Independent review

If Mercyful Fate were extremely heavy for the beginning of the 80s, and some even dubbed Kim Bendix Petersen aka King Diamond the father of black metal, and the first solo album or the first album of the band of the same name, Fatal Portrait, resembled a search for a style with a departure from limitless heaviness toward more canonical heavy metal, then on the second record, Abigail, King deduced the ideal scheme for his creativity. For the majority, the album remained the high point of his work, although I prefer the fantastic sequel from 2002. One wants to say that everything brilliant is simple, but definitely not this time. The King Diamond scheme is multi-layered heavy melodies, saturated with heavy, loaded riffs, framing Kim's enchanting vocal parts, from a nasal rasp to the highest falsetto. The instrumental component relies on the two guitars of Andy LaRocque (Diamond's constant co-author) and Michael Denner (one of the producers and creators of the sound). You could say the recording is terrible even for 87, but firstly, Diamond traditionally chooses muffled American production and many are fond of such a sound, and secondly, in King's mystical conceptual stories, atmosphere is one of the first priorities, and such a sound provides it in abundance, creating a sense of an endless night, full of horror and chaos. For all the sophistication, one cannot deny Kim the ability to dilute the concept with memorable themes and choruses in addition to the riffs. Later, this skill sometimes left him, but on both parts of Abigail the balance is maintained. If you want something unusual, while not destroying your brain, then Abigail is an excellent option, or just remember old King Diamond, as I did. It is still original and relevant music, in which the work of a huge number of followers can be guessed, which will please both new listeners and those nostalgically returning to Diamond's work through the prism of time.

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