Anyone Into King Diamond?

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ghosty999

ghosty999

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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 :rock:



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King doesn't play guitar live. Maybe you're thinking of Andy LeRoque?
 
Better late than never! I have been a fan since the early days of Mercyful Fate (amazing time with debuts from Slayer, Metallica and Anthrax back then, but that's a different topic). Here is an old thread on the gear: viewtopic.php?t=118351

I think Andy has used so much gear in the past that it is hard to follow. He was the producer of the guitar tracks on that album, so that may be the reason that it stands out more. My best guess is a boosted or modded Marshall or a preamp into the power section. I could be wrong.
 
Been onboard with King since Fatal Portrait. His best is the earliest stuff. Love his work with Merciful, but the early King D had great guitars and brought in the concept Story album where you really need to listen to each from start to finish to get the album as a whole.
His best work: Abigail, Them, Fatal Portrait. All these were done from the mid to late 80's. The albums after that start to get a bit lackluster. There are good tunes peppered on each but IMHO, none match the intensity and flow of those first 3 albums I mentioned. I saw him live about 8 years ago, at the HOB at Disney World and he was friggen great man. Had the full stage graveyard props going and everything; and even a super hot chick that danced to the tunes up on stage the whole show.
The dude has had a lot of health issues the last couple years, with back problems and even a heart attack requiring bypass surgery if memory serves. I see he is slated to headline some shows in Brazil this summer. The guy is the real deal and whether he's your cup of 'Tea' or not, you can't deny the man a place in the Metal HOF!!
 
A dangerous Meeting! got me hooked since high school. Great guitar tone and playing by Andy
 
Fuego":22bmqumt said:
King doesn't play guitar live. Maybe you're thinking of Andy LeRoque?
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Sorry I should of included I meant Andy!
 
LanierP":2nv52v9p said:
Been onboard with King since Fatal Portrait. His best is the earliest stuff. Love his work with Merciful, but the early King D had great guitars and brought in the concept Story album where you really need to listen to each from start to finish to get the album as a whole.
His best work: Abigail, Them, Fatal Portrait. All these were done from the mid to late 80's. The albums after that start to get a bit lackluster. There are good tunes peppered on each but IMHO, none match the intensity and flow of those first 3 albums I mentioned. I saw him live about 8 years ago, at the HOB at Disney World and he was friggen great man. Had the full stage graveyard props going and everything; and even a super hot chick that danced to the tunes up on stage the whole show.
The dude has had a lot of health issues the last couple years, with back problems and even a heart attack requiring bypass surgery if memory serves. I see he is slated to headline some shows in Brazil this summer. The guy is the real deal and whether he's your cup of 'Tea' or not, you can't deny the man a place in the Metal HOF!!
Click to expand...

Totally agree! Yeah he stopped smoking and said his voice "has never been better". Says when he comes off stage he feels great but before when he smoked like a chimney he would come off totally done.

Also agree on the albums, I ventured into the 90s stuff and it got a little more.... power metally?

Most metal bands can make music sound evil, but they don't create genuine shivers and a horror atmosphere like King. Maybe it's Andy's constantly changing guitar styles in each song. He goes from Yngwie, to Hetfield, to Mustaine, to Maiden etc. Spooky guitar runs then straight up metal riffs then weird proggy melodic bits, it's great!

First two King albums are spooky due to the production, his third was more polished and produced but not in a bad way...was just the style at that time. Gated snares and ROMpler keyboards.

Is he auto-tuned/melodyned on the newer albums? I've not listened yet but that would ruin it for me
 
lespaul6":2ipoc3w8 said:
A dangerous Meeting! got me hooked since high school. Great guitar tone and playing by Andy
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Andy was not in Mercyful Fate at that time. He joined King Diamond when King split to start his own band.
 
I've been a fan since the 80's. He is an amazing writer and storyteller. Those are his real talents. He's a killer rhythm player, and his singing is hit or miss with me. I can say I don't care for what I've heard after The Spider's Lullaby, but before that he wrote some epic music.
 
