Fumbling Towards Ecstacy: King Diamond and Mercyful Fate

I wanted to talk about my personal journey with King Diamond/Mercyful Fate. When I was thinking about how I was going to approach this it initially took the form of album reviews but I ultimately didn’t feel that that was what I wanted to do. There are many album reviews on the internet written by people who have a much more comprehensive knowledge of King Diamond than I do. Instead, I thought I would write about my personal experiences with King Diamond and what it is about the music that I like so much.

I guess I should start off with where I first heard about King Diamond/Mercyful Fate. For those who know me, you will not be surprised to hear that I heard about King Diamond when Tobias Forge mentioned him in an interview. As an avid Ghost fan, I was interested in what influences Tobias had so I went about checking out this King Diamond guy. It was actually Mercyful Fate that I first came across and would later find out that King Diamond was a part of that.

The first album I heard from Mercyful Fate was Time (1994). I instantly fell in love with every song on that album and was so excited that I told my husband about it. I asked him if he had ever heard of Mercyful Fate, to which he said no, so I played him some tunes and he was like, “Wait, that sounds like King Diamond,” and I was like, “Who is that?” and connections were made. Apparently, my husband knew who King Diamond was, I had never heard of him before. This was only a few years ago so I am a little behind the times, its fine. Anyway, I sought out some King Diamond albums and the first one I listened to was Fatal Portrait, which I’ll be honest, I wasn’t as fond of as Time. Then I came across a youtube video from Little Punk People (My King Diamond & Mercyful Fate Vinyl Collection) which got me thinking I should give some of the other albums a try. Elliott is so enthusiastic and adorable and his love of the music is contagious, so I wasn’t at the end of my journey yet.

Through my research online, I kept coming across Abigail as one of the best metal albums of all time, not just one of King Diamonds best so I decided to check it out. I’ve got to say, it was a bit of a slow burn for me but I’ve come to really love this album. There is a great article from sonicperspectives.com called Lost In The Ice: A Look at KingDiamonds Landmark Album which talks about all the things that make Abigail a great album. Would definitely recommend giving that a read if you’re interested.

So what is it that I love so much about King Diamond/Mercyful Fate? The classic metal sound? For sure. But the binding thread between these two bands is King Diamond himself. With vocals that can go from a deep growl to a soaring falsetto and a demonic dark look that speaks to my goth heart, not to mention that their live shows are an experience to behold, what’s not to love? King Diamond has had an expansive career of over 30 years and is currently working on a new album for both Mercyful Fate and King Diamond. No release dates on those as of yet but I’m looking forward to it.

As a special treat, here is me doing my best impression of the man himself: