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King Diamond: House Of God (Digipack) Heavy Metal Massacre Records, Metal Blade Records June 20th, 2000
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Review
One of the most dismissed albums by King Diamond, both lyrically and musically, House Of God has come under a lot of scrutiny. Much of the blame seems aimed at all the members of the band, but the blame is not what matters. What is important is whether or not this album is worth it or not. Sadly, there isn't that much to brag about with this release. One of the big draws to a King Diamond album is the story, and this one is a very well composed tale of terror about what really happened to Jesus Christ, and a man who is led to the house of God by it's protector, leading into a very dark tale of seduction and betrayal. Those again Christianity, and/or pro Satan will definitely enjoy the tale woven on this release, as well as it's twist ending. But the lyrics are really the only enjoyable part of this album. There is honestly just way too much to rip apart on this one. The music for this release is simply dull and uninspiring, boasting the lamest drumming to ever grace a King Diamond album, or perhaps any heavy metal album for that matter. You can even hear the drumming go off beat during the song "Help!!!" if you pay close enough attention. to the random drum hit, kick, cymbol pattern. The guitar work on this suffers greatly as well, and you can tell that some of this was meant to be faster by the solos on this release, which many of are pretty good. The only one that will really stick in your mind is the solo in "The Pact", and the only good tracks on this release that you will go back and listen to are "Black Devil", "This Place Is Terrible", as well as "Just A Shadow", which also boasts some great soloing. But, we are not done yet with the negatives. The band also uses two interludes on the album which, while they serve the purpose of progressing the story, "Goodbye" deters from the flow of the album, and "Passage To Hell" is a little more creative, but also doesn't do much for the benefit of the album. And yes, there are keyboards added to the album, but whether these were meant to make the release sound creepier is unclear. If that's the case, they fail miserably, as the keyboards on "Catacomb" just make you want to get up do a dance, and not one of those hardcore types like picking up dropped change. So, with all of these flaws, does this album live up to the negative hype? Only somewhat. There are some good songs on the release, and the story behind this album is easily the darkest that have been created for King Diamond, clearly taking influence from the horror mastermind H.P. Lovecraft. Unfortunately, House Of God is easily one of the most lackluster albums King Diamond has ever put out, for all the reasons above, but primarily due to the god awful drumming, which clearly holds the album back. It's very unfortunate for all of us that this story was used at this time.
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