King Diamond: "Hanging on a wall in a third-rate puppet shop with a nail through his throat, eternally watching ...".

METALHEADS EITHER HATE King Diamond or they love him--for 20 years the makeup, the death-shriek screaming vocals, and his mulleted band have kept fans divided. Either way, KD's contribution to heavy rock can't be denied. With the widest vocal range in metal, his singing style is unmatched. From earache-pitched squeals to guttural sludge, the King's throat reigns supreme. Early albums like Abigail, and his former band Mercyful Fate, are genuine metal classics. Each of his albums unfold as a tale, song by song, and the same approach is taken on the new record The Puppet Master. The power and fury of this new release prove that King Diamond is without equal in the realms of metal. Like him or not.

The Puppet Master is billed as the goriest, most gruesome King Diamond album yet. How do you think it compares with bands like Cattle Decapitation or Exhumed or Autopsy?

I really don't know, because I haven't listened to that stuff. I imagine what we do is very different--the way we tell a story. I pretty much say what's going on, but I don't say everything. So the listener can create their own idea. Like on Abigail, I say she's eating--but is she feeding off her mother? I never say for sure. Instead, the stories demand that I tell them in detail. Like on "No More Me," on The Puppet Master, if I only said that the puppet master dissects my body and uses the parts to create a puppet, it doesn't show the horror and the finality that happens herein. Cutting the eyelids off first, I start to cry blood. He reaches into my eye socket and he pulls the eyeball out with a snapping sound. And these eyes see the whole time. I'm screaming like hell in pain. They take the eyes and put them in a puppet head that's a little too small, and the eye looks back at myself with the big black empty eye sockets and blood. They pull the nails out of my fingers and cut the skin off my arms and legs. There is so much pain that finally, there is no pain. I go numb but I still see, and the wife is running around catching all the blood she can in the jars. Before it is over she picks up what is left of my carcass and throws it into a trash can. There's no going back. It is horrifyingly tragical. He ends up hanging on a wall in a third-rate puppet shop with a nail through his throat, eternally watching.

How did you come up with the concept for the new record?

The Puppet Master slowly took form starting in '99 when Mercyful Fate was touring with Metallica in Europe. We were in Budapest--I think we had a Sunday afternoon off, actually--and the band took a walk in the center of the city, the old part of the city, and got into these very narrow streets. It was a sunny afternoon, but the sun wouldn't reach the street. Something suddenly caught me, walking by something called the National Puppet Theater. It looked like a real theater, which totally blew my mind. It was closed, but I thought, how can this be? How can there be a real-size theater for puppets? Anyway it made a lot of thoughts start forming in my mind. Normally you associate puppetry with a tent in the park or something.

Going further down that street I think I saw another eight or 10 shops that all were carrying only puppets. All were closed on Sunday afternoon, but getting close up to the windows, looking in, we could see they were just full of puppets, all sizes. They were sitting on chairs, hanging on the walls, sitting on shelves--very, very eerie feeling. I got the feeling inside that I wouldn't sleep there if someone paid me.

If you're not tuned in to newer metal/death/gore bands, what do you listen to?

When I have time it's usually early '70s progressive metal. Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, David Byron--who's my all-timed favorite--Deep Purple, Jethro Tull. And a bit more obscure stuff, like Heads From Beyond and Lucifer's Friend and those. I also have a big collection of totally obscure music like Aunt Mary from Norway from '72. November, a Swedish band from like 1970.

Do you hear any new, original voices coming up in metal?

It's both good and bad that I don't listen to the new stuff. I listen to the new Metallica because those guys are friends of mine; but otherwise, I'm not really on top of what's coming out these days. It can also be good because I am not being influenced. I am just stuck in my '70s world. Those bands all had such a unique sound. If you played one of their songs--Deep Purple or Uriah Heep, those guys--you knew within 10 seconds which band it was. I don't think the same can be said of bands today.

What do you think of all those Scandinavian black and death metal bands who are ripping off your makeup style?

They're not ripping me off. I ripped someone else off--Alice Cooper! He inspired me, absolutely. When I saw him in '75, Welcome To My Nightmare Tour, the way he came across--even though he wasn't wearing much--made him unreal. I felt like if I could reach up on stage and touch him that he might just disappear. He had some magical effect on me. I knew if I ever got a band together myself I would definitely use makeup, because I knew the effect it had on me. It has a cool visual effect--if these new bands want to wear it I'm sure the fans will appreciate it.

What do you think when you watch the TV news?

The world is a horrible place. It's funny, you hear about metal bands, like black metal bands, blamed for different stuff--influencing kids. I say don't make that big a fuss about movies and music. Why don't they ban the news? That's the real thing, right in your living room. At dinner time you can turn on the TV and see violence and dead bodies everywhere. And just because we see that doesn't mean we all run out after dinner and kill each other. I think these people give too little credit to how smart the youth are.

Do you think that in 10 years King Diamond will still be on the road?

I guess it depends on health and stuff. Plus, with music on the internet--all these downloads--who knows? That is why we're doing extra stuff with Puppet Master for the fans. We've got a free bonus DVD in there, where I sit in front of the camera and tell the whole tale. They've added these atmospheric effects that are in Dolby surround and even for myself, having done it, when I watch I get sacked in--freaked out. And we're doing some limited-release digipacks over here in the States. It's gonna look awesome.

How is your throat holding up after all these years?

The amazing thing is that it's getting stronger. I found that out in the studio working on this album. We had one day left for vocals in the studio. Andy and I were mixing it at my house with super-equipment that had been flown over from the studio in Sweden. Usually I do about one song in six hours, which is like singing three shows back to back. So I had two songs to do still and after about six hours, the track "Christmas" was done. We took a 20-minute break and then we continued. Overall that day I spent 14 hours in the studio, of which I sang effectively 13 hours. It sounds like the biggest lie, but I did it. The next day the voice was not good, I can tell you that.

Is there an heir to King Diamond's throne?

Oh, I don't know. No one can duplicate Ozzy's voice. He had the most perfect voice for metal. Until someone like him comes along again, I don't think so.