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| This is
the type of attic treasures that are sure to please any fan of King
Diamond. The story behind this CD is pretty straightforward. King
Diamond's original band back in Denmark was called Black Rose, which
was a five piece band playing a style of music highly influenced by
some of the 70s prog rock bands like Kansas and Deep Purple (both of
which are the most obvious influences on this recording). This
particular recording comes from a practice session from September of
1980. Although it was recorded direct to two-track, it is of rather
amazing quality and captures the band very nicely. Metal Blade has
now put this practice tape to disc and King Diamond has written some
interesting liner notes about Black Rose as well as the songs on
this disc. The result is a great bit of history of one of metal's
more prominent singers. The songs Black Rose played weren't too far
off from where their influences finished and King Diamond's vocals
were already seeking out his infamous falsetto. Fortunately for my
ears, his vocals are buried in the mix. The keyboards are straight
out of Deep Purple while the guitarist contributes a lot of great
licks throughout. The songs are energetic and rollicking, suggesting
this band could have had a bit of a future had they stuck it out.
The recording also keeps between songs chat intact and if you can
understand Danish, you might be amused. Regardless, this is one
excellent historical document and should be required listening for
any King Diamond fan
(Chedsey) | |
