For the last several days, I have been ranting about rediscovering "old school" Metal. As I was looking through my collection, creating my "A," "B" and "C" piles (based solely on their ability to bring the thunder), the fact that became abundantly clear to me is that the preponderance of quality riffaliciousness that is unleashed on the masses today is brought to us by the most excellent promulgators of the "Classic" Metal music we hold near and dear to our hearts. Case in point.....The Puppet Master by King Diamond (Kim Bendix Petersen). For those who are not down with the King....King Diamond was the lead vocalist for Mercyful Fate in the late 1970's and early 1980's. I am so thankful for Mercyful Fate because without these pioneeers, I dare say that Metallica would perhaps not have ripened as masterfully as they did. Hetfield, Ulrich, Mustaine and McGovney may have still convened in Lars' garage in 1981 but without the influence of "Fate," their amazing demo "No Life 'Till Leather" may have sounded more like "High and Dry" by Def Leppard (A fine piece of work in it's own right but not exactly laden with "Thrashtastic" grooves)! My point is this, even though Mercyful Fate disbanded before they could leave the mark on the World of Metal that they were truly capable of (Because the rest of the Dudes in "Fate" opted to go in a softer and more "commercial" direction), King went on to produce some premium solo material and like a fine Chateauneuf-du-Pape, he gets better with age. The Puppet Master is a concept album with a storyline telling the saga of young couple (King and Victoria) who go to watch a puppet show in 18th Century Budapest and end up being turned into undead puppets by the evil Puppet Master(Lazlo) and his wife(Emerencia).
Tale:
One year after they meet after the Puppet Master's Christmas show, Victoria goes missing and King sets out to find her. While searching, he comes across Emerencia killing a homeless man. He follows her into a building where he is struck from behind and loses consciousness.
When King regains consciousness, he finds himself strapped to a hospital bed and The Puppet Master and his wife standing in front of him with a scalpel. The Puppet Master leans over him and says: "First your eyes... then your skin... we will make you feel born again." and starts to cut out his eyes. One eyelid drops down into a jar. The Puppet Master uses an instrument to pull the eyeball out of its socket, and cuts off the nerve-string which is the only thing holding the eye in place. The Puppet Master then puts the eyeball into a puppet's eye socket. His body is being made into a puppet that comes to life when blood is injected into it. An accident during the ritual when The Puppet Master is dealing with the Devil about King's soul, leaves King Diamond's soul trapped within his permanently aware eyes. It is after this that he sees Victoria's body, now a puppet, on another shelf in the Puppet Master's shop.
King and his beloved are infused with a syringe-full of their blood nightly, so they can practice their routines and learn how to perform for their Master. Each night, after being put away, King and his beloved "talk with their eyes" from across the room as the essence of their blood fades away. King Diamond is forced to witness her fading away every night, because his immortal eyes keep him from slipping away like she does. Eventually, the girl accidentally walks into the wall where shelves hold jars of blood for the puppets and she knocks six of them down. She is sent away to Berlin and King vows to find her again.
Christmas time comes around for the third time in the tale, and King is to perform as The Little Drummer Boy. At his performance, he intentionally falls and breaks his drum to embarrass the Puppet Master. For his actions, he is sold to a shop and left nailed to the wall. At some point, he hears of how the Puppet Master is building a second theater in London, to be run by the Puppet Master's son and daughter and he re-affirms his vow to find his lost love or see her on the "other side".
Track Listing:
1. Midnight
2. The Puppet Master
3. Magic
4. Emerencia
5. Blue Eyes
6. The Ritual
7. No More Me
8. Blood To Walk
9. Darkness
10. So Sad
11. Christmas
12. Living Dead
Pretty cool story. It is quite entertaining to listen to the album in it's entirety or watch the DVD with King sitting in a "Haunted" mansion, telling the story while each song plays in the background as the tale progresses. Much better than watching Saw V or whatever garbage Hollywood is spewing these days. The creative storytelling is great but musically, The Puppet Master is very strong. in his 50's, King's gnarly falsetto is stronger than ever and the riffage runs deep (When you have a guitar player named Andy LaRoque, you can't go wrong). \m/ Finally, let me say this....KING DIAMOND IS NOT A SATANIST. Agnostic, perhaps but the dude is not evil. So, go hook yourself up with some King Diamond and rock out one time...long time\m/\m/\m/
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