The King Diamond Discography Thread - MF rolls on v. Into the Unknown

[Glasser]

In The Shadows was the perfect come back album for MF, every song is great and doesn't sound forced like the albums that followed even though Time had a few cool tunes like, Angel Of Light, The Mad Arab, Castillo Del Mortes, and The Afterlife. After that every MF album to me are just boring. They're planning a new one in 2025 so hopefully it delivers what I know they're capable of quality wise.

[wolfking]

The hooks were a lot better than I remembered.  I can slightly hear that gothic influence you speak of too Nick.

[wolfking]

The Spider's Lullabye






Remastered cover



Recorded and mixed at The Dallas Sound Lab, September-Oct 1994
Produced by King Diamond and Tim Kimsey
Assistant producer - Andy La Rocque
Mixed by King Diamond and Tim Kimsey
2009 remastered version by Andy La Rocque
Released in Europe through Massacre Records

Originally released on June the 5th 1995 under Metal Blade records.

Track list;

All lyrics by King Diamond

1. From the Other Side (Diamond)
2. Killer (La Rocque)
3. The Poltergeist (Diamond)
4. Dreams (Diamond)
5. Moonlight (Diamond)
6. Six Feet Under (La Rocque)
7. The Spider's Lullabye (Diamond)
8. Eastmann's Curse (Diamond)
9. Room 17 (Diamond)
10. To The Morgue (La Rocque)

Lineup;

King Diamond - Vocals, Harpsicord and Keyboards
Andy La Rocque - Guitar
Herb Simonsen - Guitar
Chris Estes - Bass, Keyboards on Six Feet Under
Darrin Anthony - Drums

The sixth King Diamond album comes after a four year hiatus after a breakdown with Roadrunner records and the reformation of Mercyful Fate.  After MF had completed a successful comeback album in 1993 plus a follow up in 1994 and were touring and got the name back out there, it wasn't long where King got his other project back together to work on their sixth album.  King would spend the remainder of the 90's focusing on his work and keeping both bands very active.

King had gotten back with Andy and got in the writing mode to pen The Spider's Lullabye. During this time Andy was working on getting a studio of his own up and running which ended up coming to fruition in 1995 but also in 1993 played with Death on their LP Individual Thought Patterns.  His leads, presence and experience were instantly felt from those guys and would have been an amazing guitar duo with Andy and Chuck moving forward but Andy did not stay past the studio sessions.  Although it did rub off as we hear a couple of Andy's songs on TSL tuned down to D standard (Killer, TTM) which Andy would have taken inspiration from from those sessions. 

From here a new band would have to be formed as Snowy, Pete and Hal were off doing other things.  Without a record deal it wasn't long that the hard work of getting MF back out there paid off with Metal Blade in supporting the comeback of King Diamond.  They then were recording in a brand new environment in America as opposed to back home which sparked a brand new era for the band.  In came Herb Simonsen, Chris Estes and Darrin Anthony who were all in the same band called Mindstorm from the US.

The other thing to note was that this is the first KD album since TFP where this isn't a full concept album.  The last four songs are the ones that comprise the conceptual part of the album, the rest are stand alone songs.  Song info from wiki;

"From the Other Side"
Tells about the protagonist's struggle with an out-of-body experience, forcing himself to come back to life before it is too late.

"Killer"
Describes a Richard Ramirez-type serial killer who is being put to death by electric chair.

"The Poltergeist"
Revolves around a ghost hunter who detects a spirit in their home. Fearing the invading ghost is evil, we are left unsure of the ghost's personality. The song ends with the ghost overcoming the hunter, who allows the ghost to "stay forever".

"Dreams"
Is about a man suffering a series of terrifying nightmares and encountering she-demons in the form of little girls who take him to what appeared to be a paradise that existed on the opposite side of waterfalls in which they were swimming in. The sleepers finds out the little girls were not what they appeared to be and screams to escape the nightmare.

"Moonlight"
Tells about a group of cursed children, similar to the 1960 movie Village of the Damned.

"Six Feet Under"
The song tells the story of a person being buried alive in a glass coffin by their family; the story is similar to the ending of Conspiracy.

"The Spider's Lullabye"
Focuses on a reclusive man named Harry who is terrified of spiders and, out of desperation, finds a doctor who can cure his arachnophobia.

"Eastmann's Cure"
Is the continuing plot of Harry answering an ad in the local newspaper about a psychiatric hospital that specializes in curing phobias of all kinds. The second character in the song Dr. Eastmann introduces himself to Harry as a kind, friendly physician who hides his true intentions.

