King Diamond

Bundle multiple Decibel Hall of Fame Anthologies and save a ton on your order of these Decibel webstore exclusive hardcover books!

It’s challenging to look clearly at Mercyful Fate’s masterpiece, Don’t Break the Oath, released 40 years ago today. But our own Justin M Norton gives it a shot. Read here.

The definitive behind-the-scenes histories of 50 of the greatest miracles of metal creation now immortalized in Volume I and Volume IV of Decibel Hall of Fame Anthologies.

Melissa’s legacy is legion. Join us as we look back on the 40th anniversary of Mercyful Fate‘s earth-shattering debut full-length album.

We speak with King Diamond about how Mercyful Fate reunited, his two bouts with COVID, tour bassist Becky Baldwin and more. The tour begins next week and tickets are still available although dwindling.

Amid all the now-legendary albums of 1988, one ridiculously awesome effort stands out from the rest. That album is King Diamond’s third solo LP, “Them”. Welcome back (home) to the Hall of Fame, Grandma.

Our latest, limited edition webstore exclusive includes 25 more Hall of Fame stories from our revered monthly series of artist interviews on the making of their classic extreme music albums.

Our latest, limited edition webstore exclusive includes 25 more Hall of Fame stories from our revered monthly series of artist interviews on the making of their classic extreme music albums.

To celebrate the release of Dream Squasher, the new album from sludge kings -(16)-, we caught up with guitarist Alex Shuster to find out what five heavy albums changed his life.

One-time Mercyful Fate and King Diamond drummer Snowy Shaw contributes guest vocals to a new track from U.S. death dealers Angerot.

Mercyful Fate and King Diamond axe hero Michael Denner burns bright again with new track from Denner’s Inferno.

Heavy metal vocalist Joseph Michael (Witherfall, Sanctuary) lists his Top 5 albums that influenced his singing ability and style.

Arsis main man James Malone leads us to the dark side… hair metal.

You can read the story behind the #1 entry in Decibel’s Top 100 Metal Tours of All Time Special Issue. For the other 99 tours, you’ll need copy of this limited edition Special Issue. 

What are the Top 100 metal tours of all time? Find out in Decibel‘s new limited edition special issue of 100% previously-unprinted content. 

King Diamond and crew are currently slaying their way across the U.S. playing Abigail in its entirety, so what better time to break down our 84th entry into the Hall of Fame?

I’m going to give my editors the benefit of the doubt here and assume they meant Verify Your Awesome Taste. I mean, come on, everybody knows there’s no such thing as a shitty King Diamond record. Some might be less memorable than others based on your personal criteria and/or schlock tolerance, but I’ll be goddamned if King has ever had a “St. Anger” moment in the span of his career. 

Last October saw King Diamond’s glorious return to the lighted stages of North America after nearly a decade away. The shows were unanimously well-received—audiences throughout the land were captivated by the massive stage setup, delightful theatrics and spot-on set list. In fact, our #3 extreme vocalist of all time says everything went about as smoothly…

For more than half of Decibel’s decade-long history Mark Rudolph has been a key component of what makes the magazine special. He illustrates the lead review in each issue and has designed covers for all of Decibel’s annual specials dating back to our 100 best death metal albums special. When he isn’t busy with the…

Many of you might have noticed—If you listen to radio that is, but that’s another blog entirely—on Black Friday many U.S. radio stations flipped from their respective formats to Holiday. All across this great (not so great if you follow Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity with any seriousness) land of ours Adult Contemporary and Pop…

Unassailable living heavy metal legend. Close personal friend of Anton LaVey (R.I.P.). Internationally certified lab assistant? Believe it or not, all describe the immortal King Diamond, who finally graces the cover of Decibel this month. The thankfully newly healthy Mercyful Fate/King Diamond ringleader let J. Bennett into his inner occult circle — in the Dallas…

** The following five questions with the legendary King Diamond were part of a series of interviews I set up for the XXX: Three Decades of Roadrunner Records [click HERE for more info] boxset, for which I wrote the liner notes. Former Roadrunner Records Senior VP A&R Monte Conner facilitated the initial exchange with King…

Welcome to Tales From the Metalnomicon, a twice-monthly column delving into the surprisingly vast world of heavy metal-tinged/inspired literature and metalhead authors… Though the teeming masses may not have caught on quite yet, Dark Discoveries has long been one of the absolute best magazines for lovers of horror fiction/culture, casting an aesthetic net wide enough…

This is the album that solidified Diamond’s legend as not only one of the great metal vocalists of all time, but a great horror storyteller (and songwriter) with a flair for the dramatic.

It was Heath Rave who asked Decibel during an interview, “When have tattoos and rock music not gone together?” We all know the answer, but we’d be willing to wager that they’ve never gone together this well. You’re probably more familiar with Rave as the bloodfueld drummer from Wolvhammer. You can still download their first…

If you’re like me, then you see these images all the time because you google the words “king diamond tattoo” everyday. For the rest of y’all, here is a crucial collection of the evilest ink out there.