This is one of my favourite works from Mr. Horror of metal (King Diamond is also the vocalist of Mercyful Fate). Fifth full length from 1990 was the last for five years, before 1995s lacklustre come-back album 'The Spider's Lullabye'.

The album's story takes a listener into the Middle Ages' sick inquisitions, precisely to French at some time between 1450-1670. What makes the story truly fascinating is the true persons and places. I don't give any details, but there's religion, nuns and black magic involved. And sick rituals and orgies whre men of church rape women... What has changes during these 500 years, then? King Diamond portraits persons mainly with his falsetto (aka banshee!) singing. Imagine him play a part of a little girl... Very uneasy, for sure, but to enjoy King Diamond albums, one must internalize King's unique voice. I like his voice more in these days, since he sings in a normal way a lot (even though he ain't a very good singer).

Musically this is heavy metal. Very infectious kind of heavy metal. More straight than previous records' music, this still shows the excellent musicianship of the band. There's a lot of different moods and atmospheres going on, hand in hand with the story. Still, most of this is heavy metal. I do not know what's with this instrumental 'Insanity', but it almost raises tears into my eyes every time I hear it. There's more synths than on previous albums creating horror atmospheres. This album is still varying and very rewarding for any heavy metal warrior. If one can take King's vocals... King Diamond has always been very unique music. The sound is 1980s (yeah, I know this was recorded in 1990, but still). It is more airy than nowadays general style and it is also crystal clear with every instrument roaming in its own space. A good production, even though snare drum could be more striking. The whole thing could be more powerful, but this is caused by the echo.

'The Eye' was re-released in 1997 with some liner notes and a short King Diamond interview by Don Kaye. It seems that original is very hard to be found nowadays and that's the reason I got this version. This has been remixed, but sounds close to original (sadly, I can't compare them directly) and could definitely be more powerful. Original cover and booklet art has been preserved, but back cover is truly ugly new work. Lyrics are printed, but there's small mistakes. The original would still be better and I don't care about if there's no bonus tracks included on this. However, in my opinion 'The Eye' is a classic metal album and amen to that. Or was it Amon..?

Rating: 9- (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
03/22/2004 13:16