Mercyful Fate / King Diamond Discography

Fat Freddy wrote:

After this one, to be honest, my interest in KD's solo material was casual (at best) because it didn't match up to the MF days (at least to me).

That pretty much sums up my experience as well.

Believe it or not FP is my least favorite KD. The guitar tone is too thin for my taste.

Fat Freddy wrote:

FATAL PORTRAIT is my fave KD release, mainly because it sounds like the third Mercyful Fate album. All of the tracks on it were intended for the next MF before the band split up. .

Agree that it sound like the third MF album!

Going back to the song "Melissa", I read where the remastered version of the song differs from the original. Thanks to MG, I was able to hear what the difference was, if any and low and behold there is! First of all the overall sound of the original has more reverb and echo. The part of the song that is missing is around the 3:00 mark where the solo is coming in. King says the line "Oh she was a witch, Oh why did they take you away" then it fades. On the remaster it says that but instead of when he says "away" fading out it continues a little longer and he adds "Melissa, Oh Melissa" throughout the solo part.

Kind of interesting to hear that not even knowing about it in the first place. I wonder if that was a mistake on the original or who decided to add that in the remaster? I'm also just amazed too at how much tighter the remaster sounds.

Technically, it sounds like a remix instead of a remaster.

They got the master tapes out, decided they liked that vocal part that was left off initially and decided to put it back in. That of course requires a complete new mix of the song, which would also explain why there is less reverb, they chose different effects for the new mix.

Yea I guess your right really. It is more like a remix. I believe thats the only song thats different from what I read. I wonder about the rest of the album now.

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

Yea I guess your right really. It is more like a remix. I believe thats the only song thats different from what I read. I wonder about the rest of the album now.

If you have both, compare them in headphones. Listen for any changes in balance, instrument placement, etc. It should be fairly obvious if the rest of the songs are remixed or remastered.

detuned wrote:

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

Yea I guess your right really. It is more like a remix. I believe thats the only song thats different from what I read. I wonder about the rest of the album now.

If you have both, compare them in headphones. Listen for any changes in balance, instrument placement, etc. It should be fairly obvious if the rest of the songs are remixed or remastered.

I only sent him the song 'Melissa', but I have the whole album on my computer now. If I can figure out how to zip up all the files, I'll send the whole album.

I actually was just reading on the King Diamond message board and someone posted something about this. All the Roadrunner versions are the way the song was suppose to be in the first place. All the Megaforce versions were in some way or form messed up by them and King had no idea.

MG I just sent you the other version of Melissa.

1987 saw the release of King Diamonds first full length concept album called "Abigail". This album is also arguably the best King Diamond album. Its just from start to finish a great and entertaining listen. Here is what the album is about:

"Abigail tells the story about 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 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 asks Jonathan to kill his wife to prevent the rebirth. In the meantime, the story unfolds of what happened to the Count and his wife; she gave birth to Abigail on 7 July 1777. The Count had thrown her down the stairs, causing her neck to break as well as the death of Abigail, who was an illegitimate daughter. The next day, Miriam is clearly pregnant and the fetus develops quickly. Jonathan contemplates throwing her down the stairs, encouraged seemingly by his wife. However, Miriam throws him down the stairs and gives birth to Abigail. But Miriam does not survive the birth, and Abigail is left alone. At that moment the seven horsemen arrive again, planning to destroy Abigail once more."

Everyone from the "Fatal Portrait" was still involved with the band, which is what I think made this album what it is. You still had Denner and Hansen from Mercyful Fate, Andy LaRocque and the great drumming by Mikkey Dee. This line up just had "IT" and they worked well with eachother. Unfortunetly after the release of the album Michael Denner left the band and in came Mike Moon who would be the second guitarist for the remainder of the "Abigail" tour.

"Abigail" is just awesome all the way through. Theres not much to really say about it except its just a "MUST GET" metal album. I know some people have a hard time hearing Kings voice, but the story and the music really mesh well together with this release. Even the production is a step up from the previous album. The album was remastered in 1997 with bonus tracks "Shrine" which was a b-side, while "A Mansion In Darkness", "The Family Ghost", and "The Possession" were rough mixes. The album was again re-issued along with a bonus DVD in 2005.



1. "Funeral"
2. "Arrival"
3. "A Mansion in Darkness"
4. "The Family Ghost"
5. "The 7th Day of July 1777"
6. "Omens"
7. "The Possession"
8. "Abigail"
9. "Black Horsemen"

This album was way ahead of it's time. Haunting, epic traditional metal with an interesting concept.

The stories behind the music never really interested me that much and sometimes concept albums suffer from the need to convey the story to the music. That is not the case here. Abigail is a great album! The Family Ghost is one of my favorite songs (one of the first metal videos I had ever seen) and I also really enjoy Black Horseman.

I feel the same way about concept albums, but your right with this one. Its one of the many exceptions.

ABIGAIL was the last KD album I really dug before I started losing interest in his solo material. I dunno, I guess I wasn't in the mood to hear constant concepts about ghosts, witches and evil grannies album after album.

I love this album and I agree with 007, I do not always pay attention to the story lines and concepts but this one works for me, and the songs mood convey the story very well.

Like FF, I lost interest in his solo material after this album for awhile so it will be fun to read to see what I missed out on.

"Abigail" was my introduction to King Diamond, and that was just a couple of years ago. Since it is widely considered King's best this is where I started. I have the Roadrunner Remastered version and I remember when I bought it, I popped it into my car's CD player and it didn't work! Bummer!!

Anyways, it took me a couple of spins before I really got into this album. I wasn't sure I was going to as King's voice is certainly an acquired taste, but luckily I did. What a great album! I did pick up "Give Me Your Soul...Please" when it was first released and just recently found "Voodoo" in a used bin. Looking forward to the continuation of this thread so I can start picking up more of his catalog!

I really dug Abigail when it first came out. The LaRoque/Denner guitar tandem flowered on this recording, kick ass guitar all over the place. It was a real energetic recording and worked either as a concept album, or as individual tracks.

Going solely off memory though, haven't heard it since 1991 or so.

Yea that is one great thing about this album. Its good listening to it as a whole but also the songs hold up on their own so they could be listened to individually.

I've only recently starting warming up to King's vocals, so my collection is very sparse to say the least.

Fortunately, I found the Abigail gold disc re-issue at a flea market a few months ago for a coupla bucks. Cool album and artwork.

Nice! The gold discs are cool. I have all the remasters but not all of them are the gold discs. I guess they were really limited. Wish I would have known.

Classic album. My favorite KD solo disc actually. I also really love the video for The Family Ghost, haha.

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

Nice! The gold discs are cool. I have all the remasters but not all of them are the gold discs. I guess they were really limited. Wish I would have known.

Is there a difference in sound between the gold discs and the regular remasters? There has been one sitting at my local music store for awhile now. Is it worth the double dip?

In classic Roadrunner reissue style, the gold discs are nothing but ummm.....gold.

My copy of DON'T BREAK THE OATH is the gold-CD reissue. It looks neat-O but is otherwise a pretty useless gimmick.