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King Diamond’s “Fatal Portrait” Still Gazing Intently At Thirty Years (1986-2016)

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The colors on this dark oil painting remain vibrant if it should be observed in the light but that is not always the best setting for the works of the great King Diamond. The malevolence of his creations always seem to come to more sinister life if gazed upon in the shadows and with that being said I must announce that it was thirty years ago today that the world first looked upon the “Fatal Portrait” – the first solo album by King Diamond. Though I remembered seeing it on the shelves of a long shuttered record store named “The Little Record Store”, I didn’t purchase it since this was not really the kind of Metal I was following. Truth be told the King spooked me a little back then along with Fate so I stuck to what I felt was safer stuff like Maiden and Priest. Don’t worry about this admission as I caught on not too long after and made sure I was a quick study. I’ve snagged the albums overall plot from its official Wikipedia entry and it states

“Five songs on this album (first four and “Haunted”) form a short story. Narrator sees a face in “every candle that [he] burns”. This face speaks one word to him: “Jonah”. So he finds an old book, speaks a rhyme and frees the spirit from the candle. It’s the spirit of a little girl named Molly, who tells him her story, that happened seven years before. Mrs. Jane kept her 4-year-old daughter Molly in the attic until she (Molly) died. Before, Mrs. Jane painted Molly’s portrait and put it above the fireplace, so that Molly would become immortal; however, Molly made the portrait speak to her mother, so that Jane would know about Molly’s pain. Mrs. Jane then speaks a rhyme and burns the portrait. A free spirit of Molly returns to haunt her until she goes insane.”

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