King Diamond
The Eye
[Roadrunner]
Back in 1990 the King unleashed yet another attack against Christianity. This is of course a concept album and this time King deals with the witch-processes in medieval Europe. The reason for this specific subject was the following: When King put Mercyful Fate to rest back in 84 and formed K.D he toned down the satanic influences a bit and focused more on the occult. This was not enough for the hypocrite Christian movement in the U.S.A (to which King moved at the time) which unleashed a veritable assault against K.D after each release accusing him for indirect responsibility for murders etc. So King released this effort as one being untouchable for those hypocrites dealing with their most blatant crimes.
Another interesting aspect of this album is the new drummer Snowy Shaw (Mikkey Dee acted as a session drummer on "Conspiracy" and had at this point definitely left the band, a great loss) who takes credit for the drumming, but actually a drum-machine is used on this album because of unclear circumstances.
The album itself marks the end of an era. This was the last studio-album K.D released on Roadrunner and I guess it counts as the last of the truly great K.D albums though some people have said that this too is a step downhill but I'm not one of them.
The album tells the story of wicked priests, infant sacrifices, rape and murder. King also claims this story to "unfortunately [be] true" and the characters real. It takes place in France during the inquisition 1450-1670.
On to the music then: Everyone who have heard K.D before know what to expect, for the others we're talking about (extremely) technical heavy metal. This album is rather heavy sounding, not as heavy as "Conspiracy" but close. The drum machine has a very authentic sound but creates a very basic sort of drumming where nothing really sticks out, that's a minus of course. Keyboards are used quite extensively and the Kings beloved harpsichord is also present most predominantly in the track "Behind These Walls". The guitarriffs and the pre-written solos (which are customary) create an excellent atmosphere. The thing I like most with this album is when the guitars play a kind of haunting riffs and King producing some excellent chanting like vocals, for example the choruses on the tracks "Into the Convent" and "Father Picard". Apart from this there are loads of great tracks like "Burn" (heavy as fuck), the haunting "1642 Imprisonment", the theatre like piece "The Trial (Chambre Ardente)" and the instrumental "Insanity".
Conclusion: An excellent HM-release with the only weakness being the drumming. Loads of "hits" and a truly head banging experience. This is an important part of our musical heritage.
© 2001 herr nebelwerfer
Another interesting aspect of this album is the new drummer Snowy Shaw (Mikkey Dee acted as a session drummer on "Conspiracy" and had at this point definitely left the band, a great loss) who takes credit for the drumming, but actually a drum-machine is used on this album because of unclear circumstances.
The album itself marks the end of an era. This was the last studio-album K.D released on Roadrunner and I guess it counts as the last of the truly great K.D albums though some people have said that this too is a step downhill but I'm not one of them.
The album tells the story of wicked priests, infant sacrifices, rape and murder. King also claims this story to "unfortunately [be] true" and the characters real. It takes place in France during the inquisition 1450-1670.
On to the music then: Everyone who have heard K.D before know what to expect, for the others we're talking about (extremely) technical heavy metal. This album is rather heavy sounding, not as heavy as "Conspiracy" but close. The drum machine has a very authentic sound but creates a very basic sort of drumming where nothing really sticks out, that's a minus of course. Keyboards are used quite extensively and the Kings beloved harpsichord is also present most predominantly in the track "Behind These Walls". The guitarriffs and the pre-written solos (which are customary) create an excellent atmosphere. The thing I like most with this album is when the guitars play a kind of haunting riffs and King producing some excellent chanting like vocals, for example the choruses on the tracks "Into the Convent" and "Father Picard". Apart from this there are loads of great tracks like "Burn" (heavy as fuck), the haunting "1642 Imprisonment", the theatre like piece "The Trial (Chambre Ardente)" and the instrumental "Insanity".
Conclusion: An excellent HM-release with the only weakness being the drumming. Loads of "hits" and a truly head banging experience. This is an important part of our musical heritage.
© 2001 herr nebelwerfer