Cries from the Quiet World: King Diamond

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sábado, 7 de diciembre de 2024

Absu "Tara + In the Eyes of Ioldánach (2009 Remastered, Digipak, France, Osmose Productions, OPCD 216/OPCD216)"

Tara + In the Eyes of Ioldánach is a compilation album by American Black Thrash Metal band Absu, reelased September 2009.

Tracklist:

Tara 01:54
Pillars of Mercy 04:21
A Shield with an Iron Face 03:22
Manannán 06:39
The Cognate House of Courtly Witches Lies West of County Meath 04:19
She Cries the Quiet Lake 04:10
Yrp Lluyddawc 01:51
From Ancient Times (Scarless Skies Burn to Ash) 03:53
Four Crossed Wands (Spell 181) 04:46
Vorago (Spell 182) 05:45
Bron (Of the Waves) 01:32
Stone of Destiny (...For Magh Slecht and Ard Righ) 07:47
Tara (Recapitulation) 01:46
V.I.T.R.I.O.L. 03:26
Hallstatt 04:06
Manannán 05:31
Never Blow Out the Eastern Candle 04:25

Time: 01:09:33

Recording information:

Tara:

Produced by Absu.

Recorded between September-December 2000 at Nomad Recording Studios, Carrollton, Texas.

In the Eyes of Ioldánach:

Recorded in March 1998 at Nomad Recording Studios - Carrollton, Texas, USA.

Mastered & edited at Nomad Recording Studios.

All music produced, composed, and arranged by Absu.

viernes, 30 de septiembre de 2022

King Diamond "Them (1997 Remaster)"

"Them" is the third studio album by Danish heavy metal band King Diamond, released in 1988 via Roadrunner Records. It is the first album to feature guitarist Pete Blakk and bassist Hal Patino.

"Them" is the first of two fictional concept albums about King and his mentally ill grandmother, the second of these being Conspiracy. King falls into a harrowing descent into madness via his grandmother and the voices in the House of Amon, known to the listener only as "Them".

It is the first of two fictional concept albums about King and his mentally ill grandmother, the second of these being Conspiracy. King falls into a harrowing descent into madness via his grandmother and the voices in the House of Amon, known to the listener only as "Them". This album has sold over 200,000 copies in North America alone.

As the album opens, a young King and his mother and sister are welcoming King's grandmother home from a mental asylum. That night, King investigates strange voices and discovers his grandmother having a tea party seemingly alone, though with the teacups and kettles floating in the air. King is invited into the room, to sit in his grandmother's chair. King is sent back to bed, but only after staring into his grandmother's eyes, whereupon she instructed him to forget what he saw.

On another occasion, Grandma awakens King and tells him that she will teach him about Amon, their house, over a cup of tea. Grandma cuts King's sleeping mother's hand and adds her blood to the teapot. The voices of the house ("Them") begin to affect King with a drug-like effect. King's sister Missy tries to convince King that they should do something to help their mother, who is unconscious under "their" power, but his judgment is clouded due to his altered state. He refuses to call for help and cuts the phone line. At tea, Missy interrupts and furiously expresses concern about her mother's state and breaks the teapot. "They", in response to the breaking of "their" teapot, chop Missy into bits with an axe and throw the remains into the fireplace in the kitchen. King is snapped out of his "spell," and he stumbles outside and pieces together the events that transpired.

After fainting and regaining consciousness, he decides to attack his grandmother. He notices that "their" power is weakened outside the house, so he lures his grandmother outside and kills her. The voices of Amon continue to haunt the boy as he is questioned by police and incarcerated in an asylum. Years later, he is released and returns home to find his grandmother and the voices of Amon are still very much alive.

The song "Welcome Home" and lyrics from the song "Invisible Guests" were featured in the film Clerks II. "Welcome Home" was also featured in the 2009 video game Brütal Legend.

Track listing

All tracks are written by King Diamond, except where indicated.

