King Diamond | website | facebook | twitter |
Released on November 11, 2014 via Metal Blade Records
Dreams of Horror summarizes King Diamond’s 30 year solo career that has, till this point, spawned 12 studio albums. Over the course of two discs and 23 songs, Dreams of Horror pays tribute to this massive and historic catalog of metal. The two disc set is split up between the Roadrunner (disc 1) and Metal Blade (disc 2) years.
King Diamond and only other original member, guitar god Andy La Rocque, who also meticulously re-mastered Dreams of Horror, chose the 23 tracks contained herein. I haven’t gone back to the original CDs and cassettes to see if each track sounds enhanced or not, but what I can tell you is that I’m pretty sure it is the case. Reason being, I don’t recall the early stuff sounding this rounded, bass heavy and full. It sounds like some serious improvements have been made there. Regardless, this is an impressive collection of King’s finest songs and the overall sound on here kicks ass!
Sure, some purists will cry foul that such and such a track is missing, which is to be expected with such an extensive and impressive back catalogue. And yeah, King’s albums are conceptual, so you’re not getting their totality, but fuck it; this is a great overview of a legendary career.
Now, if you’ve never gotten around to King Diamond before this is the perfect place to start. King Diamond’s music incorporates horror soundtrack-like intros and segues, New Wave Of British Heavy Metal as a template for his signature, often epic songs with wild solos. And of course King’s exuberant vocals, that are often multi-layered and can go from a whisper to wailing falsetto within seconds or simultaneously. You don’t have to comb over every album to find your favorite songs. Dreams of Horror is as close to a greatest hits compilation as you’re going to get, unless you make your own. Hail the King!
