Anyone Into King Diamond?

[Gitfiddler]

I believe that is Pete Blakk in the Lee Jackson ad.

Andy used caparisons and kranks for a while. Dean now?

Them, Abigail, and MF Dont break the oath are great albums. All songs are good. If i ever got
A tattoo, it would be the dont break the oath album cover

King is definitely my favorite satanist

 

[crankyrayhanky]

This is my jam. Who is that black hair black jacket guitarist? Great creepy leads!

 

[Stinkbomb]

Merciful Fate and King Diamond are 2 of my favourite bands of all time. I get why people may not like the vocals but man, the song writing and talent in superb. In particular on Abigail and Them. While I'm a big fan of Sherman and Denner, Andy LaRocque is a my probably my biggest guitar hero.

 

[Anonymous]

Big fan - I went to the Abigail live show in LA and it was frickin' amazing!

Steve

 

[gibson5413]

This is my jam. Who is that black hair black jacket guitarist? Great creepy leads!

That's Andy Laroque. Great player! Michael Denner is the other player who came from Mercyful Fate. Mikkey Dee was the differentiator for me. His drumming on Abigail, Them and Conspiracy were awesome!

 

[Stinkbomb]

I believe that is Pete Blakk in the Lee Jackson ad.

Andy used caparisons and kranks for a while. Dean now?

Them, Abigail, and MF Dont break the oath are great albums. All songs are good. If i ever got
A tattoo, it would be the dont break the oath album cover

King is definitely my favorite satanist

My buddy in high school had a denim jacket with the Don't Break the Oath cover on the back...oh the 80's!

 

[Gitfiddler]

Saw mercyful fate at a small club in early 90s. The house lights were on, and everyone was looking at the stage. They played this creepy harpsichord music. While everyone was looking up at the stage, the crowd started to part, and the king came in through the front door and walked through the crowd. Creepy as hell and had the bone microphone in hand !!

 

[shadowdevourer]

King is one of my favorites. Love all his albums. "Them" is such an amazing album!

 

[napalmdeath]

Overlooked this dude thinking he was gimmicky. Listened to his first 3 albums in full plus some older Mercyful Fate

Andy plays a Line 6 these days: "For live amps I use the Line 6 HD 100 mk II ,all tube amp designed by Bogner, sounds really good with built in fx, works great for me live! Just a pedalboard on stage, all connected with a ethernet cable. For cabs I use 2 really old 4×12 cabs with celestion Vintage 30 speakers"

But what was the tone on the below album? It suddenly shot forward in the mix compared with the 2 previous albums. Randall? Boosted Marshall?

Also grown to appreciate King's voice more, the diversity and various voices he can achieve is great, not for everyone but pulling that off live every night live is pretty killer

Larocque used a Lee Jackson Metaltronix on Conspiracy. Pete Blakk used Gallien Krueger. Pretty sure Abigail and Them were boosted JCM on both accounts.

I think he still used the Metaltronix on the Eye, but i know he dabbled with Marshall Valvestates at the time as well, and used them for alot of years, and used Digitech RP multiFX. I lost track after Spider's Lullaby, as the music started to go in a lame direction, and they lost their edge. Production lacked, and tone got weak.

Nothing will top Them, and Conspiracy. Those albums changed my life, Larocque and Blakk were some sick players. Larocque is still in my top 5 all-time. His vibrato and phrasing is world-class, IMO. GOD DAMN, vibrato in some of his leads make the hair on my neck stick up. Im talking bends, not floyd rose here...

 

[Mailman1971]

I was a late comer for KD. Remember watching MTV in the 80s. His stuff would come on and it cracked me up!
The wicked gramma video was Hillarious!!
Fast forward 1996. A buddy was playing Mercyful Fate 'into the unknown '
Freaking blew me away!!
I went backwards and rediscovered King. Man good stuff. Guy is one of s kind.

 

[napalmdeath]

I was a late comer for KD. Remember watching MTV in the 80s. His stuff would come on and it cracked me up!
The wicked gramma video was Hillarious!!
Fast forward 1996. A buddy was playing Mercyful Fate 'into the unknown '
Freaking blew me away!!
I went backwards and rediscovered King. Man good stuff. Guy is one of s kind.

Cracked me up first time I heard Abigail, but i was about 2 years into playing at the time. Then, Them came out a few years later, I was hooked. The shredding was ridiculous.. I was hooked. King was just something you got used to. Just like James Labrie, Dream Theater.

 

[JerEvil]

I got into King on the Abigail album.