"Room 17"
In "Room 17", a confident Harry awaits Dr. Eastmann and his assistant Nurse Needle Dear to begin his treatment and cure. The so-called "treatment" was nothing more than a torture session when Nurse Needle unleashes a wolf spider from the "Crawly Box". The next day, Harry complains of having a weird feeling on his neck, spider bites and intense pain. Dr. Eastmann dismisses Harry's comments and thinks nothing more of it. The same night, when Harry is discovered by staff, they find him long dead and covered from head to toe in a spider web-like cocoon giving evidence that a series of spiders have wrapped him up like a fly, saving his dead body for consumption. Dr. Eastmann comes to the realization that Harry had clearly died of fright (possibly from the result of a heart attack), when Harry (who is now reduced to bones and skin) is taken.

"To the Morgue"
Along with other patients who have died for reasons unknown, spiders begin making their home in his empty eye sockets. 

The band didn't tour this album unfortunately and the songs on this album haven't seen a lot of live performances.  I believe the Title track became a staple on the upcoming tour for the Graveyard and From the Other Side was played once or twice early on when the band started back playing live in 1996.

IMO, this is another album that started off as an okay listen when I was slowly purchasing all the albums one by one by as time goes on, this I think is a top 5 KD album, it's pretty damn underrated.  For me, the first six stand alone songs is such a killer batch of songs.  I actually wish he did more stand alone songs because while the 4 song concept is very cool at the end, the first first half run is up there with his best batch of songs.  It's a really great album. 

I like Herb's guitar playing too, he was excellent for the band at this time.  The differences are easily noticeable from Andy but he has some really clever creative guitar lines and solos on this album.  Very tasty.

[TAC]

When I did my original King Diamond deep dive a little over 15 years ago, The Spider's Lullabye was a standout, and after The Puppet Master and GMYS...P, it's my most listened to KD album. I know the music isn't nearly as groundbreaking as Abigail and Them for its time, but there's something about it that's really easy on the ears. Vocal-wise, I can deal with this, and that's really the deal breaker.

I just think it's a solid metal album. Doesn't require me to think to much about it, and there's no one shrieking "GRANDMA!!".

And while I would still rate Darrin Anthony behind Matt Thompson, and Mikkey Dee, I absolutely love his drumming, especially on the next two albums.

[wolfking]

When I did my original King Diamond deep dive a little over 15 years ago, The Spider's Lullabye was a standout, and after The Puppet Master and GMYS...P, it's my most listened to KD album. I know the music isn't nearly as groundbreaking as Abigail and Them for its time, but there's something about it that's really easy on the ears. Vocal-wise, I can deal with this, and that's really the deal breaker.

I just think it's a solid metal album. Doesn't require me to think to much about it, and there's no one shrieking "GRANDMA!!".

And while I would still rate Darrin Anthony behind Matt Thompson, and Mikkey Dee, I absolutely love his drumming, especially on the next two albums.

Pretty much mate.  I think it makes my top 5 as over time it too just has become one of my most listened to KD albums.  As time goes on I just find myself reaching for this one more and more.  I think not requiring to think too much goes back to potentially those first six songs just being six cool ass metal songs with no connections in relation to a concept.

Nice shoutout on Anthony for the drumming, definitely a talented drummer.  he only plays on this one and The Graveyard though, not Voodoo mate.

[TAC]

Nice shoutout on Anthony for the drumming, definitely a talented drummer.  he only plays on this one and The Graveyard though, not Voodoo mate.

Oh,OK. Isn't it pretty much the same band though? I'd have to check.

[wolfking]

Oh,OK. Isn't it pretty much the same band though? I'd have to check.

Yeah mate, it is, except John Hebert comes in on drums for Voodoo.

[TAC]

Love the drums on Meet Me At Midnight, but I guess we'll get to that!

[wolfking]

Love the drums on Meet Me At Midnight, but I guess we'll get to that!

You read my mind, great song, but yeah, we'll get to it.

[wolfking]

Favs from this album for me are probably From the Other Side, Dreams, Moonlight and To The Morgue.  Moonlight is a song that I didn't think much of early but again as time went on, it's became a highlight.  That ending is epic.

Dreams gets me every time with that amazing intro from Andy.  Not to mention we hear another reprise of the Arrival/Tea riff.  Love the more modern, heavy approach on To the Morgue.

[TAC]

Yeah, I've always found To the Morgue...I don't know..creepy. The cadence of...TO THE MORGUE is cool as hell. It's always stuck with me.

I love Room 17. That's an epic track. But yes, Dreams is awesome.

