Saturday, November 3, 2007

King Diamond - Give Me Your Soul... Please CD Review


Give Me Your Soul…. Please

Its always nice to be polite when asking for someone’s soul.

King is still up to his old tricks on this 13th studio effort – an epic tale with all the familiar ingredients: going to, talking to, wanting to go to, being pulled to the other side, shadows, apparitions, am I dreaming?, THEM, black, bloody, galloping drums, flawless recording/playing, requisite guitar solos, signature guitar harmonies, bass you can’t hear and of course the unmistakable vocal range of King himself.

For better or worse I will always be a devoted KD fan (which is still an unsettling mystery to people who know me). So much so, that I was him for about 3 Halloweens, didn’t get the make up quite right, but it worked. No matter what he does musically (within reason) I will always follow him. It was “Conspiracy” that won my ears so many years ago, then I heard “THEM” and “Abigail” and there was no turning back.

KD (referring to the main writers Kim Bendix Petersen & Andy LaRocque) does not really delve into the oddtime realm, but there are a few nuggets here and there in their discography. This album, I am excited to state, has their first song with mixed meters in it. So very cool… Check it out…..

The tracks:

The Dead – 4/4
Never Ending Hill 4/4, 5/4 (about 6 bars)
Is Anybody Here? 3/4, 6/8, 12/8, 10/8, 4/4
Shapes Of Black – 6/8, 4/4
Black of Night - 4/4
Mirror Mirror - 4/4
The Cellar – 4/4
Pictures in Red – 4/4
Give Me Your Soul -4/4
The Floating Head -4/4
Cold As Ice – (No not a Foreigner Cover) 4/4
Shapes of Black – 12/8, 4/4
The Girl In the Bloody Dress – Kinda Punkish 4/4
Moving On – 4/4

This album offers a little more depth to their tried and true dimension. They get creative with some odd rhythms, riffs and sounds. One thing is for sure, they have not sold out and are extremely true to their form. I would almost venture to say they are stuck in a rut. Mind you I enjoy this rut, but it would nice to hear another dimension of KD. Maybe a Romanian Minor or Chinese Mongolian scale, or how about singing between his range, some growls, some syncopated vocal riffs, or vocal harmonies – to go just a little bit out of their comfort zone is, that too much to ask?

All this aside, this is Odd Time history being made, even if I am the only one who is that completely obsessive to acknowledge it – KD now has a mixed meter song! Am I dreaming? No. But I have a dream and its in 13/8. When the day comes and its finally time to go to the other side, the other side of the dollar that is. When my bank account gets to the 8 digits, I am going to commission KD to write a song in 13/8 (my fav) with breaks in 9/8 & 5/4, with a Bhairavi Raga scale and a three bar bass solo that I can hear and no 4/4 allowed. What else could a girl want? Not just a regular Diamond, but a ....

So…. King Diamond Rocks and they are still rockin’ in the same way… so have a go at their tried and true KD grooves, but don’t give your soul away, even if they are polite.
CovenWorldWide.org

Countess B
Odd Time Obsessed

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