Album Review
King Diamond returns in a way that only he can, with eunuch-esque glory! The ridiculous, yet great singer of the self titled band brings us his latest effort, The Puppet Master. My overall impressions with the album are pretty positive. After looking through the lyrics, it appears that this is a concept album about humans being turned into puppets. With King’s great storytelling ability, this album makes for a great metal tale.
Musicianship and production aren’t exemplary, but they more than get the job done. There aren’t any super complicated solos, nor is there any outstanding depth to the mix. Of course there’s nothing wrong with it either. They exist for one reason: to tell a tale. This, in my mind, is what King Diamond is all about, and it’s exactly what makes this album good.
It’s the story and the atmosphere that King Diamond fans look for. This album is quite good at both, it has a great feel to it. Killer songs like “Magic”, “Blood to Walk”, and “Blue Eyes” are the highlights of the disc. “Magic” has one of the catchiest riffs I’ve heard lately, and “Blood to Walk” is a great, multifaceted song that has the power of three normal songs. Naturally, there are filler and odd songs, hence the reason why this album wasn’t exactly top 10 of 2003 material.
All in all, I was quite satisfied with The Puppet Master. It’s a fun album to listen to, and you know what you’re getting into when you embark on a King Diamond journey. Anyone who complains about King’s voice or other such ramblings is obviously not going to like this disc. But any fans of old Mercyful Fate or any King Diamond material should be just as satisfied as me with this one.
Blood to Walk - A great song, the highlight of the album
Magic - killer riff, insanely catchy
Musicianship and production aren’t exemplary, but they more than get the job done. There aren’t any super complicated solos, nor is there any outstanding depth to the mix. Of course there’s nothing wrong with it either. They exist for one reason: to tell a tale. This, in my mind, is what King Diamond is all about, and it’s exactly what makes this album good.
It’s the story and the atmosphere that King Diamond fans look for. This album is quite good at both, it has a great feel to it. Killer songs like “Magic”, “Blood to Walk”, and “Blue Eyes” are the highlights of the disc. “Magic” has one of the catchiest riffs I’ve heard lately, and “Blood to Walk” is a great, multifaceted song that has the power of three normal songs. Naturally, there are filler and odd songs, hence the reason why this album wasn’t exactly top 10 of 2003 material.
All in all, I was quite satisfied with The Puppet Master. It’s a fun album to listen to, and you know what you’re getting into when you embark on a King Diamond journey. Anyone who complains about King’s voice or other such ramblings is obviously not going to like this disc. But any fans of old Mercyful Fate or any King Diamond material should be just as satisfied as me with this one.
Blood to Walk - A great song, the highlight of the album
Magic - killer riff, insanely catchy
Anonymous |
posted on 1/2012 |
king diamond got my stamp of disaproval when i heard the lyrics "HES NOT VERY NICE" total dumbass ....
seventh seeker. |
posted on 7/2007 |
I live in Denmark and I grew up with both mercyful fate and King as a solo artist,I love the old albums to death but the 3 latest king albums SUCK'S BIG TIME!
Both House of god,abigail the revenge and the puppet master are only shadows of the older albums and they all totally lack any kind of harmoni and refined lyric's that made the old albums so great.So maybe it really is time for King to quit the music!
cygnusx1 |
posted on 3/2006 |
Puppet Master is a great album. If you are a fan of the King you will really enjoy this listen. The solos are good (not as many as I would like-like in early MF and KD ) the story is a excellent one and the addition of the female vocals was not only a first, but gives the story more atmosphere and credibility (instead of KD trying to do both sets of vocals like usual). I disagree with MR. Bradley and think this was a top 10 of 2003 . Not in the top ten?......the top 20 is still a great place to be.
The Great Cretaceous Bob |
posted on 1/2006 |
What is up with the dissatisfaction with the record? I've seen a bunch of reviews that didn't like it, and WKW here doesn't like it.
Puppet Master is probably the best thing King Diamond has done since The Eye, although is a little bit less heavy than House of God.
And what's up with the "after looking through the lyrics apparantly this is a concept album" in the review? There's like one album that King has done that ISN'T a concept album.