[wolfking]

Yeah, I've always found To the Morgue...I don't know..creepy. The cadence of...TO THE MORGUE is cool as hell. It's always stuck with me.

I love Room 17. That's an epic track. But yes, Dreams is awesome.

Room 17 I've never really been fully sold on.  I have no issue with it and enjoy it every time but I dunno, never stuck out as much as some of the others.

To The Morgue is definitely very atmospheric and creepy, love it.

[Grappler]

Spider's Lullabye is not really my thing, and only recently I've been listening to the album because of the love it gets here. 

From the Other Side is awesome, and I really love the big, heavy riffing and the "TO THE MORGUE" chorus in To The Morgue.  I need to spend more time with the album, but that's tough because I love going back to my favorites.

[wolfking]

I really love that riff on To The Morgue.  It's funny, even though there's a couple of songs of Andy's in D tuning To the Morgue is the only one that sounds detuned.  That riff is a classic Iron Maiden style riff but played in such an epic and heavy way, so simple, so good.

[wolfking]

Just on a side note, working on some of these writeups I never really thought about how active King actually was during this upcoming period with both bands.  He was an absolute machine for the remainder of the 90's.  I never took much notice until looking at the recording and tour schedules for the writeups, he was an insane workaholic! 

[ozzy554]

I like this album more than I remembered. As I've said before KD is one of those artists that I on some level like every album from them. Every time I give them a listen my ranking changes. This one has moved up a couple notches. Now I appreciate the Remaster by Andy which makes it much more listenable but man I hate the production on this one. I believe I've seen that King feels the same way. The album just sounds like the demo awaiting the final polish to me.....kinda like Lizzy Borden's My Midnight Things.

The songs themselves though have some real hidden gems in there. From The Other Side I think is top tier King and I hope he adds it to the setlist sometime. Killer, Poltergeist, and Dreams are lots of fun too. The song that really took me by surprise though was Moonlight. I absolutely loved it this time around. Funny thing is as much as I like Room 17 I feel like the Spiders Lullaby portion is the weaker half of the album.


I know King loves to be a storyteller he wouldn't make albums the way he does if he didn't but someday I'd love to hear another album like this that's sorta anthology styled with each song being their own self contained story.

Also come to think of it, maybe that too adds to the feeling some people have that he clearly favored his solo band over MF. Concept albums by their very nature require more effort than a regular album. Especially since each album has little musical touches to match the story compared to the much more straight forward MF albums from here on out.

[twosuitsluke]

Right, I've cleared a load of my backlog of albums to listen to, so today I'm going to burn through (and rank) the Mercyful Fate discography 

Then I'll get to The Spider's Lullabye (which I really like, for the record).

[PowerSlave]

Not much to say about the album other than it seems like a little bit more simplified version of their earlier work. Stripped down on the details might be a good description. I didn't love or hate anything that I heard, but I thought the album was better than my original perception many years ago when I owned it.

Eastmann's curse felt the best on my listens preparing for this post.

[twosuitsluke]

Here are some Mercyful Fate musings as I am working my through the catalogue.

I started with The Beginning first today. I know technically it came out in 1987 but I don't have the debut EP on my ipod, and The Beginning has all the songs on it, so let's begin there.

What a great start to their catalogue. I love A Corpse Without Soul, it's such a great tune. The live sessions are pretty cool as well. I assume they are from a John Peel session, as he was always ahead of the curve with the metal scene.

Melissa is quite easily my favourite MF album. It's almost certainly because of how much I love Metallica's Mercyful Fate Medley. The riffs are just so damn strong. That Medley features parts from most of the songs on this record (I think). I think the title track is easily the weakest song. I never really noticed that the intro to Into the Coven sounds like a Focus instrumental, although I can't remember which song. I'd imagine that most European bands of that era would be influenced by Focus, so it's hardly surprising.

One other thing, that's not Mercyful Fate related, but still relevant to this thread. I recently saw this article on Mikael Åkerfeldt's Top 10 Heavy Metal Records...

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/opeths-mikael-akerfeldt-my-10-favorite-metal-albums-198740/entombed-left-hand-path-1990-2-199168/

I was surprised to see Them in there, at #6. I expected it to be full of obscure prog records only 8 people have heard.

Anyway, on to Don't Break the Oath

[Glasser]

Not much to say about the album other than it seems like a little bit more simplified version of their earlier work. Stripped down on the details might be a good description. I didn't love or hate anything that I heard, but I thought the album was better than my original perception many years ago when I owned it.

Eastmann's curse felt the best on my listens preparing for this post.