"Out from the Asylum" 1:44
"Welcome Home" 4:36
"The Invisible Guests" 5:04
"Tea" 5:15
"Mother's Getting Weaker" (Diamond, Andy LaRocque) 4:02
"Bye, Bye Missy" 5:08
"A Broken Spell" (Diamond, LaRocque) 4:08
"The Accusation Chair" 4:21
"'Them'" (instrumental; Diamond, LaRocque) 1:56
"Twilight Symphony" 4:10
"Coming Home" 1:11

Remastered edition bonus tracks

"Phone Call" 1:39
"The Invisible Guests" (rehearsal) 5:19
"Bye, Bye Missy" (rehearsal) 4:51

Released as part of Roadrunner Records' the King Diamond Remasters series.

Tracks 13 & 14 are instrumental versions from rehearsals prior to the recording of the album and feature King and Andy on guitar, Mikkey on drums and Timi Hansen on bass. Hansen was still part of the band during preproduction and actually taught Hal Patino the bass lines.

Recording information:

Recorded & mixed at: M.M.C. Studio, Copenhagen, DK.

Remastered at The Hit Factory, New York.

King Diamond "Abigail (CD+DVD Edition, Remastered)"

Abigail is the second King Diamond album and their first concept album. It was released in 1987 on Roadrunner Records. There were several re-releases, first in 1997 with 4 bonus tracks, and then a 25th Anniversary edition in 2005 with a bonus DVD. This album has sold over 175,000 copies in North America alone.

Abigail tells the story about a young couple, Miriam Natias and Jonathan La'Fey, who move into an old mansion that La'Fey inherited. It takes place in the summer of 1845. 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. During their first night, Jonathan meets with Count La'Fey, the Family Ghost, who is a deceased relative. The ghost shows him a casket in which a corpse of a stillborn child, Abigail, rests. The ghost informs him that Miriam is carrying the spirit of Abigail and that the child will soon be reborn. He insists that Jonathan must kill Miriam at once to prevent the rebirth.

The narration then relates the story of what happened to the Count and his wife: on 7 July 1777, the Count had discovered his wife had been unfaithful to him, and was pregnant with an illegitimate child. Enraged, he threw the Countess down the stairs, breaking her neck and causing the child to be stillborn. The Count had the body of the Countess cremated, and the stillborn fetus he named Abigail and had mummified and laid to rest in a sarcophagus, the Count having an inexplicable urge to preserve Abigail for the future.

The narration then returns to the summer of 1845, during which Jonathan and Miriam are beset by a range of omens; the church bell rings despite nobody being inside to ring it, flowers die, unwholesome stenches fill the house and in the dining room the table is discovered set for 3. In one incident an empty cradle is discovered by Jonathan swaying in the air, with both him and Miriam insisting that they didn’t bring it with them. The next day, Miriam is clearly pregnant and the fetus develops quickly; Jonathan realises that the family ghost was speaking the truth.

The fatal crisis begins when Jonathan accuses Abigail of possessing Miriam, and Abigail (through Miriam) admits it. Jonathan is terrified and considers getting a priest to exorcise Miriam - Miriam, however, exercising a moment of control, urges him to cast her down the stairs to kill her just as the Count had slain the Countess and Abigail’s original incarnation. Therefore, Jonathan pretends to give in to Abigail’s demands, and suggests to Abigail (once she regains control of Miriam) that she should come down to the family crypt so she can be reborn where she died. However, as the couple stands at the top of the stairs, Jonathan is distracted and the possessed Miriam throws Jonathan down the stairs.

Miriam gives birth to Abigail, but dies shortly afterwards, her last sight being of Abigail’s “yellow eyes”; supposedly her ghost can be heard screaming on the stairs in July ever after. The seven horsemen arrive at the mansion and discover the baby Abigail in the sarcophagus, eating something too horrifying for the narrator to mention (though the fact that it is found in the sarcophagus suggests that Abigail is eating her own previous body). Appalled, they take her away to bury her in a hidden chapel in the forest with seven silver spikes driven through her body (a burial heard as the intro to the album), in the hope that this will prevent a further resurrection.

Track listing

Disc 1 (CD)