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Watching King Diamond’s “Songs For The Dead Live” @ Saint Vitus Bar (2/6/2019)

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Last night, Metal Blade Records and Metal Injection hosted a screening party at the famed Saint Vitus Bar where those in attendance would be able to enjoy the brand-new King Diamond video release “Songs For The Dead Live”. The event was open to the general public and featured plenty of fans and assorted press and media entities.

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After some quick welcomes by Injection’s Frank Godla, the attendees got to meet Denise Korycki who shot, directed and produced the live release. This must have been some undertaking because the King show is not just him standing in front of you, and instead he is everywhere on this elaborate and very visual setting. Denise lined out a few of the details about such an effort and she was joined by “Abigail” herself. When she is offstage she goes by Jodi Cachia. Saint Vitus Bar is pretty dark and I just snapped this shot with my mobile to have a moment of them talking to the audience.

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Denise would now leave us to the legendary King Diamond who was in disguise as Kim Bendix Petersen at the time of the clip we saw but you knew that sinister Metal force was there acting as his, dare I say “Puppetmaster” LOL (sorry it was too hard to resist). This video was also captured with the mobile but uploaded to our Official YouTube Channel so please consider subscribing since I intend to use it a lot more.

Now it was time to enjoy “Songs Of The Dead Live”, a live concert video that featured two full shows by King Diamond and his band. The first one being shown was from Philadelphia and I did a “Facebook Live” of his classic number “Welcome Home” which comes from the album “Them”. If you cannot see the video below to watch in this post, please click HERE to be transported to our Official Facebook. Sometimes embedding these clips elsewhere is nixed by Facebook. I chose this option to spark interest in the Metal Masses following us to include those fans from far, far away. Don’t be afraid of “Liking” that Facebook Page so you see content as soon as it goes live.

Now since the King mentioned that signed copies were available at the merchandise table, I wanted to make sure that I got one before they ran out so I snagged the Blu-ray for myself. This version does NOT include the live concert audio CD but I believe that the DVD one does. On the booklets The King had signed his name and wrote “Stay Heavy”. While I was out there, I made sure to say hello to Jodi I mean “Abigail” and she was a pleasure to meet. She has been with the King’s live shows for many years now and loves every second of it.

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Another nice surprise was running into Mr. Kjetil Nordhus who some diehard Metal fans might immediately know as being the singer for the band Green Carnation. It was almost thirteen years ago to the day that I reviewed a Green Carnation show on PiercingMetal during what I believed might have been their first tour here ever. This was at the long shuttered Manhattan Knitting Factory, in their Tap Room venue which was located downstairs from the main space. One might compare it to The Studio at Webster Hall but that venue is now gone as well so moving on. Kjetil also is the lead singer for Tristania and somehow this was news to me. If you’d like to scroll back the sands of time and see that old concert review just click HERE.

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PiercingMetal Thoughts: Since I bought the video, I didn’t remain at the back room watching more than the first eight songs from the Philly show. With a venue full of people to meet and engage with I wanted some conversation as well. I highly recommend this release and think that fans should look into buying both the audio and the Blu-ray since that will be the better quality. I really wish that the BR discs allowed for one to add the audio to their personal cloud library of music since this is a solid set list of King Diamond and Mercyful Fate classics. The visuals are amazing and kudos to Denise for getting so many wonderful angles and expressions from King and the group. Joining King Diamond is the long standing lineup of Andy LaRoque, Mike Wead, Matt Thompson, Pontus Egberg and Livia Zita. You’ll be playing this one loud and on repeat, trust me. You can also trust me on the full video review coming as soon as I attend to some other agenda items. Order a copy down below on Amazon.com

Official Website: http://www.kingdiamondcoven.com

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