I remember watching Headbangers Ball with my brother and he was waiting for some shit like the premier of Britny Fox's "Long Way to Love" vid. Well, while waiting the vid for "Family Ghost" came on and I was hooked! Huge fan ever since. Literally no a single album I don't enjoy... even the the "drum machine laden" The Eye.

 

[godgrinder]

Don't really care about his solo records but old MF were some of the best stuff ever recorded.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

This is my jam. Who is that black hair black jacket guitarist? Great creepy leads!

That's Andy Laroque. Great player! Michael Denner is the other player who came from Mercyful Fate. Mikkey Dee was the differentiator for me. His drumming on Abigail, Them and Conspiracy were awesome!

I had that mixed up all these years.

King always had awesome band mates!

 

[ghosty999]

THIS

I am surprised you are just getting into them now.. where have you been? The early KD stuff is incredible and in fact, even the stuff into the early 2000's is solid. A few stinker albums in spots and there are only so many times you can rehash riffs but still I never get tired of listening to LaRoque play. They have almost always had a secondary guitar slinger that kicked ass too. (Wead being my favourite) King oddly enough sounds better in the last few years live than in some shows you see on youtube from 20 years ago. Great fucking band.

He said he quit smoking and his voice has "never been better"

 

[ghosty999]

I'm just about to move into "Them" but I'm approaching it now knowing it's drum machine which is always frustrating haha.

King is genuinely original, no other voice has that many range of characters, range and consistency. And the rare ability to pull it off live without drop tuning the guitars an octave *cough Coverdale cough*.

He's also genuine satanist and has lived it for years, he really LIVES it. Alot of bands can sound evil and metal but nothing is as spooky and atmospheric as King. Dimmu Borgir where the last band that gave me chills like that. Also a nice vary of guitar tones across albums which is always great fun to hear

 

[Jack Luminous]

For classic albums obviously Abigail and Them but hot damn if the Eye isn't also a ripping album. The tone on this one is huge and classic where the newer stuff sort of pushes the guitars up front more using less verb.

YEAH ! "The Eye" is my favourite one and has the best melodic duelling solos ever... Andy LaRoque and Pete Blakk were awesome !

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I'm just about to move into "Them" but I'm approaching it now knowing it's drum machine which is always frustrating haha.

King is genuinely original, no other voice has that many range of characters, range and consistency. And the rare ability to pull it off live without drop tuning the guitars an octave *cough Coverdale cough*.

He's also genuine satanist and has lived it for years, he really LIVES it. Alot of bands can sound evil and metal but nothing is as spooky and atmospheric as King. Dimmu Borgir where the last band that gave me chills like that. Also a nice vary of guitar tones across albums which is always great fun to hear

I don't think "THEM" is the drum machine. I believe that is in the Eye as Mickey wasn't around and the drummer apparently couldn't cut it and Snowy Shaw (who came in to the bad late)they say didn't have the time to lay down the tracks so he just programmed a machine. Still, by those days standards, the drum machines sounded way more realistic than EZ drummer does! I was listening to THEM this morning, sounds pretty real and the ride bell pattern is total Mickey. That whole ting ta ting ting ting ta ting ting during the double bass and the snare work. I still dig the Eye though!

 

[gibson5413]

I'm just about to move into "Them" but I'm approaching it now knowing it's drum machine which is always frustrating haha.

King is genuinely original, no other voice has that many range of characters, range and consistency. And the rare ability to pull it off live without drop tuning the guitars an octave *cough Coverdale cough*.

He's also genuine satanist and has lived it for years, he really LIVES it. Alot of bands can sound evil and metal but nothing is as spooky and atmospheric as King. Dimmu Borgir where the last band that gave me chills like that. Also a nice vary of guitar tones across albums which is always great fun to hear

I don't think "THEM" is the drum machine. I believe that is in the Eye as Mickey wasn't around and the drummer apparently couldn't cut it and Snowy Shaw (who came in to the bad late)they say didn't have the time to lay down the tracks so he just programmed a machine. Still, by those days standards, the drum machines sounded way more realistic than EZ drummer does! I was listening to THEM this morning, sounds pretty real and the ride bell pattern is total Mickey. That whole ting ta ting ting ting ta ting ting during the double bass and the snare work. I still dig the Eye though!

Exactly right...Mikkey Dee played drums on Them and Conspiracy/

 

[ZEEGLER]

I'm a big fan of King. My favorite's are The Eye, and The Puppetmaster.