And its kind of ironic that WKW says that King has "lost any balls he had 15 years ago", considering King does MUCH less high-pitched stuff on Puppet Master than on say, Abigail. I mean, do you consider super high-pitcher singing manly or something? Because its still pretty much the same music, just less solos.
Anyway, don't try to say that Puppet Master isn't heavy. Once Andy La Rocque leaves the band you'll have reason to say something like that.
WKW |
posted on 5/2004 |
As stated below, I grew up listening to King and Mercyful Fate. Well I finally heard this album and it's worst than even I suspected. It's like King lost any balls that he had 15 years ago. This album might as well be Michael Bolton because it would be about as heavy and non-memorable. King should do one of three things. Option one is for King to go back to worshipping Satan (maybe he'll let King borrow a pair of balls). The second option would be to quit the music business all-together. And the third option would be to change his moniker to "Queen Diamond".
Mike |
posted on 1/2004 |
This album could be good, but having someone that I care about in my life more than anything, I find this album too painful to listen to. I can't enjoy it because it makes me so depressed. I'm a huge king fan, but I think he went over the edge with the story in this one. Too depressing.
Jacksonlefteye |
posted on 1/2004 |
OH MY GOD, i lost the ears for crap like this when i was 7 for fuck's sake! awful....just....ack!
i bought it at a record store today (with "Spiritual Black Dimensions" <===FUCKING AMAZING) on a hunch, remembering the review i read here, and i got the version with DVD with King Diamond telling the story...good lord, i tried _sooooo hard_ to like it, the story was kinda cool...and then i decided to listen to the music...wow, i mean, is this guy TRYING to sound this corny and immature?! i could NOT listen to the first four songs with a straight face, and the awful beginning to "Blue Eyes" made me grimace like i was being fed my own vomit, i turned it off and immediately put it all back in the case...i'm taking it back after my friends hear how god-awfully bad this CD actually is....
WhiteKnuckleWizard |
posted on 1/2004 |
I used to be into King pretty heavily starting back in about '88. The ole' Mercyful stuff is classic. Fatal Portrait carried some of that same old school sound. Abigail is still an amazing album. Them was good, but had a little too much of Grandma for tastes. Conspiracy was okay. Basically after that, each album declined in quality and increased in cheese. After Spider's Lullabye and The Grave, I pretty much gave up hope for King's solo work. The newer Mercyful has been kicking King's solo work right into the ground. I haven't heard this new one, but I'm still a little curious even though I'm expecting to be disappointed once again.
Evil American |
posted on 1/2004 |
I guess I'm Nit-picking, but I would give the Musicianship a bit higher score and the songwriting a six. As a guitarist, I can honestly say that Andy La Rocque can shred most of the guitarists in the world to pieces, especially the power metal bands that get 6's in this category, like Lost Horizon. I'm not saying Lost Horizon sucks, but there is no way their guitarists can out play or even match Andy in terms of technicality or expressiveness. The leads on this cd are MUCH more complex than they seem.
lee |
posted on 1/2004 |
ERK you would need a cock and set of balls before your herterosexual level ever got back to normal you dumb fucking slit.
That said (jeez this guy is fucking idiot). I like the old Mercyful Fate like Melissa and Don't break the Oath but never could get into the Kings solo stuff that much. Even Abagail didn't do that much for me. Good to see the King can still make relevant music for his fans though.
ERK |
posted on 1/2004 |
I remember the first time I heard a King Diamond song. I had heard great things about him and his band, so I finally decided to check it out.
Unfortunately, all I remember from the song was some cocksucking faggot singing like a girl which boring mid-paced thrash riffs played the in background. After the song was over I felt hazy and had to take some manliness pills to bring my heterosexuality level back to normal.
I seriously don't know why any heterosexual man would enjoy King Diamond. The vocals are so goddamn gay and annoying that it would make any heterosexual man instantly homosexual. Avoid at all costs, my heterosexual friends! King Diamond's music is about as gay as metal can get!
grindkrusher |
posted on 1/2004 |
king d seems to come and go for me..i really liked Fatal Portrait, Abigail, Them, and Conspiracy..didn't care for The Eye, and Voodoo...then I liked House of God and Abigail II...but The Puppet Master seems to be lacking something...not as good as his last couple. and NOWHERE near as good as his early ones.