King Diamond

Hans senaste turné var väl för Give Me Your Soul...Please-plattan. Han var med Metallica på scen 08 tror jag. Det var väl senast han var framför en publik senast har jag för mig.
Jävla Sabaton...

Jag tror fan det var 2006 han var i Sverige senast, då såg jag dem i Stockholm och om jag hade vetat att de spelade här efter det skulle jag LÄTT ha sett dem igen.

Öhh, en månad gammalt, men i alla fall:

KING DIAMOND's wife Livia has recently published a note about KING's health after his triple-bypass surgery:

"...King has just finished his Cardiac Rehabilitation program Friday, March 11th, and graduated with flying colors. Thanks to the wonderful people at the rehab center, his exercise regimen helpe him gain a lot of muscle, and start on the road of building up good endurance. We will start regular exercises now to get the endurance up to nice levels. The examinations by his heart surgeon and cardiologist revealed that his health is steadily improving, and they all expect him to feel better than ever, 15 years younger than he really is...".

She also said, that she's "...immensely proud of what he has achieved in these short 3 months" and that "he is looking forward to finishing the DVDs eventually, and he is most certainly not stopping music", even though she can't "say anything certain about when he will be back working on King Diamond related things".

Livia also wanted the fans to know the following: He would also like to extend his huge gratitude to all of you, for your absolutely amazing support. It has really meant a lot to him.

det har jag läst någonstans

pissmannen skrev:Jag tror fan det var 2006 han var i Sverige senast, då såg jag dem i Stockholm och om jag hade vetat att de spelade här efter det skulle jag LÄTT ha sett dem igen.

De spelade ju i Göteborg också '06 och Mikkey Dee dök upp och lirade också.
Såg du detta också?

Nej tyvärr, såg bara i Stockholm, hörde det efter sen att Mikkey hade lirat trummor under låten Halloween i Göteborg, hade varit ballt att se!

Jag såg de, hade för mig att de var 07 dock, men mycket möjligt att de var året innan.

06!

Härligt, jag borde synas där famme vid staketet till höger, men bilkvaliten är inte tillräckligt hög.

Kunde inte låta bli!

Inte roligt...

Det är så hemskt så jag gråter av skratt.

Jävlar vilken skillnad sminket gör! Inte alls samma effekt.

Kör han inte smink längre?
Kan inte kolla på videor med mobilen så jag förstår inte.

Han kör inte smink på det överaskningsgiget.

Jaha.
Han måste fan ha smink sen på SRF.
Då blir det coolt.

Bläddrat runt lite på KD/MF-forumet och hittade detta typ 6 år gamla inlägg.
Denna person är helt rätt på det dessutom. Bortsett från den till och från irrelevanta "Problem Part 3" och förslag av producenter så är det inte mycket som jag inte håller med om av vad denna person skrev.



"All right... On my computer that myspace version sounds just as flat, thin and muddy as the original mp3, but you all insist that the actual version will have stellar production, so I will take your word for it. We shall see, right?

This is an interesting topic that we have all covered a million times before in various threads, but in the spirit of much wanted honesty and constructive criticism I'll play anyway...

In my opinion King Diamond was at THEIR very best back when they were a BAND. I say "their" because it wasn't so much a King Diamond solo effort in those days. The band wrote, rehearsed, arranged and perfected the songs together through laborous sessions and created these masterpieces of music that had a sense of flow throughout; both musically AND lyrically. Like I said in another post; you could even take King Diamond's vocals out of all those songs and you would still be left with a beautifully progressive musical dreamscape to bang your head in awe to. That's how much the BAND influenced what went on back then. Somehow King's genius was challenged and encouraged more by surrounding himself with equally demanding musicians who all strived to be the best they could be.

Nowadays you could take King's vocals off the tracks and you would be left with the same formulaic song, over and over: a mid-tempo chugging riff, with the occasional accent over a pretty boring straight forward rhythm with few changes. The songs themselves don't have that oomph anymore. There have been occasional diamonds, glimmering just as bright as some of the classics. I am thinking of killer songs like "LOA House", "Spirits" and "The Other Side" - but they are few and far in between. The reason for the quality of the music to spiral downhill is, of course, due to the fact that there is no major input from anybody else these days. There is no BAND called King Diamond anymore, just the MAN King Diamond and a bunch of trusted old hired guns who get called in for the recordings. There is no demon producer to wring the uniqueness out of King, tweaking his vocals to the high heavens and making his lines soar, but rather just King pointing out to Andy what knobs to turn. Where is the challenge? Where is the feedback we all need to better ourselves and rethink something that just doesn't work anymore? Why didn't anybody say to King: "Hey, King... You know, Never Ending Hill sounds an awful lot like a mix of that tired old Painkiller riff and that boring song The Storm. How about we speed it up a little and add a haunting keyboard in the background just to spice it up a little?" No input. On Abigail the song writing credits were mostly in King's favor, just as now, but there is a sense of belonging to all the songs on there that can only be accredited to the group's input as a whole. Sure, it's King's band - he can write whatever the hell he wants, more power to him - but it is also a waste of his absolute remarkable talent to release sub-par albums like "Abigail II", "The Graveyard", "Puppet Master" and this new song "Never Ending Hill". I think every single one of those albums would have benefited tremendously from a tough and visionary producer like Fredrik Nordstrom or Andy Sneap.

Because that is where Part 2 of the problem lies these days: The sound quality.

King has released some of the most well produced albums in metal history, and considering how time has marched on and how even better tools are available to each and every band - big or small - these days, it's a mystery how King's sound has deteriorated to a flatter and drier sound, more suitable for the retro stylings of Mercyful Fate than for the complex grandeur of King Diamond. There is no thunderous bass, or guitars sharp as demon knives, or high pitched vocals that cut through the night like laser bullets. There are no pounding drums that pummel you into submission with the sheer force of each drum being hit. If you can get that out of little shitty bands that pop out of tiny little labels all over the world - with no financial backing - then why the hell can't we get that out of King? If freakin' Tad Morose and Nocturnal Rites can sound good, then why can't King? Andy produced Evergrey, in his own freakin' studio, and got a better King Diamond sound out of them than he can get out of King Diamond. What gives? I don't want to hear about money and budgets, because any of us could get a killer sound out of a digital home studio these days with no money at all. "Never Ending Hill" sounds like it was recorded in a killer studio and then played over a crappy phone connection across the Atlantic. Again, King would sound so much better in the proper audio setting. The music deserves a better frame. (And, yes, I know that "Them" had a flat drum sound, but that was a musical experiment that actually enhanced the mood of the album.)

Problem Part 3: Why do we only get an album every fourth year or so, and STILL no MF album? If things are so poor in the KD household that his time cannot be wasted on reviving the mighty Mercyful Fate (who only got better and better), then why not make more KD albums? Two or three a decade, can't possibly cut it money-wise. If other talented and creative bands like Arch Enemy and Opeth can cram out album after album, while still touring and being involved in multiple side projects - then why can't King? We know he's a musical genius and that Force of Evil is going nowhere, so why not put all this dead waiting-time to good use and go full monty with both bands? I know he has always said that King Diamond's albums put the bread on the table, but by also focusing on MF during all those years NOTHING is going on with KD he can put some butter on there as well. Two bands make more money than one. Just sayin'...

On the other hand, I actually think his lyrics have improved on later releases, especially on "House of God" - and, even though I hated the album, on "Abigail II". He has an even darker approach to the subject matter these days, and go from innocence to demonic carnage more subtly, building the story better.

I also think that this is the best lineup KD has had since Mikkey left and they sound absolutely killer live. Matt Thompson is an absolute phenomenal drummer (yes, I bought the Shaolin Death Squad album - it kicks ass), Andy is one of my favorite guitarists, I have worshiped Mike Wead since Hexxenhaus and Hal Patino is possibly the one bass player I would choose for any band. They have "it" together, I just WISH they could transfer that sound into the studio.

I will still be the first guy in line to buy the new album when it comes out, I will listen to it a few hundred times, making all my friends listen to it too, and I will be the first guy to buy tickets for the North American tour - but I still don't have any higher hopes for a return to former glory from KD.

That's it... I think.

And, oh, in case it wasn't covered somewhere else: Why the HELL isn't the King Diamond logo mirrored in the new artwork for "Give Me Your Soul... Please"? Aren't we looking into a mirror? It looks cheesy as hell. Like the cover of that C-movie you will always pass up on in the video store, looking for a good horror flick."

Detta kan väl vara kul att diskutera?

Människan har ingen aning om vad han pratar om! King Diamonds absolut bästa prestationer gjordes på 90-talet!

Skulle säga att det var då de började bli mindre skitbra. The Graveyard är ganska svag jämfört med The Spider's Lullabye som kom året innan.

Produktionen på den är bland det sämsta jag någonsin hört.
2000-talsplattorna är produktionsmässigt helt fullkomligt bedrövliga...

Hur kan du säga så? The Puppet Master är perfektion inspelad på skiva! För övrigt så är The Graveyard en riktigt stark platta, om man bara förstår tanken bakom den. Skulle inte ändra någonting på den skivan. Vidrigt bra.

Men iofs, tycker man att Kiss har släppt bättre plattor än Judas Priest, så kan jag förstå att du är lite förvirrad

Har inte sagt något om låtarna kvalitet. Men kvaliteten har sjunkit rätt ordentligt.

Problemet är att koncepten inte vägs upp av musiken längre.

Har du inte hört The Puppet Master?!

Jag håller med DAVID i denna fråga. Både The Graveyard och The Puppet Master är jävligt starka plattor, SÅDESÅ.

Gillar faktiskt Give me your soul...please! Har lyssnat på den en hel del sista tiden.

Jag har nog haft mina dyrkarperioder av alla hans plattor. Förstår inte varför majoriteten av heavy metal rockers inte ens försökt ta till sig exempelvis Voodoo eller House of God.