It is with great pleasure I announce that The King is back! ...again... After two weeks of non-stop listening to this promo, The Puppet Master has taken its place alongside of my favorite King Diamond albums (Them, Conspiracy, The Eye & House of God) I had a hard time getting into Abigail Pt. II and was hoping for something a little more capturing this time. Wish granted I must say. The Puppet Master is all that I was hoping for and more! After watching the preview clip of King telling part of the story I had a feeling that this would be special. And special it is indeed. This is also the most theatrical King Diamond album ever, with several new elements being successfully added to the usual mix.
For a change the album doesn't start out with a spoken intro, but sets up the scene by looking back at the horrific events that follow a seemingly innocent show at a puppet theater in Budapest one snowy night close to christmas... I will not tell you more about the story as this is one of the great things when discovering a new King Diamond album. Not having the lyrics made it a bit difficult to understand everything that's going on but I found myself getting more and more into the gruesome story with each listen. While the story is pretty gruesome and contains one of the most brilliantly sick and graphic scenes ever to grace a King Diamond album, there is also an intriguing kind of softness to it, but above all the way the songs are performed makes it feel real and you can actually picture what is going on. That is also what I meant when I said that this is a very theatrical album. I think that the decision to use a female singer in many songs was a great one and only intensifies this aspect. Livia sings in a voice that is very sweet and innocent, but also filled with despair and sadness that fits the story perfect, giving it a great emotional impact.
King himself excels here too. He does not use the highest tones of his voice as much as on earlier albums. Only when it fits the songs does he go all out banshee-wailing, most of the time he is held back and very very melodic, living out the songs with great feeling. Actually Livia gets many of the best vocal melody lines. And when both of them are singing together, harmonising in several songs, the result is really incredible and gives a chilling feeling. I can't wait to see the live show this time around. If she comes along then the stage is set for a show filled with new possibilities, also in the older songs.
The songs are also somewhat different this time around. All of them are extremely melodic and several songs have a great unexpected structure where you don't immediately recognise the chorus. Instead there are a lot of memorable vocal lines that stick in your head. Take a song like Emerencia where that one line makes a great impact. First King sets up the melody ("The moon is high above"), then Livia continues to deliver that one perfect line, each time a little different, but holding the song together while King continues with the story.
Several live and party favorites are bound to come from this album. From the introductory Midnight the show opens with the heavy and powerful title track, which includes two excellent guitar solos. The opening riff in Magic is hard and has a great drive that pervades the whole song. The guitar solos are... well, magic (I mean that) and this is the first song to use both King and Livia's vocals in the chorus with some suberb harmonies. Emerencia is one of my favorites with a captivating atmosphere and King in his usual brilliantly twisted storyteller-mode. The dramatic Blue Eyes gives the story an emotional twist and has one of those killer vocal lines I talked about earlier.
The Ritual is another favorite. It has a fantastic, classic chorus with a huge vocal melody and an epic feel to it. This is a definite sing-a-long for those dark winter nights.
No more me has a classic King opening line and goes on to attack the listener with an increasingly disturbing picture of total puppet transition. Eating is not recommended while listening to this track, where my favorite moment involves a couple of eyeballs... Blood to walk is pretty good, but also one of the most "normal" tracks on the album.
Darkness ranks up there with the best songs King has ever written (That is a long list though...
) I am really in awe of this one. Livia sings part of the chorus in a voice that completely conveys the feeling of nothingness and despair in a place where there is no hope, and King's counterpoint works great in bulding a climax. He also does a great job acting out the various parts in some very effective voices. The song has a cool drive and when the chorus sets in the outstanding guitarwork creates a thick, heavy background. Especially the ending part is a chilling highlight of the entire album. Perfect, Powerful and touching.
The only two songs I feel are not quite as good as the other ones are So sad and Christmas. So sad is just too... well, sad. Even though it holds a lot of emotion and heartbreak the song goes on for a bit too long and I find this one a little boring after many listens. Christmas tries some neat tricks, but the song feels a little disjointed. I don't feel the "Little drummer boy" reference works as well as it could have here. An honorable mention goes to the most excellent guitar solo though.
The story ends with Living dead, which has a very fitting and emotionally effective ending, conveying the impression of the emptiness of an eternal life.
Thus ends another King Diamond horror story and I must say that I was greatly entertained. I still am and with each listen the album keeps growing.
There are a great number of cool little references to older King work scattered around the album for you to discover. A few are found in The Ritual (1642 imprisonment), Christmas (Lady in black), Blood to walk (The Curse) and several others I'll leave for yourself to discover. Maybe I'm putting too much into this, but I think these little things are really cool.
This promo is only the actual album and does not include the bonus DVD which is available on the Special edition. The DVD has King himself telling the story of The Puppet Master. It is available for preorder at Metal Merchant at the moment with a pretty good price.
This is a King Diamond album with all the good stuff. A grotesque and tragic story, Andy Laroque and Mike Wead delivering some mean guitarwork, Hal Patino on bass and Matt Thompson on drums. All musicians lay the perfect groundwork for King to work his magic. I almost forgot to mention the many brilliant guitar solos and riffs that are scattered all over the album, another blistering performance by Andy and Mike. The atmosphere is thick and filled with spookiness and despair mixed in a cocktail of magic & blood. This time King has renewed himself by incorporating some new elements that work out really well. The production is not as heavy as on recent King albums but here it gives the album an overall softness that fits the story very good.
While the album is quite accessible, it did take a few listens before the album opened up to me, but from then on it has just kept on growing.
All King Diamond fans rejoice! The Puppet Master is a terrific and disturbing album.
Rating: 8.5/10
Steen - 10/9/03
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An underground icon and purveyor of all things dark and mysterious, KING DIAMOND and his cohorts continue to terrorize humanity with their latest and most extreme album to date, The Puppet Master. This gruesome tale set to take place in 18th century Budapest, Hungary involving a puppet show and many fascinating characters. One cold night in December the main character known as Unfortunate Man goes down to see a Christmas puppet show and after the show he is standing outside and sees a young woman. He is strangely drawn to this young woman, Victoria, almost as if one of the puppet's ghosts is sitting on his shoulder whispering in his ear to go and kiss the girl. The two get along immediately due to their fascination with the puppet show and end up going out. About a year later everything is going very good until one night Victoria heads down to the puppet show by herself and never returns. The Unfortunate Man goes down to the puppet show to investigate and sees the Puppet Master's wife leaving with a wheel barrel and follows her only to see her murder a homeless man and put his body in the cart. From here the story twists and turns as it takes you through the horrific tale of the Unfortunate Man, Victoria, The Puppet Master, his wife, the puppets and the events leading to the climactic end of the story.
As King describes it this album is going to make the hairs stand up on the back of listeners neck. "The rules of censorship are being thrown out the window
this is going to be the rawest story/album we have ever done." King was also quick to point out that "if you are into horror; you're definitely going to get it with this album!" The Puppet Master is sure to be considered one of King's goriest and most extreme stories yet!
The Puppet Master will also contain a bonus DVD of King Diamond telling the story of The Puppet Master. This is the first time King Diamond has done anything like this and is sure to be a huge success with all his devoted fans. The band also approached their band pictures a little different this time around making all the members look like tormented puppets. It will definitely be different and twisted! As King says, "This is some of the best material to date. You're really gonna love this stuff!!!" Be sure to catch King Diamond live on tour supporting The Puppet Master in October/November 2003. It will not be a show to miss!
Who's pulling your strings!?!?
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