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Halloween is fast approaching, so you know ’tis the season for tricks, treats and, most importantly, old–school Satanic metal. If you’re looking to shroud your soul in darkness this season, be sure to witness King Diamond tonight at the Best Buy Theater. In a rare U.S. appearance, the Danish metal maestro and consummate wailer is treating us to his theatrical, face–painted brand of heavy metal—which will almost certainly include some combination of haunted house props, simulated sacrifices and lots of Lucifer love. To help you celebrate Halloween just a bit early, we bring you five examples of eeeevil King Diamond awesomeness:
King Diamond playing with dolls:
The possessed doll is a familiar horror-flick trope, and we assume that’s the idea that the King is playing with in this 1987 clip. But why he feels the need to make out with the doll is beyond us.… Sometimes it’s just hard to understand metal genius. Doll aside, check out Diamond in his prime hitting those glass–shattering high notes like it’s easy.
King Diamond’s playing with leg bones:
King Diamond is fairly well known for using a microphone stand that’s a cross made from a human femur and tibia. However, in this 1996 clip, he ditches the cross construction for a full leg with foot bones attached. And he plays an extensive amount of air guitar on said leg. We may never know what prompted him to change up his bone situation, but as you can see from the way he holds a massive crowd in the palm of his hand, the fans didn’t seem to mind.
King Diamond cremates somebody on stage:
This one’s right out of the Alice Cooper playbook. Check out King Diamond performing earlier this year, and making time in the show to cremate an unwilling participant right before the crowd's very eyes. Everything about this, from the creepy masked doctor to the magic-parlor “It’s not a trick coffin” demonstration and the smoking skeleton left in the end is pitch–perfect shock-rock camp.
King Diamond stands up for Satan:
Though Milton may have been the first one to imply that maybe Satan was a little misunderstood, we don’t think he did so quite as eloquently as the man born Kim Bendix Petersen does in this early ’80s interview. Aside from learning that King Diamond frequently chats with priests about the Big Questions in life, we also receive clarification that Satanists don’t, in fact, drink the blood of newborn children. We’re glad he got that myth cleared up.
King Diamond is a classy performer.
This video of King Diamond performing in the Netherlands last year tells us a lot. We get a great view of his haunted-house stage set, a look at his latest makeup design and we can hear that he’s still hitting those piercing high notes. But maybe the best of all is that we get to see him be a good guy and sign something for fan at the end of the video, right before we spy a close-up of a goat’s head inscribed in a pentagram. Of course.