Published on Apr 26, 2002
Sequels are not new ground for King Diamond and his band. In the
late ’80s, he followed up
Them (one of the discs argued to be the best in his catalog)
with
Conspiracy, thus completing the tale.
But there was a key difference between those two discs and the
situation surrounding
Abigail, Diamond’s 1987 release, and
Abigail II: The Revenge, the latest disc from Diamond.
Obviously, the biggest difference is clear – namely, 15 years have
passed between albums. But somewhere along the line, the original
story line (which was cloudy to begin with – not necessarily
Diamond’s fault, since you only had 50 minutes on record to tell a
story) has become that much more unclear. Add to that the passage
of time on Diamond’s vocal style and an uninspired musical score,
and you have a disappointing release from someone who normally puts
out quality material.
Let’s see if I can tie the story up quickly: When we last left
Abigail, the spirit of Abigail had invaded Miriam Nateas,
causing an overnight pregnancy (and Miriam’s murder by Jonathan
LaFey when he pushed her down the stairs). The baby Abigail is
taken by the Black Horsemen (led by the mysterious O’Brian) to be
done away with via an elaborate ceremony… or so we thought.
It turns out that O’Brian and the Black Horsemen end up
sheltering Abigail, since the spirit of Abigail is really O’Brian’s
half-sister – follow the family bloodline in the CD booklet if you
really want the full details. Abigail, now 18 years old, sets out
for the mansion which should have been her home to find her father
(now crippled and relying on a cane and wheelchair) – and to avenge
her mother’s death. But Abigail’s arrival leads her to the
discovery of “Little One,” the ghost which haunts the mansion
(namely, the ghost of the stillborn Abigail), the mysterious
servant Brandon Henry (whose appearance is never fully explained)
and Jonathan LaFey’s descent into madness, thinking that Abigail is
Miriam sent back to him. And, as I said in the previous review,
this is where the fun begins…
There are two main weaknesses with
Abigail II: The Revenge. First is the music, which sounds
like Diamond and crew are tiredly rehashing old riffs and songs to
the point that they could write these in their sleep. At one time,
Diamond’s music sounded fresh and menacing; this time around, all I
could think of was, “Been there, done that.”
The second weakness is with the story itself. If
Abigail left some plot lines unexplained,
Abigail II tries too hard to create a basic story that ties
in with the first – causing both to suffer. Do I have a problem
with Diamond and crew revisiting the tale of Abigail? No. But,
let’s be honest, anything that Diamond created was going to pale in
comparison to the original story (and I’m not saying I could have
done better myself), but this particular tale reads less like the
demonic Stephen King story of
Abigail and more like a second-rate, low-budget horror
film.
And, really, this is a shame. If anyone could have pulled the
loose ends together and crafted an album to rival
Abigail, Diamond has the talent to do it. But he’s not in
his twenties anymore, and the falsetto vocals which once cut
through a song like a hot knife through butter now seem like
they’re a bit strained, and the songs are performed more often than
not in a normal vocal style. When Diamond does resort to falsettos,
they sometimes feel like they’re just being thrown in to remind
people who they’re listening to.
There is no doubt in my mind that Diamond is still a viable
force in the black metal scene; 2000’s
House Of God proved that. But
Abigail II: The Revenge makes me wonder why the original
story had to be amended in the first place.