KING DIAMOND - The Spider's Lullabye 2LP

After a five-year hiatus, King Diamond reformed in 1995 for The Spider’s Lullabye, which broke the band’s tradition of full-scale concept records. Only the album's second half is thematically unified; it's a series of songs about a man tortured by arachnophobia. With mercurial arrangements and horror-movie atmospherics, “The Spider’s Lullabye,” “Eastmann’s Cure,” and “Room 17” most resemble earlier King Diamond triumphs like Abigail. While King Diamond’s calling card was their ability to put a theatrical spin on speed metal, the strongest moments on Spider’s Lullabye are its angriest. “Dreams,” “Killer,” and “To the Morgue” offer marauding and menacing riffs that recall vintage Metallica, while “Six Feet Under” echoes King Diamond’s roots in hardcore punk. Guitarist Andy LaRocque remastered the album in 2009, which helped enhance the songs’ spiky tones. Though it's only the fourth song on the album, “The Poltergeist” feels like its grand finale. A gloriously uncomplicated riff propels a tale about an awe-inspiring ghoul. It’s perhaps the most back-to-basics song that this famously ambitious band ever wrote, and yet it perfectly embodies everything that’s great about King Diamond.