I am alive inside your wife…
I’m a little tired this morning. Met up with Amelia and Tracey at the Mean Eyed Cat yesterday evening after making some ghetto tacos at home. They weren’t that good. I was let down. My tacos are usually good…you know, for gheto tacos. Not quite sure what happened. Anyway, after 2 free beers from Amelia (she rules) I was over it. The music was driving me nuts and I really never heard a damned thing either of them said to me. I think my hearing is getting worse. I went to my favorite watering hole and had a margarita and a few shots with the fine staff there. Always a good time.
So in 1987, I bought a copy of Aardschok America magazine that had King Diamond on the cover. I didn’t really know much about him except that he was in Mercyful Fate and that the album cover for Don’t Break The Oath creeped me out. It still does actually. So I’m reading this interview with King and he’s talking about the concept of his latest album entitled Abigail. It seemed pretty nifty so I decided to buy it. I think I got it at either The Music Man or Tracks. Not sure.
For whatever reason I didn’t get around to listening to it for a few days. So that same week, I heard on the radio that tickets for Anthrax/Testament were on sale so I decided to head out to Tracks @ Ward’s Corner (RIP) to get my ticket. On the way there which was about a 25 mile trek or more, I put Abigail in. At the same time, the skies grew dark and a really bad thunderstorm came up. If you’ve heard the intro to Abigail, you’ll recall the speaking part at the beginning. Crazy stuff. With the heavy rain, thunder and lightning, I got a little wigged out and had to stop the tape and put something else in (TT Quick’s Metal of Honor I think).
The next day I put the tape in and listened intently. I was completely blown away by the guitar work and Mikkey Dee’s drumming but King’s vocals took several listen to get in to. Now I simply love what he did with Fate and the early King Diamond stuff. Very unique and borderline brilliant all around.
The last 30 seconds of the album are so absolutely phenomenal that even writing this I get goosebumps. Sheer perfection for an ending.
I understand a lot of people not liking King’s vocal style, but the music on this album far outweighs the singing and should be taken on its own merits.
The Metal Files 
The reason why your white man tacos were sub-par is a result from the lack of BACON.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0DbcUUO-hI
Funkarelli
August 23, 2008 at 4:33 am
This was the first King Diamond album I heard as well. It was like thestart of the school year in 1987and I asked this to record Pretty Maid’s Future World. He kept saying how good King Diamond’s Abigail was so I asked to him to record that as well. I barely remember the Pretty Maids album, but after hearing Abigail I became hooked on King Diamond and then quickly tracked down the Mercyful Fate albums as well.
Metal Mark
August 23, 2008 at 12:46 pm
[…] We’re the first people in the lot along with the staff cars and Dokken’s bus. Some dude came to the door of the bus and said they were coming from the hotel in a few minutes and to wait. So we waited only a short amount of time and a minivan with Don, Mikkey Dee, John Norum and Billy White in it. Mikkey gets out of the van and asks, “Are you Sean?” I acknowledged and we were instantly escorted onto the bus. So Don hands me a band photo which was already signed by Baltes (who was inside the Boathouse already). So Don and the rest of the band sign it along with some other stuff like cassette covers and such (I hadn’t gotten into CDs yet). He stood with us for a few minutes then hightailed it to the back of the bus to take care of stuff. At this point I am freaking out because one of my all time favorite drummers and musical influences and standing next to me. I don’t get start struck easily as I’ve met a lot of musicians over the years but this one was different. This was Mikkey Dee…the guy who played drums on King Diamond’s Abigail. […]
Dokken – Up From The Ashes « The Metal Files
August 9, 2009 at 9:04 pm