This is exactly how I feel, every word of it. I'm spinning it this week to see if anything has changed since.

[Herrick]

Agreed with Glasser & PowerSlave about Spider's Lullabye.

Edit: Except for Eastmann's Curse being the best because I don't really remember what any of the songs are like LoL

[wolfking]

I like this album more than I remembered. As I've said before KD is one of those artists that I on some level like every album from them. Every time I give them a listen my ranking changes. This one has moved up a couple notches. Now I appreciate the Remaster by Andy which makes it much more listenable but man I hate the production on this one. I believe I've seen that King feels the same way. The album just sounds like the demo awaiting the final polish to me.....kinda like Lizzy Borden's My Midnight Things.

The songs themselves though have some real hidden gems in there. From The Other Side I think is top tier King and I hope he adds it to the setlist sometime. Killer, Poltergeist, and Dreams are lots of fun too. The song that really took me by surprise though was Moonlight. I absolutely loved it this time around. Funny thing is as much as I like Room 17 I feel like the Spiders Lullaby portion is the weaker half of the album.


I know King loves to be a storyteller he wouldn't make albums the way he does if he didn't but someday I'd love to hear another album like this that's sorta anthology styled with each song being their own self contained story.

Also come to think of it, maybe that too adds to the feeling some people have that he clearly favored his solo band over MF. Concept albums by their very nature require more effort than a regular album. Especially since each album has little musical touches to match the story compared to the much more straight forward MF albums from here on out.

You're right about the production, even Andy wasn't 100% with this one.  He mentions it here in this interview;

https://youtu.be/5azsjpZsJ3E?si=GCNfKvljNt4K1Jsm&t=765

Agree with most of what you say here though mate.  The production on the original is pretty bad so I think my new found appreciation for it came with those Andy remasters.  Also as I kind of alluded too, agree on the concept part being the weaker part of the album.

[wolfking]

Here are some Mercyful Fate musings as I am working my through the catalogue.

I started with The Beginning first today. I know technically it came out in 1987 but I don't have the debut EP on my ipod, and The Beginning has all the songs on it, so let's begin there.

What a great start to their catalogue. I love A Corpse Without Soul, it's such a great tune. The live sessions are pretty cool as well. I assume they are from a John Peel session, as he was always ahead of the curve with the metal scene.

Melissa is quite easily my favourite MF album. It's almost certainly because of how much I love Metallica's Mercyful Fate Medley. The riffs are just so damn strong. That Medley features parts from most of the songs on this record (I think). I think the title track is easily the weakest song. I never really noticed that the intro to Into the Coven sounds like a Focus instrumental, although I can't remember which song. I'd imagine that most European bands of that era would be influenced by Focus, so it's hardly surprising.

One other thing, that's not Mercyful Fate related, but still relevant to this thread. I recently saw this article on Mikael Åkerfeldt's Top 10 Heavy Metal Records...

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/opeths-mikael-akerfeldt-my-10-favorite-metal-albums-198740/entombed-left-hand-path-1990-2-199168/

I was surprised to see Them in there, at #6. I expected it to be full of obscure prog records only 8 people have heard.

Anyway, on to Don't Break the Oath

Here's a cool video on Mikael talking about KD;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K-I757K0kU

Those live songs were from BBC rock show in 83.  if I had to pick a weakest song from Melissa, it would probably be Demon Bell.  it's great, just not as memorable as the rest.

[wolfking]

Not much to say about the album other than it seems like a little bit more simplified version of their earlier work. Stripped down on the details might be a good description. I didn't love or hate anything that I heard, but I thought the album was better than my original perception many years ago when I owned it.

Eastmann's curse felt the best on my listens preparing for this post.

Great song.  I love the reprise of the riff on the harpsicord on the start of Room 17.

[wolfking]

Let's quickly hit ITU before getting to the Graveyard next week.

Into the Unknown





Released on the 20th of August 1996 through Metal Blade records

Produced by King Diamond and Tim Kimsey
Executive Producer: Brian Slagel
Mixed by King Diamond, Tim Kimsey and Hank Shermann
Recorded and mixed at the Dallas Sound Lab from Jan-Feb 1996

Track list;

All lyrics written by King Diamond

1. Lucifer (Diamond)
2. The Uninvited Guest (Diamond)
3. Ghost of Change (Diamond)
4. Listen to the Bell (Shermann)
5. Fifteen Men (and a Bottle of Rum) (Denner)
6. Into the Unknown (Shermann)
7. Under the Spel (Diamond)
8. Deadtime (Denner)
9. Holy Water (Diamond)
10. Kutulu (The Mad Arab part 2) (Shermann)

Lineup;

King Diamond - Vocals
Hank Shermann - Guitars
Michael Denner - Guitars
Sharlee D'Angelo - Bass
Bjarne T. Holm - Drums

The fifth MF album sees another expansion on the later sound of MF that we got on the last two records.  Busy again, King recording this one at the start of 1996 while immediately recording vocals for King Diamond's next album The Graveyard in the couple of months following. 

