Z2 Comics, infamous for their collaborations with music artists from Anthrax, Black Veil Brides, BABY METAL, Skillett, and more hve teamed with heavy metal legend King Diamond for the graphic novel adaptation of Abigail, one of the most beloved stories in the horrific heavy metal lore of King Diamond’s career.
King Diamond will see the release of his classic album Abigail on April 24th via Metal Blade Records! The band has shared a visualizer for the track ‘The Family Ghost’, which you can see below. King Diamond performed all of Abigail on tour in 2016 and 2017, which made up the DVD King Diamond Abigail Live. Pre-orders are live for the new LP and CD. Recently setback by a hernia surgery that caused him to pull out of tour dates in Mexico last month before the coronavirus pandemic took hold, King Diamond is recovering and continues to work towards a new album, The Institute, due for release later in 2020. Continue reading
It came as quite a shock when legendary Danish frontman King Diamond had to step away from music in 2010 to undergo triple heart-bypass surgery. Thankfully, just a couple of short years later, the rejuvenated frontman returned to the stage in all his corpse-painted, theatrical grandeur, choosing to keep his focus on touring rather than making an immediate return to the studio.Continue reading
King Diamond announced earlier this year that, during the 2015 “Abigail In Concert” tour, the band filmed their shows in Philadelphia and Detroit for an upcoming DVD. Today the legend has shared a “work in progress” video preview of the ‘Halloween’ performance in Philadelphia online, and it’s just awesome. Continue reading
King Diamond. Photo Credit: Kevin Estrada
Psycho Las Vegas 2017 will be taking place from August 18th through August 20th at the Hard Rock Hotel And Casino Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the legendary King Diamond has now been confirmed as the main headliner. Continue reading
Over the course of the past year or so, many metal heads in the New England area have went from never seeing the great King Diamond, to seeing the master twice in a short few months. However, November 24th was a night that will stick out to all fans whether this was the third time, fifth time, or even the first time seeing King. This time around, we were all treated to the entire Abigail album from front to back, live right in front of our very eyes. As if that was not sweet enough the thrash titans, Exodus, were slated to open the night and get everyone up out of the Orpheum seats.
Exodus kicked off the night to a fair mix of old and new tracks to get all of the fans, young and old, warmed up for what promised to be a great night. The Boston crowd enjoyed newer tracks from the thrash legends including: ‘Blood In, Blood Out’ , ‘Body Harvest’ , and ‘Blacklist’. The longer tenured fans of course got the typical (of late) three track closing rotation of ‘Bonded by Blood’ , ‘The Toxic Waltz’ , and ‘Strike of the Beast’. The only downside of the performance was the inability to actually do the Toxic Waltz while standing in place amongst the rows of seats.
After a short intermission, and ‘The Wizard’ by Uriah Heep over the PA, King Diamond and his cohorts made their way to the stage. King started off the set with a short selection of King Diamond classics like ‘Welcome Home’ , one of my favorites ‘Halloween’ , and ‘Eye of the Witch’. Of course, what would be a King Diamond show without some Mercyful Fate covers? King was happy to oblige with staple ‘Come to the Sabbath’ and a slight change to the usual covers with the epic ‘Melissa’. And then it started, ‘Funeral’ over the PA while the band switched out instruments. It was time for Abigail! Druids came out with a casket with the infant corpse of Abigail inside to which King was happy to hold up the crowd in praise. Track by track the story of Abigail went. From ‘Arrival’ and ‘The Family Ghost’ to ‘Omens’ and ‘Abigail’, the Boston metal heads sang/screeched (and I mean screeched out those falsettos) each and every lyric to each song. But, like all great things, ‘Black Horsemen’ had come and gone as the band said their goodbyes, threw out guitar pics, and made their exit until the next time.
Most would say seeing any band three times in a year is too much. Some days I may even agree to that sentiment, but not towards King Diamond. Even if this was not the Abigail Tour and just another headlining run for the King and Company, I would still have gone. If you have yet to make it to a King Diamond show, you should feel bad and then catch the next one!
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WORDS BY TIM LEDIN
Fresh off the final date of Mayhem Festival, King Diamond has confirmed a long rumored fall US tour, which will see the performance of the classic 1987 album, Abigail (Roadrunner) in full. Exodus has been tapped as the opening band for the 18 date tour of theaters. The tour includes a stop at Phil Anselmo’s Housecore Horror Festival on November 13th in San Antonio, TX. A new studio album from King Diamond is expected in 2016 via Metal Blade Records.
King Diamond “Abigail” Tour Dates – with Exodus
Oct 29: The Fillmore- Denver, CO
Oct 31: The Complex- Salt Lake City, UT
Nov 02: The Warfield – San Francisco, CA
Nov 05: The Wiltern- Los Angeles, CA
Nov 08: The Rialto Theatre- Tucson, AZ
Nov 09: House of Blues- Las Vegas, NV
Nov 13: The Aztec Theatre- San Antonio, TX
Nov 15: The Civic Auditorium- New Orleans, LA
Nov 16: The Tabernacle- Atlanta, GA
Nov 21: Best Buy Theatre – New York, NY
Nov 24: Orpheum- Boston, MA
Nov 25: The Fillmore- Philadelphia, PA
Nov 27: Aragon Ballroom- Chicago, IL
Nov 28: The Fillmore – Detroit, MI
Nov 30: Myth- Minneapolis, MN
Dec 02: Club Brady – Tulsa, OK
Dec 04: House of Blues- Houston, TX
Dec 05: House of Blues- Dallas, TX
King Diamond, photo©Kevin Estrada / kevinestrada.com
Where to begin with this sordid tale of sadness, drunken debauchery, tears and fear? Ye gods, I don’t even know if a particular portion would even be safe to publish, but in the name of faux journalists everywhere, I must report the meager yet revealing details of the extracurricular activities, including my own spiritual and mental degradation over the course of a most rock’n’roll weekend where more booze entered my body than any other substance, including (but not limited to) food and weed. So, after a brutal nine hour drive through capricious weather (thanks, Poseidon) with only the radio and a Tenacious D CD to anoint our battered souls and posting up at the wondrous Sheraton in order to stage our siege on the unsilent streets of the ‘More, we re-acquainted ourselves with the hilly and alien climes, as we had been here before (myself being deployed a second time), no stranger to its seething underbelly of prostitution, drugs, and all-around degeneracy. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. And join ’em we did, but more on that later.Continue reading