King Diamond - Conspiracy (1989)

As someone who always found King Diamond's album covers so wonderfully Gothic, I was slightly disappointed to see King's made up mug on the front of 'Conspiracy', but that aside, this is another wonderfully constructed theatrical nightmare of heavy metal. The saga of Missy continues, ten tracks of Gothic grandeur, bolstered by the wizardry of Andy La Rocque and Pete Blakk, and Dee's galloping drums. As I always state, King Diamond's albums are an acquired taste, because vocally this shreds ear drums, but if you can put up with the glass shattering moans of the great man himself, you'll find yourself absorbed in his dark poetry and graven images of haunted houses, blood-red skies and creaking coffins. Musically, 'Conspiracy' is simply molten metal, and you always know what you're going to get in those terms but it's the eerie atmosphere the band creates which keep me coming back for more. Whether its demonic cackling voices, or the number of characters King creates, the whole fusion makes for a truly visual experience as well as something which blisters the ears. The opener 'At The Graves' is a bit of a thrasher whilst the complexities of say, 'Victimized' enable the cut to come across like some Victorian horror novel. One part Norman Bates, the next Rocky Horror, this destroys anything theatrical Alice Cooper has ever done, because it never surrenders to the commercial and instead paints itself as a warped, sinister carnival of the bizarre and the curious. The furious 'Sleepless Nights' begins with some extraordinary guitar work that runs wildly from searing riff to dreamy acoustic as King warbles "I cannot sleep at night...".

Every King Diamond album is a cauldron of the insane, and whilst I openly admit to not originally liking the band when I first ever heard them, I soon found myself hooked and part of the asylum, and you will too....

8/10