UMUR
"The Family Ghost" is a single release by multi-national heavy metal act King Diamond. The single was released through Roadrunner Records in July 1987. Altough the title track is lifted off the band´s 2nd full-length studio album "Abigail", the single was released a couple of months after the release of the album, which was released in February 1987.
"The Family Ghost" single features 2 tracks and a full playing time of 8:25 minutes. The A-side features the title track, while the B-side features "Shrine". As mentioned above the title track is taken from "Abigail (1987)" and the lyrics form part of the album concept story about Miriam Natias, Jonathan La'Fey and their demon child Abigail. While "Shrine" was also recorded during the sessions for "Abigail (1987)", and therefore features a similar melodic heavy metal style and sound production to the material on the album, the lyrics do not form part of the concept story, and it was therefore left off the album. It´s an absolutely brilliant track though, and along with the equally brilliant "The Family Ghost", form a strong single release.
The relevance of the single is a bit diminished today, as "The Family Ghost" is featured on "Abigail (1987)" and "Shrine" also became more readily available with the release of "The Dark Sides" EP compilation in 1988, where it is featured on the tracklist. As mentioned though the quality of the material is very high and a 4.5 star (90%) rating is deserved.