King Diamond - Abigail (1987) Reviews

I really hate King Diamond's vocal style.  I mean detest it.  It is the finest example of an artist being all image and no substance that I can think to reference.  Most of my peers fawn over his falsetto, wailing style and laughable attempts to inject theatre into virtually every sentence in every song on every album, blah, blah, blah, but I simply can't stand him.

Seeing Abigail and In The Shadows come up on this clan challenge genuinely made me think about not bothering to complete it but I decided to be a grown up and take one (or two as it happens) for the team and sit through his sophomore (again).  Just in case you are reading this with some hope that something has snapped into place and I am now sat here kicking myself for being a clot for all these years then save yourself some internet time and go and read something more positive than this.  Maybe the obituary page in the local newspaper?

Joking aside I just cannot see the attraction of this album.  Having already decided that Mercyful Fate weren't for me many moons ago, I can see no positive outcome for this album that sounds EXACTLY THE SAME AS ANY MERCYFUL FATE RECORD BECAUSE IT IS JUST KING DIAMOND WAILING LIKE A TRAPPED ANIMAL!!

And breathe.

I accept that not everything on the record is bad, really I do.  Behind the unnecessary constant theatre and incessant drama in virtually every lyric there is a heavy metal album with some half-decent riffs, thumping drums and actually some good ideas on the song writing front  but why oh why does he have to sing like that and just ruin it?  It is not like most of Denner and La Rocque's guitar work is that exceptional either.  In fact I would go as far as to say that on Arrival the guitars are actually out of tune or recorded after one too many beers.

Now, I hear the hardened KD fans shouting at their PC monitors, laptop screens, tablets or phones and telling me that this is a concept album and therefore these amounts of grandiosity are necessary.  They aren't.  I don't know what kind of a character KD is but I would guess that nobody has ever thought to tell him that he's really not up to the mark.  Rob Halford can do this much better, not because he has greater range but simply because he has better control over his voice and knows when to turn the shrieking down.  Bruce Dickinson can also do this much better because he can measure his vocals and offer variety and match mood and pace so well.  With KD we have two levels, wailing uncontrollably or grim spoken word vocals that have more comedy value than metal credentials.

Not even the might Mikkey Dee can hold my interest and his performance here (as it is everywhere he graces the stool with his presence) is superb.  His sense of pace and timing is perfect and his performance is worthy of one whole star on this oh so lowly rated record.

Safe to say I don't like this.

King Diamond – the band named after the man – are a group which will always be synonymous with the leader’s very unique vocal style of high pitched falsetto singing. This will either be a factor of great enjoyment, or something one will have to learn to tolerate. I unfortunately am in the later category; King Diamond’s vocal style is not something I enjoy, but he definitely brings intense talent to the band in terms of songwriting, and his deeper vocals are actually quite good.

That there is the only “weakness” with this album, which most consider the band’s magnum opus. I will not spend too much time applauding the musicianship, despite it all being fantastic. Every instrument is audible, technical, and serve the songs individually and as a group; the sound is classic Mercyful Fate/King Diamond stuff, with a bit more melody, emotion, and progressive elements. That alone would be enough to solidify its place in the best of metal, but there’s much more to this album.

One of if not the first full metal concept albums that follows a concise story, Abigail is not only an instrumental masterpiece, but a literary one as well. The story is engaging and fits the music perfectly. As always King Diamond delve into the occult, with a ghost story of possession. However, what makes this story so effective is not only does it merge with the evil riffing of the band, but there is also a deep sense of tragedy to it, loss and vengeance as well, and these emotions are all captured musically and literately as well. For this reason, I applaud King Diamond as a fantastic band leader despite his vocals not agreeing with me, as he crafted one of the greatest concept albums of all time.