When King Diamond's album The Spider's Lullabye, his sixth, was first released in 1995, it was a unique entry in the catalog as it was the first of Diamond's albums since his Fatal Portrait debut that was not a full concept album.
It also marked the debut of a whole new band, with the exception of guitarist Andy La Roque, Diamond's partner in crime, who has been with King since the beginning of his solo career.
There's some great guitar work from La Roque on this album, whom, along with King remain the group's main songwriters. Truth be told, when metal nerds like myself talk in hushed reverence of King's albums, Spider's Lullabye isn't the first topic of conversation, but the songs hold up. This is confirmed by the fact the title track was dusted off for the 2016 tour.
The production has, of course received an upgrade to the 21st century and does the music proud. Also included is a disc of four demo versions of "Moonlight", "From the Other Side", "Spider's Lullabye" and "Dreams". These are a great inclusion - metal artists like King Diamond so rarely pull back the curtain to give us a glimpse of the unfinished product. They sound great- with no bass recorded, the keyboards are much higher in the mix and King himself plays all rhythm guitar. Well worth the price of admission.
