no presents for king diamond

I hate to say it, but I just realised how many Christmas type songs I was wanting to post this season and decided that I need to interrupt the regularly scheduled broadcast of whatever the hell it is that I normally put on this blog and begin the holiday onslaught unto thee. Normal music will be back after the break, but in the meantime, prepare yourselves...

Widely regarded as the finest vocalist in all of death metal (who possesses a multi-octave range), theatrical rocker King Diamond first rose to prominence as a member of Mercyful Fate, before launching a solo career on his own. Born Kim Bendix Petersen in Denmark on June 14, 1956, the future King Diamond was originally drawn to theatrically based hard rock due to such trailblazers as Alice Cooper, and soon began fronting local bands in the '70s, including a punk metal outfit called the Brats. Shortly thereafter, the group mutated into Mercyful Fate. Diamond, by this time, had developed an interest in the occult, which reflected in the new group's subject matter, as the frontman began wearing makeup (which resembled a cross between his hero Cooper and Kiss' Gene Simmons).

Diamond's series of gothic-operatic concept albums in the late 80s are unparalled in their scope and pure thrashy awesomeness to this day. In the early 90s, Diamond found his name embroiled in controversy -- due to a Geraldo Rivera TV special on music with supposed "hidden messages". Kiss' Simmons served a lawsuit against the singer, claiming that the makeup design Diamond had been using too closely resembled the one that Simmons used in the '70s and early '80s, which resulted in an out of court settlement and with Diamond being forced to modify his makeup design. (This further pushes the idea that Gene Simmons is indeed the world's biggest douchebag.)

King Diamond - No Presents for Christmas

Oh yeah, you wanna buy some King Diamond now dontcha?!