KING DIAMOND — "Them" (review)

Album · 1988 · Heavy Metal

4.5/5 · 2021-10-21
UMUR

"Them" is the 3th full-length studio album by multi-national heavy metal act King Diamond. The album was released through Roadrunner Records in September 1988. There have been a couple of lineup changes since the release of "Abigail (1987)", as guitarist Michael Denner has been replaced by Pete Blakk and bassist Timi Hansen has been replaced by Hal Patino. "Abigail" was a commercial and artistic success for King Diamond and the band didn´t rest on their laurels, quickly entering the studio after finishing the tour supporting "Abigail". "Them" turned out to be another great commercial and artistic success for the band, selling even more copies than the predecessor.

As it´s also the case with "Abigail (1987)", "Them" is a concept release telling a horror story. This time the story is also centered around a haunted house, but the story is quite different from the story of "Abigail (1987)". The protagonist of the story is King himself as a child, and the story begins with King, his sister Missy, and his mother waiting at their house for their wheelchair bound grandmother to return from a long vacation (which is later revealed to have been a longer stay at a lunatic asylum). The following night King awakes to the sound of voices and finds his Grandmother sharing bloody tea with invicible spirits (called "Them") speaking in strange tongues telling stories from beyond, and he is invited to join them.

The bloody tea has a hallucinogenic and an addictive effect and soon King becomes numb to reality and craves the nightly meetings with "Them", despite the fact that the blood in the tea is drained from his sleeping mother. When Missy discovers what is going on and why her mother is ill and tired all the time, she destroys the tea pot but is subsequently killed by the enraged "Them" (she is basically chopped to little bits with an axed wielded by invicible hands and then burned in the kitchen fireplace while King is watching in horror). After Missy is murdered King finally snaps out of this sedated state and lures his grandmother to leave the house. He has picked up the axe from the kitchen and beheads his grandmother. The story ends with King being taken away to a lunatic asylum accused of murdering his little sister and his grandmother.

Stylistically the 11 tracks on the 43:14 minutes long album continue the intricate and theatrical heavy metal style of the two preceding albums. King´s vocals are predominantly high pitched but he also sings more mid-range type vocals. The vocals are often multy-layered to create intriguing harmonies or choirs. The two guitarists produce sophisticated heavy metal riffs with the occasional nod towards more hard edged thrash metal style riffs. It´s the many neo-classical influenced guitar harmonies and skillfully played melodic guitar solos which are the icing on the cake though. Both Pete Blakk and Andy LaRocque are incredibly creative and each guitar solo has been meticulously crafted and is played with great care for detail. The rhythm section of drummer Mikkey Dee and bassist Hal Patino also deserve a lot of praise as they deliver powerful and tight (yet organic) playing, which drives the music forward with great energy. The music also features atmosphere enhancing use of keyboards.

"Them" is structured with an atmospheric horror intro, a short interlude track, and a short outro, so there are only eight "regular" length heavy metal tracks on the album. Great care has been taken with the tracklist to make sure that there is a good flow throughout the album and the short intro/outro/interlude tracks are important to help ensure that flow and the creepy horror atmosphere too. But it´s of course the "regular" tracks which are the most interesting part of the album. Tracks like "Welcome Home", "The Invisible Guests", and "Tea" are among the highlights of the album, but "Them" is a strong release throughout.

There is a slight issue with the rhythm guitar sound sometimes drowning a bit in the mix and there is a dryness to the sound, which isn´t always pleasent to listent to, but overall the sound production is enjoyable enough. It is the only minor issue with the album, but it has to be mentioned as it does affect my rating a slight bit. "Them" is in many ways a high quality release by King Diamond and a worthy follow-up to "Abigail (1987)", but to my ears the sound production does keep it from reaching the same masterpiece heights as the predecessor. Still a 4.5 star (90%) rating is fully deserved.