What can one say about King Diamond that hasn't been said before. The guy and his style are like universally known ( just in case though : dramatic vocals alternating between fucking high and regular amongst technical traditional heavy metal... the man's trademark). Plain and simple, this is great metal but you gotta be able to stand the King's vocals. The deciding factor I guess and I can't blame those who are turned off cause sometimes his high pitched AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHS make me chuckle but it's all good ghost story telling to metal. Don't get me wrong though, sometimes he totally hits the mark. A gruesome storyline to this concept album performed with top flight musicianship. Best song in my opinion is : 'A Mansion In The Dark'. Four bonus tracks also appear on this disc ('Shrine' plus three rough mixes). Cover art rules by the way!!! One last thing, I fucking hate that eye patch worn by Timi Hansen.

© 2000 malphas