An In-Depth Review
(so pop a fucking Ritalin or piss off - read Beppo or something)
OK, so there are a few things in life I geek out about, still: the thought of a huge bloody steak, a few days off in a row, and also the ever elusive dream that King Diamond, the grand musical emperor of demon falsettos, will release an album up to par with those of his glory days.
Well, the day for a new KD release is here, and, true to form, I make a mini-vacation out of it: I get out of work early to pick the album up and take all of the next day off. This sucker deserves a thorough listen, by default of being a release from my all time favorite band.
Band.
That is sadly where the rift in quality in KD’s back catalogue first appeared. They started out as a band, under the guise of a King Diamond post-Mercyful Fate solo project moniker – but make no mistake; they were a band in the truest sense of the word. They rehearsed, wrote and perfected all their songs together. The masterful arrangements and musical flow were a result of all parts of a band in perfect symbiosis with each other.
Then Mikkey Dee, the master class drummer, left the band, and things started to go south. King isolated himself in Dallas, TX, while the rest of the band – what scraps were left – pursued other musical ventures. They would occasionally get back together, with an ever rotating roster of musicians, to record whatever ditties King had though up in the privacy of his home, with a few riffs from long time guitarist Andy La Rocque thrown in for good measure. Needless to say, the style and quality of these albums never lived up to the grand majesty of the older ones. The energy and musical genius was gone. The spark was dead. But, King being King, still managed to keep his fans mesmerized by the stories he told through his music, and by always keeping us attached to the hope of things going back to normal one day.
One day.
Is this that day?
We shall see.
The synopsis of the story of the new album, “Give Me Your Soul, Please”, is that a young girl and her brother are dead, now ghosts, and they need to get the brother a new soul since he has mistakenly been taken for a suicide case by the 13 judges of the afterlife, and has thus been sent to serve eternity in hell. The little girl goes to King’s house, and, with the help of some restless and rather ill-minded spirits, she tries to wrestle King’s soul away from him to give to her brother. I won’t give the details away, but there you have it; a classic KD tale with just the right amount of blood, ghosts and macabre twists.
The real test comes with the music though.
The album opens up with the obligatory intro in “The Dead”; whispering voices, ticking clocks and haunting sounds; all setting the scene for what is to follow.
Then the first real song, “Never Ending Hill”, kicks in. A rather spirited up-tempo number with the riff borrowing heavily from Judas Priest’s classic anthem “Painkiller”. King himself says that he feels the guitars are more reminiscent of an older KD track called “The Storm” (of “Abigail II”), but that is beside the point – it is not exactly an original in any case, is it? The song itself is actually pretty good and brings back memories of the greater albums in the past when a killer opening track would set the tone for the whole album. Classic KD albums like “Abigail”, “Them” and “Conspiracy” all had that mindblowing opening track to let you know that things were about to seriously rule. But then again, you had the duds as well: “LOA House” from “Voodoo” may very well be the best opening track on any KD album (after “Welcome Home” of course), but we were still treated to an awful mess ever after. The solos on “Never Ending Hill” are amazing, and both Mike and Andy seem to be in good old form – with Mike getting the points for originality. An interesting thing to note is that the solos get lower and lower in the mix as the album progresses. Why? I have no fucking clue.
Hal’s bass lines are perfectly executed as usual, and serve to both solidly carry the beat while also having the time and fortitude to travel some interesting musical side routes, enhancing the overall tone and atmosphere of the songs. Matt’s drumming is all right, I guess, but nothing more. That is one of the things that always bugged me the most with later KD releases; Matt Thompson is an incredibly talented drummer – you only have to go see him play “Welcome Home” or “Invisible Guests” live with King Diamond to figure that out for yourself – or even buy the album from his other band, Shaolin Death Squad – but for some reason King wants him to hold back on all KD records. Why? All other musicians on here are allowed to shine, and God knows Mikkey Dee used to drum outside the box like a fucking nut all the time, but we are, once again, still left with a very boring drum formula on this album. It’s almost drum machine-ish in its rather mechanical, unexciting and predictable execution. The word "humdrum" gets a new meaning here, with every possible pun intended, and I’m sure Matt is more pissed off about that than I am. For fuck’s sake, King… Let the poor guy make your albums more interesting by interjecting all that which made them shine all those years ago. You have a Mikkey Dee Jr. in the making here, but you are blind to the benefits of it. On the other hand, Mikkey was a leader type personality who took charge of the drum productions back then, whereas Matt seems happy to “just be a part of the overall experience”. I guess you can’t be a mouse and expect to roar like a lion.
