Mercyful Fate/king diamond

[jsem]

Well. Abigail would get many participators

[wolfking]

Well. Abigail would get many participators

True, and an probably Them also.  But albums such as Fatal Portrait, Spiders Lullabye, Graveyard, House of God, Abigail 2, Puppet Master etc. I don't think would be very popular.

[jsem]

Sad. Abigail 2 is epic. So is Puppet Master.. all of them actually. lol

[wolfking]

Sad. Abigail 2 is epic. So is Puppet Master.. all of them actually. lol

Every King album is just amazing.  Each one has a lot to offer.

[SPNKr]

Some of the greatest metal that got my through very hard times.  King's power, magic, philosophies, passion, stories, and just sheer awesomeness cannot be matched.  All MF and KD albums are worth purchasing.  King has one of the strongest discographies in metal. 

I hope he is recovering well at the moment from his surgery.  Oh, and Andy is one of the greatest lead guitarists in metal, very underrated, brilliant solos.

Yep, LaRocque made some good solos. I should finally finally get some Mercyful Fate. Every now and then, I hear about how good Melissa or Don't Break The Oath is - with the latter's album cover being bad arse - and I've had Abigail for a long time now. Can't get any better.

Oh and Metallica covered MF songs in that medley.

[Birch Boy]

On pretty much every tour, King Diamond plays The Chance Theatre in Poughkeepsie, NY, which is a fairly local venue for me. I've been to a lot of shows there and I hope he tours soon.

[wolfking]

Bumping this thread because of how awesome King Diamond is.

[lateralus88]

He is indeed awesome as all fuck.


 

[wolfking]

He is indeed awesome as all fuck.


 

WTF lol!

[Ultimetalhead]

This thread inspired me to listen to Give Me Your Soul...Please last night. T'was most excellent.

[wolfking]

I think Give Me Your Soul has aged really well.  For me it took a few listens but soon after, I loved it, and it's one KD album I enjoy playing more regulary than others.  I simply love the consistency of the album, which I feel lacked a little in the Puppet Master. (which was still amazing)

I am a huge fan of Abigail 2 also, absolutely killer record.

[Ultimetalhead]

My least favorite aspect of GMYS is the story, which Puppet Master and Abigail II definitely have the upper hand on.

Girl: i'll go get you a soul, bro.
Bro: k
King: man i sure like my house damn
Girl: soul please
King: no way I'm evil lulz
Girl: k

[kirksnosehair]

I used to really enjoy me some Mercyful Fate

I think "Into The Unknown" is probably my favorite album of theirs

[TAC]

I think Give Me Your Soul has aged really well.  For me it took a few listens but soon after, I loved it, and it's one KD album I enjoy playing more regulary than others.  I simply love the consistency of the album, which I feel lacked a little in the Puppet Master. (which was still amazing)

I am a huge fan of Abigail 2 also, absolutely killer record.

The band he has on those last 3 albums is stellar!

I only got into King Diamond a couple of years ago, believe it or not. I am not really a fan of his style and I always thought that he was a joke, yet I was always aware that there was some great mteal music behind him. I happen to love GMYS..P and The Puppet Master because he does not go into his falsetto (which sucks! IMO). I am not a fan of Abigail 2 because it feels like he's cramming the story down our throats to the detriment of the music (which is great!).

[Madman Shepherd]

I think Give Me Your Soul has aged really well.  For me it took a few listens but soon after, I loved it, and it's one KD album I enjoy playing more regulary than others.  I simply love the consistency of the album, which I feel lacked a little in the Puppet Master. (which was still amazing)

I am a huge fan of Abigail 2 also, absolutely killer record.

The band he has on those last 3 albums is stellar!

I only got into King Diamond a couple of years ago, believe it or not. I am not really a fan of his style and I always thought that he was a joke, yet I was always aware that there was some great mteal music behind him. I happen to love GMYS..P and The Puppet Master because he does not go into his falsetto (which sucks! IMO). I am not a fan of Abigail 2 because it feels like he's cramming the story down our throats to the detriment of the music (which is great!).

I agree about Abigail 2.  I just could not get into that story AT ALL.,  I will say this though, Spirits is one of the best KD songs EVER.  I think Puppet Master is right up there with Abigail as far as the DEFINITIVE KD album. 

