It's a concept album. I strongly recommend watching/listening the whole albums with lyrics in front, it's a ride. Not just random collection of songs and sounds, it actually has a structure, for an example; change of atmosphere in a song in sync with particular part of the story. King Diamond is very theatrical, very old school in his approach. King Diamond was always big, but I recon many modern metalheads are like "oh, it's that dad, grandpa metal". I like it even more because of it. :) King Diamond is one of my favorite musician. Not just because his unique vocals and concept albums, but also for his persona and being true to himself for 40+ years. I own all of his albums on original CDs. Every album has it's own vibe, musicality, atmosphere and a story. Also, gothic, Victorian horror esthetics is a great factor, wholly inseparable from his art and sound. BTW, the symbol you've mentioned is Leviathan's cross - it's medieval alchemical symbol for sulfur. It's widely used in modern Satanism.
King's falsetto is his trademark sound. The Albums "ABIGAIL", "THEM", and "CONSPIRACY" are one long Horror story. King's first band is called MERCYFUL FATE, and they inspired pretty much every 80' thrash band out there, including METALLICA.
Thanks for all the feedback. Some of you have been pretty rough on us for not knowing this was a concept album. This is why these are first time real reactions. If we know everything about the band, then why react? Now we know that we need to keep this in mind fo future King Diamond reactions. Please try to remember that we have never heard these before and are just starting out on our KD journey. Thanks for watching!
great reaction! don't listen to the ones giving you a hard time for not knowing it was a concept album, i didn't either when i was first exposed.. his stories are all great! i think you'll really enjoy the music even more when you get into the stories.. thanks for showing king some love! there are not nearly enough king reactions on youtube!
Just don't pay attention to those people, nice to see someone expanding their musical interests, everyone has to start somewhere, you can't know everything to begin with. Keep up the good work and continue to keep it genuine. Off topic now, I see you have been reacting to plenty of E40, might want to react to some early Spice 1, he is a very creative and different rap artist especially in the early '90s. Maybe do Money Goneif you all would venture that way.
It's stupid to try to react to one song out of a concept album. A lot of metal fans did not get into King Diamond and Mercyful Fate because of King's voice. Those of us who didn't mind his voice and grasped the brilliant musicianship reveled in these releases. When this came out, King Diamond fans realized it is one of the greatest metal albums of all time, and it still is. You guys cut it too much.
Exactly. The only right way is to listen to the whole album at once. The second best option is to proceed in the order of the album, one or more songs at a time. Almost every KD album starts with a short intro; e.g., this “Abigail” album starts with “Funeral” followed by a full-length song “Arrival”. That would make a good start to the album reaction. It took me a while to get used to King’s voice, but after that he’s been my favorite vocalist. I was 28 when I first heard King Diamond and Mercyful Fate, 23 years ago.
I'm 47. I discovered him when I was 18. None of my other friends listened to him. They were into metal, but they just didn't listen. They didn't have anything against him. They just didn't feel him.
Stuff like that never happens to me! The biggest celebrity I saw at one of my parties was Ronald McDonald when I was 5. I'm pretty sure King diamond would have been less scary than a clown lol
i heard a song on the radio (yes once there was a metal radio show on swedish radio) called a mansion in darkness, from the abigail album. it was my introduction to king diamond, and then i got the mercyful fate albums of course.
I was 17 and a drummer in a band when this came out. And you either loved it or hated it. But I didn't know many that didn't dig it. It's just amazing \m/
I am a big fan of king diamond and mercyful fate, I am 25 years old, but the first time I heard king diamond was back in 2009 and I was hooked the second I mercyful fate's song called Evil, so I can confirm that they have young fans aswell! I even got a tattoo of king diamonds because I love his vocal style so much
Check out Mercyful Fate. His first band. A little more different voices added in. Check out "Curse of the Pharoah", "Evil" and "Nun's Have No Fun". And "Conr to the Sabbath".
First time I heard King Diamond was in radio back in 1988. I was 18 years old at the time. The song was "Invisible Guests" from the album "Them". When I began working in 1990 I started to buy music and King Diamond was on the list for sure. It's amazing how his music survived the test of time. It still sounds great today. Respect The king. Nice reaction ! Happy new year, btw...