My first album was "Them." Ran out and bought it after seeing Welcome Home on Headbanger's Ball
 

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Laurens":xrqk59sj said:
lespaul6":xrqk59sj said:
A dangerous Meeting! got me hooked since high school. Great guitar tone and playing by Andy
Click to expand...

Andy was not in Mercyful Fate at that time. He joined King Diamond when King split to start his own band.
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Yes, I'm just referring to the first time I heard King Diamond... it was them and Venom at the time lol At War With Satan.. hilarious and made no sense
 
Dude. Me and my little brother wore out Melissa and don't break the oath by merciful fate! Those and king diamond through them were enough to make him legend in my book! Epic and creepy as shit.
I'm sure Andy has used so much gear over the years that he doesn't remember much of it; but the line6 hd100?
 
Big fan of KD & MF. Great atmosphere. Great songs. And the RIFFS. Hot damn he will have a single song on an album that has better riffs on that one song than some bands have in an entire career.

I'm pretty sure KD contributes a lot to the riff writing process and on top of that he surrounds himself with amazing musicians and writers. The bulk of the albums have a great sound overall with maybe a few questionable production choices here or there. Only KD gripe I have is how some have a sterile feel and the drums have an almost programmed sound (rumor has it that a couple albums were programmed)

LaRocque is a monster player and a great song writer. He also is great in the engineer / producer's chair as he has been involved in the making of a lot of great albums. Gear wise, every 3-4 years he has changed what he is playing through (so it seems) and pretty much always sounds dialed in.

Wead has always been on point and does a great job re-creating the amazing solos of the other past KD guitarists while still being able to do his own thing.
 
Inearthed":19x43le6 said:
Big fan of KD & MF. Great atmosphere. Great songs. And the RIFFS. Hot damn he will have a single song on an album that has better riffs on that one song than some bands have in an entire career.

I'm pretty sure KD contributes a lot to the riff writing process and on top of that he surrounds himself with amazing musicians and writers. The bulk of the albums have a great sound overall with maybe a few questionable production choices here or there. Only KD gripe I have is how some have a sterile feel and the drums have an almost programmed sound (rumor has it that a couple albums were programmed)

LaRocque is a monster player and a great song writer. He also is great in the engineer / producer's chair as he has been involved in the making of a lot of great albums. Gear wise, every 3-4 years he has changed what he is playing through (so it seems) and pretty much always sounds dialed in.

Wead has always been on point and does a great job re-creating the amazing solos of the other past KD guitarists while still being able to do his own thing.
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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.
 
The newer stuff is weaker overall but there are still quite a few rippin tunes that still come out.. I dig these two for example.





and of course lead guitars that knock your socks off. These guys are sick players.

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.

 
Andy LaRocque is one of my faves. For gear, I know his standards have been a Duncan Distortion into old Marshall v30 cabinets (from when they first came out). For amps, I'm sure the early days was boosted Marshall. Not sure what he uses currently.
When I saw him live last summer, he had the Line 6 rig into the Marshall vintage cabs, obviously for versatility for playing all the different eras and tones at the touch of a footswitch.
 
Great timing on this thread. I was just watching the below video the other day! Great stuff!

 
I love me some classic King Diamond. Everything that he did through the Eye was amazing, after that he started to slip a bit. I attributed it to the fact that he got back with MF and as the chief songwriter for both bands, was going to the well too often. In his own band, he also did away with the layers of vocals and started to sing in his lower register more often (understandable), but I really dug the harmonies. His newer releases have been better than his 90's output, but the songwriting is still simpler than it was in the 80's. There aren't as many tempo or time signature changes and the songs have less riffs. With that said, there is no denying the musicianship of his band, Andy is amazing. In an old GFTPM interview regarding Conspiracy, he said that they used Lee Jackson modded Marshall's and they were sponsored by Metaltronix, so that makes sense.
 
Thanks to this thread I'm throwing a KD playlist on my phone for the ride to tonight's gig!

It's been a while since I had my CD cases unpacked to read the credits, but IIRC, King writes most of the music?
 
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