This album we see Snowy Shaw departing and Bjarne T. Holm take over the drumming.  This is also the last album we see Michael Denner on.  He also contributes music to two tracks here before his departure.  The band would hit the road from late August through to March with a good chunk of the tour co headlined with King Diamond.

We hear the production on this one get a bit of a boost with the guitars a little more chunkier and the overall sound a bit more 'metal' than the tones we heard on the last two albums.  Everything sounds great and Denner and Shermann's solo are once again a force to be reckoned with.  The album would also spawn a promo video for The Uninvited Guest.

The Uninvited Guest video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKHL6VhtdO8
Pro shot video of Monsters of Rock of both MF and KD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhJ2bgViAwY
Short interview with King: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR-V8Kzl67E (Check what he says from 3:25, made me lol)

Not a great deal to say about this one, it fits right in with what the band were doing and continues things in a similar vein.  It has some cool riffing listening back and I do really enjoy the production on this one.  The Uninvited Guest is a highlight along with Ghost of Change.  I also find Under the Spell a really underrated tune.  Also, Denner must have been listening to a lot of Megadeth when he wrote Deadtime.  Holy Water is nice and has a great groove too.

[TAC]

Cool, gonna hit this tomorrow!

[TAC]

What I like about Into The Unknown is the style of music it is at the time it was released. This is classic AF heavy metal released in the dead mid 90's.

Also, I generally find MF's music more "straight forward" for lack of a better description compared to KD's solo material. And I guess I do here as well, but to me the songs/lyrics/delivery feel like a KD solo album, if that makes any sense.

My top song on this is The Ghost Of Change. Nice and fucking groovy as shit! 

[wolfking]

What I like about Into The Unknown is the style of music it is at the time it was released. This is classic AF heavy metal released in the dead mid 90's.

Also, I generally find MF's music more "straight forward" for lack of a better description compared to KD's solo material. And I guess I do here as well, but to me the songs/lyrics/delivery feel like a KD solo album, if that makes any sense.

My top song on this is The Ghost Of Change. Nice and fucking groovy as shit! 

Funny you mention that as my listen through when doing the writeup, I thought the exact same thing at times.  While it's still a MF album there were a few times that it reminded me of KD more than anything else I had listened to on a MF album.  King's vocals especially.  I think it's some of the transitions between sections like the mid range of his voice to the high end really felt like the KD band.

[ozzy554]

I listened to Into the Unknown somewhat recently and I think it's....fine. Like I don't think there's anything awful on it or anything but there's not many stand out tracks compared to the previous 2 reunion albums. Well at least to me.

[wolfking]

I listened to Into the Unknown somewhat recently and I think it's....fine. Like I don't think there's anything awful on it or anything but there's not many stand out tracks compared to the previous 2 reunion albums. Well at least to me.

I think across the board the later era MF were overall very consistent but I always felt the standout tracks aren't as 'standout' as the term would normally suggest, if that makes sense.

I like Tim's comment about a classic heavy metal record coming out in 96.  It makes no apologies.

[Glasser]

Just revisited Into The Unknown and I enjoyed it a lot actually. Heavier than I remember and King uses his falsetto tastefully for those that have issue with it. The title track, 15 men and a bottle of rum, Holy Water (the riff at the 2 minute mark is sweet),and The uninvited guest are my faves but overall a solid album. Still not classic MF as the first 3 but a fun listen.

[wolfking]

Just revisited Into The Unknown and I enjoyed it a lot actually. Heavier than I remember and King uses his falsetto tastefully for those that have issue with it. The title track, 15 men and a bottle of rum, Holy Water (the riff at the 2 minute mark is sweet),and The uninvited guest are my faves but overall a solid album. Still not classic MF as the first 3 but a fun listen.

Agree Tom.

[TAC]

for those that have issue with it.

I don't know what you're talking about.

[wolfking]

I don't know what you're talking about.

That wasn't aimed at you at all...........

[twosuitsluke]

Just a quick Mercyful Fate observation. Ghost totally ripped off the intro to Witches' Dance on their song Absolution.

I'll spin Into the Unknown in a bit, as I'm currently working on a Halloween playlist, so I'll finish that first.