Abigail tells the story of a young couple, Miriam Natias and Jonathan La'Fey, who move into an old mansion that La'Fey inherited. It takes place in the summer of 1845. At their arrival they are warned by seven horsemen not to move into the house because if they do "18 will become 9." They do not heed the warning and proceed to move into the mansion. During their first night, Jonathan meets with Count de La'Fey, the Family Ghost, who is a deceased relative. The ghost shows him a casket in which a corpse of a stillborn child, Abigail, rests. The ghost informs him that Miriam is carrying the spirit of Abigail and that the child will soon be reborn. He insists that Jonathan must kill Miriam at once to prevent the rebirth. The narration then relates the story of what happened to the Count and his wife: on 7 July 1777, the Count had discovered his wife had been unfaithful to him, and was pregnant with an illegitimate child. Enraged, he threw the Countess down the stairs, breaking her neck and causing the child to be stillborn. The Count had the body of the Countess cremated, and the stillborn fetus he named Abigail and had mummified and laid to rest in a sarcophagus, the Count having an inexplicable urge to preserve Abigail for the future. The narration then returns to the summer of 1845, during which Jonathan and Miriam are beset by a range of omens; the church bell rings despite nobody being inside to ring it, flowers die, unwholesome stenches fill the house and in the dining room the table is discovered set for 3. In one incident an empty cradle is discovered by Jonathan swaying in the air, with both him and Miriam insisting that they didn't bring it with them. The next day, Miriam is clearly pregnant and the fetus develops quickly; Jonathan realises that the family ghost was speaking the truth. The fatal crisis begins when Jonathan accuses Abigail of possessing Miriam, and Abigail (through Miriam) admits it. Jonathan is terrified and considers getting a priest to exorcise Miriam - Miriam, however, exercising a moment of control, urges him to cast her down the stairs to kill her just as the Count had slain the Countess and Abigail's original incarnation. Therefore, Jonathan pretends to give in to Abigail's demands, and suggests to Abigail (once she regains control of Miriam) that she should come down to the family crypt so she can be reborn where she died. However, as the couple stands at the top of the stairs, Jonathan is distracted and the possessed Miriam pushes Jonathan down the stairs. Miriam gives birth to Abigail, but dies shortly afterwards, her last sight being of Abigail's "yellow eyes"; supposedly her ghost can be heard screaming on the stairs in July ever after. The seven horsemen arrive at the mansion and discover the baby Abigail in the sarcophagus, eating something too horrifying for the narrator to mention (though the fact that it is found in the sarcophagus suggests that Abigail is eating her own previous body). Appalled, they take her away to bury her in a hidden chapel in the forest with seven silver spikes driven through her body (a burial heard as the intro to the album), in the hope that this will prevent a further resurrection. (taken from Wikipedia)
My best friend during high school played the album Them! So, I borrowed the cassette! And listen to it from beginning to end . Remember, this was actually when albums were dropping for bands in the height of their carrier. Honestly, it at times put a little fright in my head. I still plugged through and grew up loving King Diamond! Absolutely, the best!!
Discovered Mercyful Fate when I was 14 in 86. Saw him in concert at the Manatee County civic center Abigail tour in FL in 87 as King Diamond. It was basically a converted gym. Trouble was the opening band. General admission so I was 2 feet from him center stage. Phenomenal experience!! Probably seen him three or four other times. Lots of headphones sessions as a teenager in a dark room. Nobody else knew who he was. My nickname was Satan in high school. Couple of my friends were open to it and couldn’t tonight the groove. Little did we know how influential they would actually be at that time. Ride the lightning was recorded at the studios in Denmark where merciful fate was. Their pictures are all over the inside cover sleeve of that Metallica album.
80's, pre internet. For (in metal terms) large label releases we mostly went to the magazines, which showcased pages of merch from the labels and bands and all the info to either order through the mag or through the record labels. Lots of the big metal labels also put out large official compilations of their artists, sometimes even two disc comps. The two mainstream mags I read were the lighter metal Kerrang and the heavier Metal Hammer. For truly underground or for demos and live show bootlegs band merch booths/tables often featured boxes of tapes of all sorts of bands you'd never heard of. Bootlegs and tapes being sold in parking lots outside. Just conversing with veteran metal heads in general. Or. There was a rather large tape trading culture. Some mags and zines had classified ad sections where people sold used equipment or advertised tapes for trade. Some had personals sections too, find yoself some penpals or hookups or maybe even true love. I did some tape trading through fanclubs too. Skinny Puppy fanclubs traded tons of strange albums and I was in an active Accept fanclub that did a lot of good trading of European bands. Early 90's was when the internet was becoming readily accessible and I went to Karlsson's Black Metal Reviews and a few other young websites to get info on more extreme metal.
