KING DIAMOND — Abigail (review)

KING DIAMOND — Abigail album cover Album · 1987 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
SilentScream213
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.
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