I think not enough people gave this album a chance, so lets see how it holds up when put under the microscope. "Never Ending Hill" kicks the album off , it's the single and the solos rip it from the word go, the main riff if is a still straight forward for him , but it works. He hits a pretty good note when he sings"Magic"...it's his cat's name. This is a concept album...of course and the lyrics sometimes work better than others, so the key is for a song like to use it's momentum and rock you in such a way that you don't notice.
"Is Anybody There" is about adjusting to the dark and feeling some one is watching you? The riff is staccato and doesn't have the kick that the first song had , the "help me" mid section is kinda cool. The song is well put together and the solo sections are once again the strong point. The riff to "Black of Night" is even better than the riff to "Never Ending Hill" , this is King back in classic form. The drummer is earning his keep on this one, while Andy continues to set his guitar to kill. "Mirror Mirror" is a mixed bag, it gets better as it goes along at the 2:20 it gets really heavy, but before that it is a little too rock n roll, for what I want from the King. The chorus riff reminds me of "Ride the Lighting " era Metallica.
The thing with King Diamond is he has the bar raised pretty high, so filler won't work as it has to hold up against Abigail and Them. The riff to "the Cellar" has the neo classical romanticism and Gothic overtones, which in that sense brings it closer to his classics. The production factors into this as the album is produced with a much brighter feel, less distance and re-verb.The "give me your soul please" line is pretty strong as is the chorus, which wins me over. I am however no a fan of when he uses a female back up singer. The title track handles this is the best possible way. the chorus has been stuck in my head more times than I can count.
The riff to "the Floating Head" is heavy in almost a Pantera manner. It's all tightly chugged, I am still unsure where I am at with the vocals on this one. It's a famous case for him where the concept albums lyrics become slightly cumbersome. So I am having to rate this one off of feel and how it feels as a King Diamond song. there is groove to this album that I do not normally associate with King. It works on " Cold as Ice". His vocals following the guitar melody some how fits , where if any other singer tried pulling that off it would have more cheese than Wisconsin. The harpsichord to "Shades of Black" give it a more conspiracy feel.
"The Girl in the bloody Dress" proves to be more propelled by keyboards and bass, before a pretty strong chug meets them half way there, it also finds king knocking the highs back out of the park. The album closes on a mellower note , but not with out the merit of Andy's shredding, the song takes on an almost power ballad feel. I think I put the pressure on this list so I 'll go ahead and round it up to a 10. If you did not give this a fair enough listen when it came out click below and do so .
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