When they came out their followers were much like the die hard KISS and Iron Maiden fans. They had huge followings mostly because of their imagery and incredible talent.
I have yet to hear a song by King Diamond or Mercyful Fate (with King Diamond on vocals) that I do not like. You cannot go wrong with King Diamond lol.
DONT BE ALL CONFUSE ALL KING DIAMOND ARE CONCEPT ALBUMS THATS WHY YOU DONT UNDERSTAND ALL ALBUMS ARE HORROR STORIES IF YOU LISTEN ONLY ONE SONG ITS LIKE WATCHING A HORROR MOVIE FROME THE MIDDLE OF THE MOVIE . But your great I’m keeping watching your videos! 👍
It's a concept album. I strongly recommend watching/listening the whole albums with lyrics in front, it's a ride. Not just random collection of songs and sounds, it actually has a structure, for an example; change of atmosphere in a song in sync with particular part of the story. King Diamond is very theatrical, very old school in his approach. King Diamond was always big, but I recon many modern metalheads are like "oh, it's that dad, grandpa metal". I like it even more because of it. :)
King Diamond is one of my favorite musician. Not just because his unique vocals and concept albums, but also for his persona and being true to himself for 40+ years. I own all of his albums on original CDs. Every album has it's own vibe, musicality, atmosphere and a story. Also, gothic, Victorian horror esthetics is a great factor, wholly inseparable from his art and sound.
BTW, the symbol you've mentioned is Leviathan's cross - it's medieval alchemical symbol for sulfur. It's widely used in modern Satanism.
Yeah... Try to listen the whole album from the beggining, it's a concept album. Or you'll ask in every song "wtf is this person"
“I’m playing this shit at my next Halloween party.” 🤣🤣🤣
First King album for me was Them. But Abigail was amazing. Been hooked since 87
King's falsetto is his trademark sound. The Albums "ABIGAIL", "THEM", and "CONSPIRACY" are one long Horror story. King's first band is called MERCYFUL FATE, and they inspired pretty much every 80' thrash band out there, including METALLICA.
That is incorrect. Abigail is it’s own story while Them and Conspiracy are one horror story. I actually like Them/Conspiracy better.
Thanks for all the feedback. Some of you have been pretty rough on us for not knowing this was a concept album. This is why these are first time real reactions. If we know everything about the band, then why react? Now we know that we need to keep this in mind fo future King Diamond reactions. Please try to remember that we have never heard these before and are just starting out on our KD journey. Thanks for watching!
great reaction! don't listen to the ones giving you a hard time for not knowing it was a concept album, i didn't either when i was first exposed.. his stories are all great! i think you'll really enjoy the music even more when you get into the stories.. thanks for showing king some love! there are not nearly enough king reactions on youtube!
Just don't pay attention to those people, nice to see someone expanding their musical interests, everyone has to start somewhere, you can't know everything to begin with. Keep up the good work and continue to keep it genuine.
Off topic now, I see you have been reacting to plenty of E40, might want to react to some early Spice 1, he is a very creative and different rap artist especially in the early '90s. Maybe do Money Goneif you all would venture that way.
It's stupid to try to react to one song out of a concept album. A lot of metal fans did not get into King Diamond and Mercyful Fate because of King's voice. Those of us who didn't mind his voice and grasped the brilliant musicianship reveled in these releases. When this came out, King Diamond fans realized it is one of the greatest metal albums of all time, and it still is. You guys cut it too much.
Exactly. The only right way is to listen to the whole album at once. The second best option is to proceed in the order of the album, one or more songs at a time. Almost every KD album starts with a short intro; e.g., this “Abigail” album starts with “Funeral” followed by a full-length song “Arrival”. That would make a good start to the album reaction.
It took me a while to get used to King’s voice, but after that he’s been my favorite vocalist. I was 28 when I first heard King Diamond and Mercyful Fate, 23 years ago.
I'm 47.
I discovered him when I was 18.
None of my other friends listened to him.
They were into metal, but they just didn't listen.
They didn't have anything against him. They just didn't feel him.
Have you listened to Attic? It's a kd'tribute band
Dont worry, I feel him.. My whole life:)
My brother was at a party and King Diamond showed up. He was introduced to him as ‘Eddie Munster’. My brother said he was a really nice guy.