“Is Anybody Here” follows with a rather typical King Diamond verse of late that statically chugs along and only opens up as the pre-chorus kicks in. More and more of songs on later releases are mid-tempo numbers with guitars just muting along to accentuate King’s mid-range normal voice. Often I find myself just treating the verses as some sort of pointless transportation to get to where we really want to get: the choruses. Because that is where this album shines; almost every song on here has catchy and memorable choruses with fat melodic twists and good old falsettos thrown in to properly brand the song with that trademark King Diamond hot iron. I wish he would utilize his higher pitches elsewhere in the songs, too, like he used to. Some of the songs could be even better with some more falsetto singing to expand on the overall melody. The songs get a little limited and claustrophobic sometimes with only that almost spoken singing King prefers these days, and if there is anything I never used to think of in the same breath as King Diamond, it would be “restrained”.
On this album the falsettos, sparsely used as they are, are also mostly thrown in as dual harmonies way behind King’s normal voice, very low in the mix. Just by mixing the vocal tracks differently he could have improved on the haunting melodies quite a lot. There is also less reverb and treble in the mix on the vocals. Something King says he does purposely these days because he feels that on older album the vocals were “unnaturally piercing”. Well, color me retarded and send me upstate, because that is what I fucking liked in the first place.
“Black of Night” follows and introduces us to more and more of something that almost becomes a musical theme throughout the album: King is bringing Mercyful fate back. As anybody who is a fan of both MF and KD knows, we always hear how King can’t run both bands at the same time, because KD is what puts the bread and butter on the table. It’s such a shame, considering how MF only seemed to get better and better with every recording, whereas King Diamond (the band) only got simpler and simpler by every release. Here on “Give Me Your Soul… Please” you can hear and feel a lot of the sound of Mercyful Fate floating up to the surface from the murky depths it has been dwelling in for the past seven or so years. King’s mid range singing with the wide vibrato is one sign, but both the Far East Mad Arab riffing and simpler song structures are others. Andy’s contribution on this album is almost Hank Sherman-like in the rhythm guitar parts and we all know Mike plays in MF as well, so maybe this was inevitable: The two bands are slowly becoming one musical idea.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not opposed to it at all. I think it works beautifully. Just check out the magnificent “Mirror, Mirror” on here. It still has those boring muted guitars, but punctuated by spot-on Mercyful Fate licks. And then to fully bind them together we have a brief Fatal Portrait “Voices from The Past” moment right after the first chorus (I, and many with me, always considered "Fatal Portrait" the natural link between the two bands - a transitional album). During the solo Andy rides his ride cymbal quite a bit, but the odd mix drowns the rest of the drumming out, so something that could have been a great drum sequence gets lost in the meaty guitar soundscape. Tssk…
I know, it sounds like I am complaining a lot here, but I actually like all the songs I have heard so far. They have more soul than anything King Diamond has released since “Conspiracy”. There is an actual thread running through all the songs here, weaving a musical flow that has otherwise sadly been lacking in recent releases. So, the riffs, hooks and arrangements are not up to par with the old epics, but overall the album works like a motherfucker.
“The Cellar” could have been from “The Eye”, with its sinister guitar groove in the chorus and staccato style verse. Beautiful drumming during the “Black little wings…” lines and cool hooks that could have been straight out of “Them”. The creepy little child gets a spoken part in this song, and serves to bring the storyline home. Since King doesn’t sing his characters and emotions in a variety of pitches and theatrical voice-modes anymore, I guess he needs spoken parts and guest singers to realize the plot going on here instead. Whatever works I guess.
And as I write that he proves me wrong by doing exactly that in the interlude “Pictures in Red”… Almost… His wife, Livia Zita, still sings the high parts of the child, but at least King does his classic demonic whispering. Always something.
I think one of my favorite tracks on the album is the title track, “Give Me Your Soul”. The guitars are nothing special, neither are the drums, and the vocals are drier and more mid-range than on any other song, but somehow it all really meshes and the chorus with Livia’s angelic singing and King’s old school Mercyful fate voice paints a pretty picture in black. The duel guitar solo between Mike and Andy is also a thrill and even though Mike came out on top, it is still nice to see that the guitars are alive and kicking in King Diamond anno 2007. One interesting thing I noted in this song especially, though; King sounds more Danish on this album than on any other release – new or old. I guess the more frequent use of his normal voice allows for his native Danish accent to bleed into things more often than before. Especially the way he pronounces “that little girl” puts me right by an outdoor table in a street in Copenhagen, having a bottle of Tuborg and eating one of those red hot dogs they insist on serving.
“The Floating Head” is the track that has been hailed by most reviewers and fans as the leading track on the album, and I am slightly inclined to agree, even though I don’t care for the welfare Pantera riff in the beginning. I love the MF verse riff, though. Again, this track could possibly be the best marriage between the two bands ever recorded. I guess am not so disappointed anymore if the mighty King Diamond of glories past has disappeared only to have been replaced by a beautiful blend of two of my favorite bands instead. Mike’s solo on here is just fantastic. I just wish the solo mix would have been a little clearer throughout an otherwise rather half-decently produced album. Sure, it’s dry, flat and, of course, lacks the solid drum punch and those “unnaturally piercing” vocals, but at least it’s pretty easy to make out all the parts. Maybe it’s time to bring in an outside producer for the next album? Give Fredrik Nordstrom a call next time, King. He can make you into pure gold again. I know it. Andy is just going to have to bite the bullet and give the reins over to his Gothenburg producer rival. It will benefit you, believe me.
“Cold as Ice” has a strange, and disturbingly simple, melodic theme, but it really works - kind of how that "pretty" bridge in "Dreams" worked on "Spider's Lullaby". Since King wrote the guitar riffs on this song they are of course overly simplistic and only functions to carry the vocals from the background. It seems that riffs like “The Family Ghost”, “Sleepless Nights”, “Welcome Home” and “Mother’s Getting Weaker” are gone for good. I always prefer Andy’s songs and riffs over King’s as they have more energy, and it also leads me to wonder what some Mike Wead inspired songs would sound like? We all know he’s a more than competent guitar player, and having served in both King’s musical entities for years I am sure he has a great musical understanding for what would work. What gems does he have stuffed away in his sock drawer that could rock the next King Diamond album? His musically diverse metal background in such bands as Hexxenhaus and Candlemass brings a certain vibe to the table. C’mon! Write something, Mike! “Give us your riffs… Please”
“Shapes of Black” has an organ grinding Tivoli metal groove to it, with the classic King Diamond harpsichords adding that spooky feel to an almost perfect song. The different voice modes and mid range vocal harmonies together with the guitars in this song are really good. I wish he would write more harmonies like the ones he uses in the chorus of this track. If he wants to get away from the higher pitch vocals, he could at least create more interesting mid-range ones, like these ones. I also love the “THEM” references on here. Fucking kickass!
I don’t care much for “The Girl in the Bloody Dress”. The singing and chorus are instantly forgettable, but I guess we were bound to have a filler on this album as well. I do, however, like the interchange right before Andy’s solo, and, again, right before the end.
Last song, “Moving On”, is actually more of an actual song than the usual outro, with the story coming to an end. Love the soft acoustic guitars, Livia’s singing and the ominous keyboards.
After hearing the whole thing, a couple of times in a stretch, I have to say that the biggest problem I have with this album, and the reason it is not getting a full score, is King himself. His voice is just not "doing" it for me. Sure, I have come to expect less and less high pitches and banshee wails over the years, but why did the theatrics fly out the window as well? Are they both mutually exclusive? There are no different voice modes, growls, insane laughters or demon screams to accentuate the different happenings in the story-line anymore. No more of the singing-one-sentence-in-five-different-styles to mesmerize the listener and suck us all into the macabre world of King Diamond's sound imagery. There's just... just King. Hmmm... That used to be a good thing. Nowadays we have King without the bells and whistles, and that would be like Andy not playing any guitar solos but just the 12 bar blues over and over again. I miss the presence, the drama... the theatrics.
All in all, though, I have to say that I am very pleased with the overall quality of this album. I went into this expecting absolutely nothing, but hoping for everything, as usual. The end result is on the higher point of the score card. Even though I realize I have to forever say farewell to the way King Diamond used to make epic metal music for the soul, with complex arrangements, haunting melodies and “unnaturally piercing vocals”, I am still totally cool with how they finally managed to pull their new direction off. It only took them, what, seven albums or so? The story is OK - rather short and not at all as evolved as previous efforts, leaving many things unexplained or second-guessed (if I hadn't read a description of the story-line beforehand I wouldn't have connected some of the dots) - but the music is a slam dunk. We still have some production issues with King and Andy insisting on doing everything themselves, but maybe that will change with the next one (yeah, right). We still have the drumming issue, but maybe Matt will grow a set and finally put his foot down and be more involved in the song arrangements and implement some more creative and aggressive drumming on the next opus (uh-huh). Everything else is fine.
Unfortunately I guess Mercyful Fate will now be buried forever as the need for that band quite simply is superfluous with the two sounds being joined through unholy matrimony on “Give Me Your Soul… Please”. That is a shame since I have been salivating at the thought of a new MF album, but I have a feeling this is what MF would sound like anyway, today, if they ever got together to record another album. Maybe we’re all winners in the end anyway?
Who knows?
I know this, though… Just do yourself a favor and go buy this album. It’s totally worth it. You just won’t get the overall tone and feel for this if you were to download it, track-by-track without the lyrics. King Diamond is a unique force of metal music and should be encouraged by anybody looking for something original to listen to in this iTunes wasteland of instant gratification and predictable pop formulas.
Still awake? If you are then you probably already bought this album, since only a true King Diamond fan would have the required patience of a fucking saint to read this drivel. (Hey, I only get to write a KD review once every four years or so, so I have a lot on my mind - fucking sue me.)
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King Diamond
"Give Me Your Soul... Please"
Rating:
Reviewed by:
Skeletal Grace
Artwork used with permission from Neverland Music Inc.
