Review of the Album "Them" by Danish Heavy Metal Band King Diamond

Them is the third studio album by Danish heavy metal singer King Diamond as he continues his solo career unabated. “Them” is based upon a fictional concept kind of album that is about King and his grandmother who is mentally ill. I could tell readers the story behind the concept album but to save time, I will just get into the musical aspect of this album instead. How many more heavy metal album reviews will this writer do? That is a question with no easy answer but this review continues the tradition of covering European heavy metal musical artists.

The album starts with the short song “Out From the Asylum” as there is this spooky atmosphere and the tapping of the piano or the keyboard as a narration part begins and then a lady walks in and tells King to stop playing whatever he is playing and answer the door. King says that his grandmother makes good tea. At least early on this album clicks and fits as King’s falsetto, operatic style of vocals is solid. I got into King’s music with the album Don’t Break the Oath but with his solo stuff, King has been able to recruit musicians from various countries. However, on this album there are the contributions of Swedish born musicians Andy Larocque and Mikkey Dee. Mikkey Dee would play drums on Don Dokken’s only solo album to date Up From the Ashes in 1990.

As the “story” in this album continues, King’s grandmother calls him to have tea with her. The next song called “Mother’s Getting Weaker” is the story about the mother getting weaker, being dizzy and in pain as the grandmother has cast a spell on her. “Bye, Bye Missy features some interesting guitar work as the girl Missy is shocked at what has happened to her mother. By this point in the album, we see that this King Diamond album is a concept album focused on tales of horror and mystery. “A Broken Spell” is a song that has that kind of progressive feel to it while also having a very melodic, acoustic guitar part which only makes the song even better. What happened to Missy? We find out that Missy has now been killed which is very sad but it is part of this fictional story. King’s grandmother dies and King who is still a boy in this story concept album and he knows that he will be unfairly blamed for his grandmother’s death. He vows to return home. Overall, Them is a solid “horror” metal kind of album that has good instrumentals, solid falsetto style vocals and decent enough guitar work.