Stuff like that never happens to me! The biggest celebrity I saw at one of my parties was Ronald McDonald when I was 5. I'm pretty sure King diamond would have been less scary than a clown lol
i heard a song on the radio (yes once there was a metal radio show on swedish radio) called a mansion in darkness, from the abigail album. it was my introduction to king diamond, and then i got the mercyful fate albums of course.
Respect a legend.king diamond.lord of darkness.
i was a little kid when this album came out... was introduced to his music about 15 years ago and have been hooked ever since
I was 17 and a drummer in a band when this came out. And you either loved it or hated it.
But I didn't know many that didn't dig it. It's just amazing \m/
The Occult symbol you were referring to is used to reverse the evil eye or magical attacks back to the sender.
Keep on coming,Other bands and singers too..You got one more subscribers here
I am a big fan of king diamond and mercyful fate, I am 25 years old, but the first time I heard king diamond was back in 2009 and I was hooked the second I mercyful fate's song called Evil, so I can confirm that they have young fans aswell! I even got a tattoo of king diamonds because I love his vocal style so much
To me this was something my Metal Head homies played as we got high, We all love King
The alchemical symbol for sulphur, aka leviathan's cross.
Check out Mercyful Fate. His first band. A little more different voices added in. Check out "Curse of the Pharoah", "Evil" and "Nun's Have No Fun". And "Conr to the Sabbath".
First time I heard King Diamond was in radio back in 1988. I was 18 years old at the time. The song was "Invisible Guests" from the album "Them". When I began working in 1990 I started to buy music and King Diamond was on the list for sure. It's amazing how his music survived the test of time. It still sounds great today. Respect The king. Nice reaction ! Happy new year, btw...
Abigail tells the story of a young couple, Miriam Natias and Jonathan La'Fey, who move into an old mansion that La'Fey inherited. It takes place in the summer of 1845. At their arrival they are warned by seven horsemen not to move into the house because if they do "18 will become 9." They do not heed the warning and proceed to move into the mansion. During their first night, Jonathan meets with Count de La'Fey, the Family Ghost, who is a deceased relative. The ghost shows him a casket in which a corpse of a stillborn child, Abigail, rests. The ghost informs him that Miriam is carrying the spirit of Abigail and that the child will soon be reborn. He insists that Jonathan must kill Miriam at once to prevent the rebirth.
The narration then relates the story of what happened to the Count and his wife: on 7 July 1777, the Count had discovered his wife had been unfaithful to him, and was pregnant with an illegitimate child. Enraged, he threw the Countess down the stairs, breaking her neck and causing the child to be stillborn. The Count had the body of the Countess cremated, and the stillborn fetus he named Abigail and had mummified and laid to rest in a sarcophagus, the Count having an inexplicable urge to preserve Abigail for the future.
The narration then returns to the summer of 1845, during which Jonathan and Miriam are beset by a range of omens; the church bell rings despite nobody being inside to ring it, flowers die, unwholesome stenches fill the house and in the dining room the table is discovered set for 3. In one incident an empty cradle is discovered by Jonathan swaying in the air, with both him and Miriam insisting that they didn't bring it with them. The next day, Miriam is clearly pregnant and the fetus develops quickly; Jonathan realises that the family ghost was speaking the truth.
The fatal crisis begins when Jonathan accuses Abigail of possessing Miriam, and Abigail (through Miriam) admits it. Jonathan is terrified and considers getting a priest to exorcise Miriam - Miriam, however, exercising a moment of control, urges him to cast her down the stairs to kill her just as the Count had slain the Countess and Abigail's original incarnation. Therefore, Jonathan pretends to give in to Abigail's demands, and suggests to Abigail (once she regains control of Miriam) that she should come down to the family crypt so she can be reborn where she died. However, as the couple stands at the top of the stairs, Jonathan is distracted and the possessed Miriam pushes Jonathan down the stairs.
