the month, all the way to the more chaotic times of the 90s just a few short weeks ago, it’s appropriate that we conclude my look at this amazing storyteller’s work on Halloween day itself. What tales has the king written for us? Are they as well crafted & scary as everything that has come before? Well, let’s not waste anymore time and find out!
House Of God (2000)
As for the story, we got something really unique here. Loosely inspired by the myth of Rennes-le-Château (Take a look here. It’s very interesting if you’ve got the time), we find an unnamed protagonist lost in the woods, surrounded by a pack of wolves ready to kill him. Oddly enough, a she-wolf with blue eyes arrives and scares the others off, and guides him towards a small church away from the woods. Once inside, things change into the most magnificent thing you’ve ever seen, and the she-wolf transforms into a stunning woman by the name of Angel. Our protagonist immediately falls in love with her, and the two spend their days making out all over the holy structure. However, it turns out that there’s a curse upon the church, as their must always be a guardian that watches over the place, and Angel has been trying to find somebody to take her place, or else she will die within a week. Feeling sorry for her, the protagonist signs the pact, and she’s let free at the cost of her memories with him. Time goes by, and he loses him mind due to heartache & isolation, but it’s what underneath the holy structure that changes his mind in ways that are unfathomable. I won’t spoil it, but I will say it’s definitely a twist that’ll make you think.
Best Track? This is another one of those cases where the title track of the album hits it out of the park for me. At this point in the story our protagonist and the wolf reach the church in question, and it’s just an amazing sight for him. Not only that, but we see the transformation of the wolf into Angel, and it contrasts with what he just saw as he entered the holy ground. Storywise aside, there’s some great instrumentation going on in the song. All throughout the tune, we got a combination of guitar & organs playing that’s just a perfect mix, as they blend seamlessly with one another until they’re inseparable. The drums play more of a supplementary role, but they’re not out of the picture in anyway, and King’s vocal performance never goes full-blown falsetto, as it’s maintained at this nice raspy kind of tone. Definitely a slice of metallic heaven!
House Of God
Worst Track? From top to bottom House of God has a wealth of great tracks, and the overall concept of this album is truly special. The only thing I can say bad about this record is that it comes across as a little too clean is terms of sound quality & production. If this is intentional, and means to represent the purity (at least on the surface) of the church in the story, then I think it’s genius! The good news is that if this isn’t the case, this cleanliness really seems to be around in the beginning of the album, so it’s not as bad for some listeners as they might think.
House Of God. Maybe a little too clean in places, but damnit if this isn’t a fun record to start off the 2000s with! If you’re curious about how King Diamond sees god, then you might want to find this release for yourself. Next album!
Abigail II: The Revenge (2002)
The story for Abigail II does come across as interesting as first. The year is 1863, 18 years since the events of the original album. We find out that Abigail is still alive, and is the half-sister of O'Brian, who was the leader of the horsemen that were intending to keep her entombed so she wouldn’t return. Thanks to her half-brother’s intervention, she’s still on this Earth for whatever reason. While out in the forest on a walk, a storm causes her to get lost....only for her to find the mansion where it all began. Though the gates are shut tight, she manages to see the spirit of the original Abigail, who unlocks the gate so she can get inside. Once within the manor, she finds Jonathan LaFey still very much alive, but sitting in a wheelchair due to his fall down the stairs. Alongside his bald & imposing servant Brandon Henry, he calls himself the count of the manor, and hasn’t been able to move on from Mirriam’s death. Seeing Abigail as a reincarnation of his wife, and gets her into bed with him and rapes her in an attempt to “Produce an heir”. After that, Abigail decides to seek vengeance, and that’s all I’ll say.
Best Track? There really isn’t any. There are some tunes towards the front that are at least okay at best, but overall there wasn’t a single song that came across as memorable to me. The Wheelchair came close, but even then it let go from my brain. It’s definitely got some rhythm to it, but that about it.
The Wheelchair
Worst Track? Take your pick everybody! I said it above, and I’ll say it again here (And again in a moment): this album was pointless! The original Abigail from 87 was phenomenal, and a horror classic to boot! The initial idea behind this sequel certainly could have worked if it was made with care, but there wasn’t any. This feels like a release that was done just for padding, and the story just feels like it was rushed. I really don’t understand what happened here, but I can say without hesitation that it wasn’t anything good.
Abigail II: The Revenge. A great idea in theory, but horrible in execution. If there was more effort put into everything, then this album could have been great. Instead, it marks the only King Diamond effort to ever be considered truly bad. I don’t recommend Abigail II to anyone but the most hardcore of fans, cause otherwise I suggest that you ignore this release. Luckily, our horror liege knew he made a mistake, and set out to fix what he had done.....and the result is nothing less than a classic!
The Puppet Master (2003)
As for the story, we got something bizarrely seasonal......and emotional. We meet up with the narrator of the album at a nighttime puppet show in Budapest during Christmas. This show is particularly known for both its life-sized, almost "grotesque" puppets, and for the puppet master to somehow be able to make the puppets move without strings during the final act. After the show, he meets a lovely woman by the name of Victoria, and the two hit it off spectacularly. A year later however, his love goes missing, and he sets out to find her. Upon seeing the obese wife of the puppet master doing some rather unscrupulous things, and follows her in hopes of find Victoria. Sadly, he gets jumped by somebody, and is knocked out cold. It’s then revealed to the listener that the puppet master finds people to become new puppets for his show: first he conducts a ritual to take the soul from the narrator, but his eyes are given “eternal life” thanks to an accident during the ritual. Secondly, his eyes are taken out of his body, and placed within a puppet ready to be used for whatever show the puppet master has in mind. This horror is compounded even further when the narrator spots his beloved Victoria sitting on a shelf, and her blue eyes are the dead giveaway to identifying the woman he loves. From there it’s only heartbreak after heartbreak, as the two lovers can do nothing but sit on a shelf, and speak with each other through their eyes. I will not lie when I say that The Puppet Master gets me to cry.....and I bet it will for many of you as well.
