King Diamond
Kim Bendix Petersen a.k.a. King Diamond is a Danish Heavy Metal singer who fronts Mercyful Fate, as well as a solo band. He is highly critical of religion, and is an atheist in real life, although he previously claimed to be a Satanist for Shock Value purposes. His live performances include wearing black and white face paint with inverted crosses, as well as using a microphone handle consisting of a femur bone and a tibia bone in the shape of an inverted cross. His own vocal style is another distinguishing aspect of his performance, for its range from low to unhumanly high pitch levels, as well as the often-over the top deliveries.
Before forming his own bands, he previously played in the Hard Rock band Black Rose, and the Punk Rock band Brats. With Mercyful Fate and his solo band, he became known for producing comprehensive and groundbreaking Heavy Metal Concept Albums (pretty much every release by both bands).
To mainstream audiences, King Diamond is best known through Metallica's "Mercyful Fate Medley", and the inclusion of his songs in Clerks II by King Diamond fan Kevin Smith (the admiration is mutual).
Influences:
- David Byron, Ian Gillan, Robert Plant, Geddy Lee, Alice Cooper, Rob Halford, Ronnie James Dio, Ozzy Osbourne
Mercyful Fate Albums
- Melissa (1983)
- Don't Break the Oath (1984)
- In the Shadows (1993)
- Time (1994)
- Into the Unknown (1996)
- Dead Again (1998)
- 9 (1999)
King Diamond Albums
- Fatal Portrait (1986)
- Abigail (1987)
- "Them" (1988)
- Conspiracy (1989)
- The Eye (1990)
- The Spider's Lullabye (1995)
- The Graveyard (1996)
- Voodoo (1998)
- House of God (2000)
- Abigail II: The Revenge (2002)
- The Puppet Master (2003)
- Give Me Your Soul...Please (2007)
King Diamond himself/live performance
- Careful with That Axe
- Large Ham: GRANDMA WHAT WAS IT LIIIIIIKE?!? TO BE ON THE HOLIDAY SIIIIIITE?!?
- Singing Voice Dissonance
Lyrics/Themes/Concepts
- All Hallow's Eve: "Halloween" in The Fatal Portrait.
- Another Man's Terror: The titular necklace in The Eye has this effect on its wearer.
- Anti-Christmas Song: "No Presents for Christmas".
- An Axe to Grind: An axe solves problems in "Them".
- Bedlam House:
- Devil Lake Sanitarium in Spider's Lullabye.
- Black Hill Sanitarium in Graveyard might be this, or at least protagonist seem to think so. Of course, he is crazy, but it is implied that it was the asylum that made him that way.
- Burn the Witch: "Burn" from The Eye.
- Careful with That Axe
- Character Title: Abigail.
- Concept Album: Pretty much all albums.
- Couldn't Find a Pen: Used on the cover of Give Me Your Soul...Please to form the title.
- The Danza: Protagonist of "Them" and Conspiracy is named King Diamond. (Probably. He is only called by first name in songs, but a letter in Them booklet is signed "K.D.", and protagonist totally looks like King himself in Conspiracy comic. Also the case on The Puppet Master though it's not related to preceding.
- Dead Little Sister: Missy to King in Conspiracy.
- Death by Childbirth: Miriam dies when she gives birth to Abigail.
- Death by Falling Over: Countess de LaFey dies when she is pushed down the stairs by her husband before the events in Abigail.
- Dedication
- Demonic Possession: Spirit of Abigail possesses Miriam when she enters the mansion.
- Due to the Dead
- Eldritch Abomination: The beings that are revealed to be the true controllers of existence at the end of House of God are akin to this.
- Epic Rocking: "Black Horsemen" from Abigail" (over seven minutes), "At the Graves" from Conspiracy (almost 9 minutes) and "Room 17" from Spider's Lullaby (over 8 minutes).
- Evil Laugh
- Express Delivery / Fetus Terrible: Abigail, from the album of the same name, possesses her mother before being born.
- Eye Scream: In "No More Me", the titular villain removes King's eyes and places them into a puppet.
- Eyes of Gold: Abigail is born with yellow eyes.
- Foreshadowing: This line in Abigail:
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"Beware the slippery stairs, you could easily fall and break your neck!" |
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- Haunted House: Many. King really loves his haunted buildings.
- The mansion in Abigail and Abigail II
- The house "Amon" in "Them" and Conspiracy
- "LOA House" in Voodoo
- Protagonist's home in Give Me Your Soul... Please, though it's unclear if it was originally haunted, or only becomes so during the album's story.
- The eponymous church in House of God is either this, or a Haunted Castle.
- Hollywood Voodoo: "Voodoo" is a Take That to people who think that Hollywood Voodoo is real voodoo.
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: The sword-n-sorcery/heavy-metal anime "Bastard!" features the vampire King Di-Amon, with very similar makeup and vocalizations.
- Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate Doctor Landau. Mentioned briefly in "Them", and becomes more important character in Conspiracy
- Instrumentals
- Nightmare Dreams: King suffers from them in Conspiracy.
- Numbered Sequels: Abigail II: The Revenge with an Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo thrown in.
- Off with His Head: Grandma was sent to the asylum when she cut off her husbands head prior to the events in "Them".
- People Puppets: Theme of the Puppet Master album.
- The Power of Blood: Blood is the prime ingredient in Grandma's tea in "Them".
- Religion Rant Song
- Slashed Throat: Grandma dies in "Them" when King cuts her throat open with an axe.
- Strapped to An Operating Table: Protagonist in The Puppet Master
- Talking to Himself: King handles all the vocals and spoken parts.
- Updated Rerelease: Five first albums and the In Concert 1987 live album got updated cd-releases in mid 90's with linernotes and bonustracks. Later the next three albums also got updated as remastered digipack releases with bonus content.
- The X of Y
Music/Music referential
- Black Metal, though King Diamond himself hasn't made black metal, his image and lyrics inspired later black metal bands.
- Heavy Metal
Music Videos
- Eyepatch of Power: Courtesy of the bassist Timi Hansen.