Miriam gives birth to Abigail, but dies shortly afterwards, her last sight being of Abigail's "yellow eyes"; supposedly her ghost can be heard screaming on the stairs in July ever after. The seven horsemen arrive at the mansion and discover the baby Abigail in the sarcophagus, eating something too horrifying for the narrator to mention (though the fact that it is found in the sarcophagus suggests that Abigail is eating her own previous body). Appalled, they take her away to bury her in a hidden chapel in the forest with seven silver spikes driven through her body (a burial heard as the intro to the album), in the hope that this will prevent a further resurrection. (taken from Wikipedia)
King Diamond - At The Graves (Album Conspiracy)
Yeah king diamonds album's Them is the first album to the story and Conspiracy is the second part of the story they are awesome
My best friend during high school played the album Them! So, I borrowed the cassette! And listen to it from beginning to end . Remember, this was actually when albums were dropping for bands in the height of their carrier. Honestly, it at times put a little fright in my head. I still plugged through and grew up loving King Diamond! Absolutely, the best!!
When I bought this album back in the day , it was niche . But all that knew it , loved it . King is the King
If you haven't yet, check out Jinjer - Pisces (live sessions). You'll love it. Another great rabbit hole.
Discovered Mercyful Fate when I was 14 in 86. Saw him in concert at the Manatee County civic center Abigail tour in FL in 87 as King Diamond. It was basically a converted gym. Trouble was the opening band. General admission so I was 2 feet from him center stage. Phenomenal experience!! Probably seen him three or four other times. Lots of headphones sessions as a teenager in a dark room. Nobody else knew who he was. My nickname was Satan in high school. Couple of my friends were open to it and couldn’t tonight the groove. Little did we know how influential they would actually be at that time. Ride the lightning was recorded at the studios in Denmark where merciful fate was. Their pictures are all over the inside cover sleeve of that Metallica album.
Kim Peterson ... from Denmark
guys listen to the album :) it´s a story then you understand:)
Kim bendex peterson aka King Diamond .
Gotta love The King... \m/
His name is Kim Peterson
Lives in Texas
King is theater
Please react to King Diamond - At The Graves
Halloween playlist???
Danse Macabre by Celtic Frost. Possibly the scariest metal song ever.
King diamond's real name is Kim Bendix Petersen if i'm not mistaken
King diamonds real name is william bendix peterson
80's, pre internet.
For (in metal terms) large label releases we mostly went to the magazines, which showcased pages of merch from the labels and bands and all the info to either order through the mag or through the record labels. Lots of the big metal labels also put out large official compilations of their artists, sometimes even two disc comps.
The two mainstream mags I read were the lighter metal Kerrang and the heavier Metal Hammer.
For truly underground or for demos and live show bootlegs band merch booths/tables often featured boxes of tapes of all sorts of bands you'd never heard of. Bootlegs and tapes being sold in parking lots outside. Just conversing with veteran metal heads in general.
Or.
There was a rather large tape trading culture. Some mags and zines had classified ad sections where people sold used equipment or advertised tapes for trade. Some had personals sections too, find yoself some penpals or hookups or maybe even true love.
I did some tape trading through fanclubs too. Skinny Puppy fanclubs traded tons of strange albums and I was in an active Accept fanclub that did a lot of good trading of European bands.
Early 90's was when the internet was becoming readily accessible and I went to Karlsson's Black Metal Reviews and a few other young websites to get info on more extreme metal.
When they came out their followers were much like the die hard KISS and Iron Maiden fans. They had huge followings mostly because of their imagery and incredible talent.
I have yet to hear a song by King Diamond or Mercyful Fate (with King Diamond on vocals) that I do not like. You cannot go wrong with King Diamond lol.
His real name is Kim Bendix Petersen
His real name is Kim Bendix Peterson
DONT BE ALL CONFUSE ALL KING DIAMOND ARE CONCEPT ALBUMS THATS WHY YOU DONT UNDERSTAND ALL ALBUMS ARE HORROR STORIES IF YOU LISTEN ONLY ONE SONG ITS LIKE WATCHING A HORROR MOVIE FROME THE MIDDLE OF THE MOVIE . But your great I’m keeping watching your videos! 👍
5:48 they actually had their song named 'Halloween' from 'The fatal portrait' album.
8:33 that's the leviathan cross
Error. kim bendix peterson aka king diamond
Check out the live version! Thanks
Jonathan and Miriam are a couple Abigail is the demon baby who possessed Miriam
hehe, for the full story u of course have to listen to the whole album....
the songs are a total story...read lyrics of full album to get it
Kim Bendix Peterson
Kim peterson is king diamond
King diamond albums are horror stories, every song is the next chapter of the.story its a concept album
Kim Bendix Petersen, to be precise.
Who the fk dislikes this lol
please do Halloween
Kim bendex Peterson
I'm a KD fan and Laveyan satanist and so is he 3:)