Best Track? As per usual, the title track is the best thing on here. Unlike other stories that King Diamond has penned, it’s obvious from the first few notes & lyrics that something wrong almost immediately. Despite being at a Christmas show, there’s this uneasy tension as the song plays. When we finally get to the show itself, the puppets don’t feel warm or inviting, but instead come across as sad somehow. Like their life was taken away and made into something hollow. All things aside, from the drumming, to the guitar work, and to King’s voice.....it’s obvious that this song come in with a lot of subtly & force.
The Puppet Master
Second place would go to So Sad, and it’s a tear jerker! At this point, both King & his love are puppets, and they can only communicate to each other through their eyes. It does come across as a little hokey at the beginning, but after that it’s obvious that this song is anything but. Played almost like a ballad, the emotion coming from King and his puppet paramour is really strong. You can sense the sadness emanating from both voices, yet at the same time their love for one another is still very strong. Not wanting to seen them separated, you started rooting for some kind of hero to come in to their rescue.....even though it probably won’t.
So Sad
Worst Track? Now I know horror doesn’t always have happy/good endings, but this marks one of the terribly few times where I’d want there to be one. King Diamond’s always ended his albums on downers (Or at the very least, neutral/bittersweet-like), and this marks the only time that maybe he should have had a happy ending. The emotion that comes off of this story is equally horrifying, tragic, and bizarrely touch at times. Really tugs at my heart strings if I’m being honest with you.
The Puppet Master. An absolutely chilling and emotional album, it’s sure to get you into the dark or serious side of the Christmas Spirit......and to get you to cry. If there was ever a King Diamond release that surprising, it’s this one.....and I highly recommend it. Next album!
Give Me Your Soul...Please (2007)
Sometime after The Puppet Master’s release, King’s health began to shake. Shows were shortened or canceled, and touring seemed to come and go at the drops of a hat. All of these issues ultimately came up in 2010, when King Diamond went for a triple bypass surgery on his heart. The operation was an amazing success, and coupled with quitting smoking, his health & singing became better than ever. Beforehand however, his health issues affected his work, and Give Me Your Soul....Please suffered because of this.
As for the story, we got what might be the most simplistic that he’s ever penned. As stated in the Wikipedia article:
“At the beginning, a sister and brother are waiting in the afterlife. The brother is to go to Hell, so the sister decides to find another soul for him so that he can follow her to Heaven ("The Dead"). She takes off to a house in Neverending Hill, where King Diamond lives with his black cat, Magic ("Neverending Hill"). The girl tries to contact him for help but she only manages to haunt him ("Is Anybody Here?", "Black of Night"). As the darkness grows, objects are moving on their own, lights flicker ("Shapes of Black") and the temperature drops to freezing levels ("Cold as Ice"), and haunted by the bodyless ghost with only a head ("The Floating Head"), King uses black magic to contact the girl ("The Cellar", "Pictures in Red"). She reveals that her father chopped up her brother with an axe, splashing her with his blood, then choked her to death before shooting himself in the head. The "Thirteen Judges" mistakenly think that the brother committed suicide, so she needs to find a soul free of sin for him ("Give Me Your Soul"). She wants Diamond's soul but, since she finds him full of sin when she gazes at him, he pleads with her to leave and find another soul before sunrise ("The Girl in the Bloody Dress"). The girl decides to come to "THIS house" (implying a visit at the listener's home) ("Moving On").”
Gonna go for a weird route this time around, a pick a song that’s the best and worst track of the album. As usual, King Diamond always hits it out of the park with a title track, and despite the album’s issues, Give Me Your Soul is pretty good. We’re finally given a glimpse at what ended the life of the little girl that torments King, and it’s pretty sad. Not only that, but you find out why her brother suffers as well, and it generates a lot of sympathy from the listener. The guitar work is nice, as well as the drumming, but this song does coax out a little more force from King’s voice. He still doesn’t go full-blown falsetto, but he does seem to raise the volume a little more when he can.
Give Me Your Soul
So what makes this tune the worst at the same time? Well, it all comes down to timing. Give Me Your Soul was the first single for the album, and it came out one day......after the infamous Chris Benoit murder suicide. If any of you are even casual fans of wrestling, you’ll know that this act single handedly erased the career of one of the most iconic wrestlers, and probably accelerated WWE’s move to PG, where the company has stayed to this very day. Regardless, given the subject matter of the song and what happened in the murder-suicide, it’s a pretty eerie coincidence.
Give Me Your Soul....Please. If I’m being honest, it’s not a bad album. It’s got some fun points, and everybody seems to be having fun. However, the lack of strength in King’s voice just seems to weigh everything down, and this makes this the weakest album of the band’s career. It’s not an album I highly recommend, but it can be enjoyed if you’re not in the mood for anything that came before it.
And that was my final look at King Diamond everybody! The 2000s were certainly an interesting time for the king, and fortunately for us & him, he still walks among us in this realm. Not only that, but with The Institute coming sometime in 2020, we can feel his spooky presence once again. With that being said, I hope that my look at this horror genius was to your liking, and November has a few things in store as well....so see you all tomorrow!
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If you’re curious about listening to these albums, click on the links below:
House of God
Abigail II: The Revenge
The Puppet Master
Give Me Your Soul.....Please
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