Unfortunately I could not get into GMYSP at all either. 

[wolfking]

That's the only places that GMYS.P and A2 fall down, is the stories, especially, GMYS.  That is by far King's worst story.

His best stories IMO are Abigail, Graveyard, Puppet Master and House of God.

PS:  I love this KD discussion.  Seriously one of the most talented and underrated metal bands of all time.

[Madman Shepherd]

That's the only places that GMYS.P and A2 fall down, is the stories, especially, GMYS.  That is by far King's worst story.

His best stories IMO are Abigail, Graveyard, Puppet Master and House of God.

PS:  I love this KD discussion.  Seriously one of the most talented and underrated metal bands of all time.

Totally agree with you on his best stories.  Graveyard was my introduction to King...I was blown away by how sick and twisted it was.

I don't know if it's just the stories of GMYSP and A2, but I felt it was lacking overall, even in the music department.  Maybe I just wasn't as impressed because the story didn't boost it that much.  I also thought each recording sounded a little bland. 

[wolfking]

I understand what you mean.  The production on both was a little flat.  I think in general even though I like both those albums, I don't think there were big climax's like on some of the other records.  And also, the story does add a lot to the excitment of the album.

House of God is my fav from King, and the story and climax's are a big reason for that.  This Place is Terrible is just shocking.  Even though I feel this is the greatest climax King has come up with, A2 and GMYS feel like that sort of tension in the albums is missing.  Plus some there is a lack of variety in the music on both those albums which brings the story down also.

[yeshaberto]

His last two have been my fav since early Fate era

[wolfking]

I also love how good the later MF albums are.  Dead Again, Into The Unknown, In The Shadows, Time, amazing.

[TAC]

The thing that I love about GMYS..P is that for me, it always comes back to the vocals. KD is almost exclusively in his lower register, and the vocals are stronger and more focused. Plus musically, though not as varied as some of his other albums, it simply all out rocks in a classic metal way.

[wolfking]

Yeah, it's raw, great riffs, and yeah, I also enjoy how King mainly uses his lower register.

[Madman Shepherd]

I understand what you mean.  The production on both was a little flat.  I think in general even though I like both those albums, I don't think there were big climax's like on some of the other records.  And also, the story does add a lot to the excitment of the album.

House of God is my fav from King, and the story and climax's are a big reason for that.  This Place is Terrible is just shocking.  Even though I feel this is the greatest climax King has come up with, A2 and GMYS feel like that sort of tension in the albums is missing.  Plus some there is a lack of variety in the music on both those albums which brings the story down also.

Totally agree about This Place is Terrible.  Funny thing is, when that album came out I really didn't like that song.  I felt like he abandoned the verse-chorus structure and that the lyrics were too jumbled, more like a rambling stream of consciousness.  Then one day it just hit me and now I look at it as the perfect climax to the album.  It just keeps building and building until...well, you know how it ends. 

Peace of Mind is probably the greatest outro on a KD album.

When I saw him in 2000 in Milwaukee, they played Cremation and he was set on fire in the coffin.  When they lowered the sides to expose all that was left was a charred skeleton, it was shocking.  They then played Peace of Mind over the speakers while everybody filed out of there and tried to figure out just what we all saw.  It was surreal!  Such an amazing show. 

[Aquila Chrysaetos]

Sad. Abigail 2 is epic. So is Puppet Master.. all of them actually. lol

Every King album is just amazing.  Each one has a lot to offer.

Exactly, and King's voice is so diverse that's it's always interesting.
And of course the music's killer

[Ultimetalhead]

I feel pretty inadequate compared to you guys. The only ones I've heard are Abigail, "Them", Abigail II, Puppet Master (only once though), and Give Me Your Soul. It's kind of hard for me to get excited about his other stuff when I know it won't be anywhere near as amazing as Abigail. 

[TAC]

Peace Of Mind is yet another obvious example of Michael Schenker's influence on Andy Laroque.

[wolfking]

I understand what you mean.  The production on both was a little flat.  I think in general even though I like both those albums, I don't think there were big climax's like on some of the other records.  And also, the story does add a lot to the excitment of the album.

House of God is my fav from King, and the story and climax's are a big reason for that.  This Place is Terrible is just shocking.  Even though I feel this is the greatest climax King has come up with, A2 and GMYS feel like that sort of tension in the albums is missing.  Plus some there is a lack of variety in the music on both those albums which brings the story down also.

Totally agree about This Place is Terrible.  Funny thing is, when that album came out I really didn't like that song.  I felt like he abandoned the verse-chorus structure and that the lyrics were too jumbled, more like a rambling stream of consciousness.  Then one day it just hit me and now I look at it as the perfect climax to the album.  It just keeps building and building until...well, you know how it ends. 

Peace of Mind is probably the greatest outro on a KD album.

When I saw him in 2000 in Milwaukee, they played Cremation and he was set on fire in the coffin.  When they lowered the sides to expose all that was left was a charred skeleton, it was shocking.  They then played Peace of Mind over the speakers while everybody filed out of there and tried to figure out just what we all saw.  It was surreal!  Such an amazing show.

That would have been fucking incredible to see.  I would have loved to see King live.  I didn't know he did that stage piece other than the Conspiracy tour, amazing.

I feel pretty inadequate compared to you guys. The only ones I've heard are Abigail, "Them", Abigail II, Puppet Master (only once though), and Give Me Your Soul. It's kind of hard for me to get excited about his other stuff when I know it won't be anywhere near as amazing as Abigail. 

Don't think like that, every album is different and a different journey, you would be doing yourself a favour by checking out the rest.  And Abigail isn't my fav album from him.

[LudwigVan]

I've got all the KD albums, but my top 5 are:

Abigail
Them
Conspiracy
GMYS...P
Puppet Master

[Madman Shepherd]

That would have been fucking incredible to see.  I would have loved to see King live.  I didn't know he did that stage piece other than the Conspiracy tour, amazing.

I was lucky because about half the venues he played were too small to do the coffin trick.  I also had a very surreal moment when King walked straight over to me and handed me his glass of water.  It took me what seemed like an eternity to figure out he was handing it to me...I proceeded to drink part of it and was begged to share with some of the other people up front.  I still have that glass. 

[wolfking]

Seriously, that's just fucking amazing!!! 

[Madman Shepherd]

I finally just got the remastered recordings of House of God and Voodoo.  I'm pretty shocked about how good they sound.

Sounds like they took out a lot of the low end and made it sound more thrashy...a bit more 80s sounding.  There also seems to be a little more reverb and rawness.  My only real complaint about House of God were the drums were pretty boring (and John Herbert looked bored off his ass when I saw them on that tour).  With the remaster, the drums or specifically the bass drum were really toned down and it is easier not to concentrate on how boring they are. 

I got the Graveyard and Spider's remasters some time ago and didn't think there was really a huge different except for loudness.  The latter two really benefited IMO.

[adace]

So I've been on a MF/KD marathon in the past week or so. I really don't know why I didn't listen to these bands sooner because they both rule. 

[wolfking]

I finally just got the remastered recordings of House of God and Voodoo.  I'm pretty shocked about how good they sound.

Sounds like they took out a lot of the low end and made it sound more thrashy...a bit more 80s sounding.  There also seems to be a little more reverb and rawness.  My only real complaint about House of God were the drums were pretty boring (and John Herbert looked bored off his ass when I saw them on that tour).  With the remaster, the drums or specifically the bass drum were really toned down and it is easier not to concentrate on how boring they are. 

I got the Graveyard and Spider's remasters some time ago and didn't think there was really a huge different except for loudness.  The latter two really benefited IMO.

Yeah, House of God is by far the best out of the four remasters, so much improvement.  From memory I can't recall if I liked the Voodoo remaster more, but I think I did, more heavy.  But House of God's sound now is incredible.

So I've been on a MF/KD marathon in the past week or so. I really don't know why I didn't listen to these bands sooner because they both rule. 

Amazing underrated music all round.

[ozzy554]

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/its-official-king-diamond-to-perform-entire-abigail-album-on-u-s-tour-exodus-to-support/

Finally King Diamond is going to be playing at a venue that I can easialy get to! I really hope I'm able to go to this one

[wolfking]

It would be amazing to see that whole album performed live.