King Diamond, the man, started his musical career with a Danish cover band known as Brainstorm. From there, the King joined a local band called Black Rose. I believe this is where his singing career got its start. In 1980 King Diamond left Black Rose to join a punk metal band called Brats. From here, King's first major band, Mercyful Fate, would eventually be formed.
After the breakup of Mercyful Fate in 1985, King Diamond and two other Fate members, Michael Denner and Timi Hanson, decided to continue on with the band known as King Diamond. The original lineup had the King at vocals, Michael Denner and Floyd Konstantin on guitar, Timi Hanson on bass, and Mikkey Dee on the drums. However, Floyd was soon lifted for EF Band's guitarist Andy La Rocque, who is still with the band today. Together they sat down and recorded the classic single No Presents for Christmas.
In April, 1996 King Diamond released their first full length LP. It was known as Fatal Portrait and let me tell you that the album kicks ass. Some of the songs on this album are actually left over material that was supposed to go on the next Mercyful Fate LP. The album also featured King Diamond's first successful attempt at linking songs. This was done through the trilogy of "The Candle", "The Jonah", and "The Portrait". The story is also linked through the songs "Dressed in White" and "Haunted". At least this is what I've heard from other sources and by looking at the lyrics it seems true.
I'm not sure if any of the other songs are linked to this story as well, but I do know that the whole album is not linked. The remastered version of this album contains two bonus tracks, "No Presents for Christmas" and "The Lake". I have just recently (2 or 3 years ago) gotten into the King's music so I have the remastered versions of the first 5 albums.
In 1987 King Diamond released one of the best metal albums of all time. This album is known as Abigail. It was the King's first of many full concept albums. The story is haunting and the musical content really enforces it. From the eerie opener "Funeral" to the closing "Black Horsemen" you will find yourself wisked away into a horror nightmare. The King tells us the story of Abigail who possesses a woman so that she can be reborn. Of course the story goes much more in depth than that so check it out for yourself. The remastered version contains a bonus song, "Shrine", as well as three rough mixes to other songs. This is a must have for any King Diamond fan.
The band experienced some more member changes after Abigail. Michael Denner left the band before the Abigail tour and was replaced by Mike Moon. At this time the material was recorded for the Live in Concert CD that was later released in 1991. Unfortunately for him, Mike Moon was booted in favor of Pete Blakk. Timi Hansen also left the band and was replaced by Hal Patino. Together this lineup would create the next album in the King Diamond collection.
"Them" was the next King Diamond offering. This album was released in June 1988 and was in fact the biggest seller for the King. I'm not really sure why this is because I find this album to be in the middle of the pack in terms of enjoyment. It is still a great metal album nonetheless. I think it was the most successful because metal was at its peak around this time and I believe more and more Mercyful Fate fans were liking what the King was doing on his own. "Them" is actually the first half of a story. At the time, however, King had no idea that this was the case.
It was on the "Them" tour that King Diamond realized that the story was incomplete. This fact prompted the creation of Conspiracy. Unfortunately, at the same time the band lost Mikkey Dee who I feel is one of the best metal drummers that graced the scene. He did, however, get hired on to record drums for the new album. I guess his replacement, Chris Whitemier, wasn't good enough for recording an LP. Conspiracy was released in August 1989 and I think it may be the best King Diamond album to date.
Drummer Snowy Shaw joined the band after Conspiracy was released. Together, the new lineup recorded the album The Eye. For some reason Snowy did not drum on this album and a drum machine was used in his place. However, he did do some composing on the album. The Eye was released in October 1990 and is actually a strange twist for KD. This story is actually 90% true. The idea of a necklace (hmmm did the Titanic movie steal this idea from King?) was used to tie the strange events together. The King actually feels that this is his most evil work.
The next little while was a bit of a downfall for King Diamond. Pete Blakk and Hal Patino were fired for various reasons such as drug problems. Mike Wead was hired to play guitar and Sharlee D'Angelo was brought on to play bass. Just when the King Diamond band was set to record their new record, they began to have trouble with their record label, Roadrunner. So, the band went several years between albums. During this time they released the In Concert 1987 - Abigail LP and A Dangerous Meeting which is a compilation of the best King Diamond and Mercyful Fate songs. I wonder if this was a setup for the return of Mercyful Fate.
Before they knew it, the King and Andy were the only ones left in the band. It was recruiting time and the King brought on guitarist Herb Simonsen, bassist Chris Estes, and drummer Darrin Anthony. Together they recorded the material for Spider's Lullabye, which was actually written in 1990-1991. As far as I can tell this is the only other non-full concept album besides Fatal Portrait. I may be wrong but it seems like only the last few songs are part of the same story. The Spider's Lullabye was released in 1995 under the Metal Blade label.
In 1996 the band released another full concept album known as The Graveyard. This is perhaps the most sickening tale that the King has created so far. It tells us a story of a lunatic and a mayor who molests his own daughter. The story takes us through bizarre twists of evil and inhumanity. A frightening tale that is worth every penny spent on purchasing the album.
This leads us to the most current King Diamond offering, Voodoo. Drummer Darrin Anthony was replaced by John Hebert due to a car crash. This album is a nice piece of work and is the only story where no one dies. They do get the shit scared out of them though. The King says that this could be another story that is continued. Voodoo was released February 1998. The band toured for this album earlier this year in which Canadian Glen Drover filled in for Herb Simonsen for personal reasons.
