JoeLumb's Album Review King Diamond's "Abigail" (1987)

 Following "Fatal Portrait" King Diamond (the man and the band) were in the studios of Copenhagen,Denmark to start writing and recording the follow up to "Fatal Portrait" only this time this album would be a full concept album. From December of 1986 to February 1987 King Diamond's second studio album "Abigail" is completed. Released on June 15,1987 "Abigail" tells the tale of a young couple named Jonathan La'Fey and Miriam Natias.  They move into a mansion in which Jonathan inherited in the summer of 1845. Upon the arrival the seven horsemen show up to warn the couple not to move into the mansion otherwise 18 would become 9. They didn't heed the warning and moved into the mansion anyway. 

During the first night while Miriam slept The Family Ghost Count de La'Fey a dead relative of Jonathan's shows him a casket where the corpse of a stillborn child named Abigail rests. The Family Ghost then drops a bombshell that Miriam is carrying the spirit of Abigail and that the child will soon be reborn. He insists that Jonathan must kill Miriam to stop Abigail's rebirth. 

The Narration continues with The Count's story of what happened between him and his wife on the 7th Day of July 1777. See The Countess was pregnant with an illegitimate child,while she was cheating on The Count.  So what did he do? He threw his pregnant wife down the stairs,breaking her neck til she was dead and as a result the child was stillborn. Then the Count had the dead body of The Countess cremated and the stillborn fetus mummified and laid to rest in a sarcophagus. 

Back to the summer of 1845 Jonathan and Miriam are beset by a range of omens as church bells rings but nobody was inside,flowers die,unwholesome stenches filled the house and in the dining room where the table is discovered to be set for 3 then in another incident an empty cradle is discovered by Jonathan swaying the air. The Next Day Miriam informs Jonathan that she is pregnant and the fetus is being developed quickly. Realizing the horror was real,he now knew The Family Ghost spoke the truth. 

The Fatal Crisis begins to take shape as Jonathan accuses Abigail of possessing Miriam and she (through Miriam) admits it. A Terrified Jonathan considered getting a priest to exorcise Miriam,however Miriam exercising a moment of control and urged him to throw her down the stairs and kill her the same way The Count did to his wife all those years ago. One thing lead to another Abigail regained control of Miriam and she threw Jonathan down the stairs killing him. Miriam then gives birth to Abigail,but then she suddenly dies her last sight was seeing Abigail's glowing yellow eyes supposedly as her ghost can be heard screaming on the stairs in July ever after. The Seven Horsemen arrived to the mansion and discover the baby Abigail in the sarcophagus eating her own previous body. The Horsemen were appalled they take her away to bury her in a hidden chapel in the forest with seven silver spikes are stilled into her body. O'Brian is the Black Horsemen who drilled the silver spikes into her,making sure there would not be another resurrection. Note:This was the burial heard in the intro to the album)

Since it's release "Abigail" is widely considered King Diamond's solo masterpiece,also unquestionable one of heavy metal's greatest concept albums" according to a writer for AllMusic. Canadian Journalist Martin Popoff remarked of "Metallic Excellence" from King Diamond's "Abigail" but was taken aback by it's creepy package and the lyrics and Guitarist Andy LaRocque stated that "Abigail" is his favorite King Diamond album as "the good atmosphere they(the man and the band) had at the time was captured in there. "The Family Ghost" and "The Black Horsemen" are my only favorite cuts off of Abigail and even though it was not ranked as one of my favorite albums of 1987 the concept itself was what sold it for me all those years later and I didn't even start listening to King Diamond music until like 2013-2014.