Main menu
Fretplay home Submit tabs

King Diamond
King Diamond tabs King Diamond discography

Channels
Guitar channel Bass channel Guitar videos Reviews

Message Forum
Guitar forum Bass forum Bands and artists Promote your band Recent discussions All categories

Fretplay.com

King Diamond guitar tabs

CD reviews

Abigail

King Diamond - Abigail Audio CD

A fair review of the King Diamond "Abigail" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all King Diamond reviews here, or go back to the King Diamond tabs.

Band: King Diamond
Title: Abigail
Rating:

Release Date: 1991-07-01
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Funeral 2: Arrival 3: Mansion in Darkness 4: Family Ghost 5: 7th Day of July 1777 6: Omens 7: Possession 8: Abigail 9: Black Horsemen

Great but.....
Recently as in 2008! So I am a brand new fan. So I recently got into King Diamond. So I have no real bias towards his work.

Everyone told me Abigail was the best and a great place to start. So I bought it. The album is indeed good, but I must say I perfer newer King like The Puppet Master or Give me Your Soul.
Abigail is more straight forward 80s classic metal.
Where as the newer stuff is almost a gothic metal. It is also much more structured and catchier.
Not saying either is better, but if you like things more on the goth metal side, go with new. If you are an old school metal fan, go with old. .

Great Concept Album
If you haven't heard King Diamond's voice before, you you may want to listen to it first as his voice ranges from very high pitched falsetto to guttural from one bar to the next. 'Abigail' is a great gothic horror concept album by King Diamond that even got him a praiseworthy review in 'Newsweek' out of all publications. If you don't like falsetto voices then you probably won't like King Diamond. As with his works in Mercyful Fate, King Diamond manages to make his voice bearable with excellent musical talent brought by the band and just a well thought out gothic horror story. Great collaboration between lead guitarists Micheal Denner and Andy La Rocque. Very good drums with Mickey D. as well. A great concept album!.

Fantastic second solo album from King Diamond.
King Diamond's theatrical and over the top image is what helps create a dark theme to this album which tells a story of possession and demonic rebirth his high pitched wailing voice sounds like an evil spirit or something. Abigail is one of the most significant heavy metal albums of the 80's, even though its not as recognised as Mercyful Fate which was King Diamond's previous band it is still considered to be King Diamond's solo masterpiece. This album is about Abigail Lafey who is this woman thats supposed to enter a haunted mansion, she then gets possessed and then has an exorcism which I thought was a very interesting concept. The song Funeral starts of with a strange atmospheric synthesizer sound which then continues the rest of the dark theme in the album with the song Arrival which is a heavy/thrash metal song, this song is a great start to the album as both lead guitarists Micheal Denner and Andy La Rocque create some great and swirling guitar riffs, there is also some excellent solos during the next song A mansion in darkness and The family ghost which is the most famous song on this album and also has an amusing music video. The following song The 7th day of july 1777 has some nice and haunting acoustics along with some sound effects, this song is pretty obvious when you hear it you will realise that it influenced bands like Opeth and In Flames with the gothic melodic death music scene. Then you have the two head banging tracks like The possession and the last epic track Black Horsemen and then the album closes of with the bonus track Shrine and a bunch of demo tracks which isn't really anything special since they sound the same as the originals. Anyway this album is very essential to all fans of heavy metal and you need to add this great second album to your collection. .

Brilliant and Beautiful are all I have to say
This was my first KD album I ever bought, and it's my all time favorite album of his. This is King Diamond's second solo album "Abigail" which was released in 1987. Of course I also own "Fatal Portrait", "Them", "Conspiracy", and "The Puppet Master" which are all great albums, but like I said, "Abigail" is my all time favorite King Diamond album. This is also an incredible and brilliant concept album which tells a great horror story as well. The lyrics on here are just wonderfully written, and of course the musicianship is just incredibly off the hook. Michael Denner (who played in King's other band Mercyful Fate) and Andy La Rocque are just a wonderful duo on the guitars. These guys unleash a neverending barrage of angry shredding riffs and beautiful blazing dueling leads and solos throughout. Timi Hansen has great bass lines that you can HEAR. Mikkey Dee's drumming is just rock solid, fast, and just flat out unstopple. And of course topping all of that are the ever so incredible soaring vocals of the one and only King Diamond himself.

The Story -

The album begins in the 18th Century in which the body of baby Abigail La'Fey who was born dead on the 7th day of July 1777 is buried and put to rest in gruesome fashion: seven black-clad horsemen secure her to a coffin with seven spikes, including one through her mouth so that she may never rise and cause evil again. Flashing forward to the summer of 1845, the story also tells about a young couple, Miriam Natias and Jonathan La'Fey who move into a mansion that Jonathan inherited. At their arrival they are warned by seven horsemen not to move into the house because if they do "18 will become 9". They do not heed the warning and proceed to move into the mansion which is old, abandoned and dark. During their first night, Jonathan meets with Count La'Fey the Family Ghost, who is a deceased relative. The ghost shows Jonathan a casket in which the corpse of the stillborn child Abigail rests. The ghost then informs him that Miriam is carrying the spirit of Abigail and that the child will soon be reborn. He asks Jonathan to kill his wife to prevent the rebirth. In the meantime, the story unfolds of what happened to the Count and Miriam; she gave birth to Abigail on the 7th Day of July 1777. The Count had thrown her down the stairs causing her neck to break as well as the death of Abigail. The next day, Miriam is clearly pregnant and the fetus develops quickly. Jonathan contemplates throwing her down the stairs, encouraged seemingly by his wife. However Miriam throws him down the stairs killing him instantly and gives birth to Abigail. However Miriam does not survive the birth, and Abigail is left alone. At that moment the seven horsemen arrive again, planning to destroy Abigail once more and succeed.

The songs -

1. Funeral (1:29) - 4/5
2. Arrival (5:26) - 5/5
3. A Mansion in Darkness (4:33) - 5/5
4. The Family Ghost (4:05) - 5/5
5. The 7th Day of July 1777 (4:51) - 5/5
6. Omens (3:56) - 5/5
7. The Possession (3:25) - 5/5
8. Abigail (4:52) - 5/5
9. Black Horsemen (7:39) - 5/5

10. Shrine (Bonus Track) (4:23) - 4/5

Didn't feel like rating the three bonus rough mixes. They're basically the same songs from the album.

I don't normally write long reviews, but since this album is soooooo incredible, I thought I'd give it a long thought out written review. Bottom Line is this masterpiece of an album is just brilliant and beautiful in so many words. Anyways if you're a fan of King Diamond, heavy metal, or just good music in general, by all means, you must and I DO MEAN must add this classic metal album to your collection. Happy Headbanging!!
LONG LIVE KING DIAMOND!!.

A classic
This album has a "heavy metal" style, like Trouble, for example. This is a classic album for any fan of metal. This is NOT speed metal or death metal. It's just normal heavy metal, but with a pleasantly evil sound. This is the sort of album where you want to listen to the entire thing, rather than just individual songs.

You can see a complete list of all King Diamond discography, or go back to the King Diamond tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.