Them Review

Released: 1988
Genre: Heavy metal / Black metal
Label: Roadrunner Records
Number Of Tracks: 11
King Diamond released this album in 1988 after the success of the band's first two albums "Fatal Portrait" and "Abigail".

Sound:	10
Lyrics:	10
Impression:	10
Overall rating:	10
Users rating:	9.8
Comments:	25

overall: 10

Reviewed by: kingheadshot, on may 28, 2009

Sound: King Diamond released this album in 1988 after the success of the band's first two albums "Fatal Portrait" and "Abigail". King Diamond are well respected in the metal world as being one of the best black metal/ horror metal acts with their distinctive neo-classical influences and their blazing duel-lead sound which incorporates rich harmonies and amazing technical ability. "Them" is no exception and is viewed by many as being their finest work along with the "Abigail" album released the previous year. This album is another showcase of the amazing falsetto singing technique used by the band's singer and chief song-writer (who the band was named after) who had already had some success with his previous band "Mercyful Fate". // 10

Lyrics and Singing: The lyrics in this album tell the story of a posessed grandma who comes home from the assylum and terrorises a boy (who is in fact a young King Diamond) and eventually kills the boy's sister. (The story continues in the "Conspiracy" album which was released the following year) Naturally the lyrics are suitably dark and sinister and portray the boy's feelings of fear and horror at what is going on. King uses his distinctive vocal style to bring the songs to life and they paint a vivid picture in the mind. // 10

Impression: This is probably one of the most accomplished metal albums you will ever hear with amazingly tight guitar solos and incredible ability on the part of every member of the band. I defy you to listen to the solos in "The Invisible Guests" and "Welcome Home" (two of the most impressive tracks on the album) and not be amazed. This is one of my favouite albums of all time beacause the quality of the songs is mind-blowing and you get a sense that every member of the band wanted to create a masterpiece when they recorded this album. If I lost this album I would get a new copy ASAP as I honestly believe that every metal-head should own this CD...go get it now! // 10

Comments

[metallicafan616]

the production on this album was really really bad for a diamond album, and oddly, the music got better towards the end!

[purelegend1]

king diamond rule!

[semus]

there is no way the lyrics on this album got a 10.
king diamond's lyrics, although interesting, are on a 10 year old level...
they are not really close to being good.

[hggu1]

semus wrote:

there is no way the lyrics on this album got a 10.
king diamond's lyrics, although interesting, are on a 10 year old level...
they are not really close to being good.

dude, are you serious?

[Klyptoman]

You could look at it this way, it is really easy for someone to judge one person's writing capacity from the outside based on something someone else has done. However, if one should make a judgment on someone else's accomplishment, he or she should be able to provide better.

King Diamond's lyrics may be simplistic but, where some fail by jamming their songs full of useless and misguided syllables, they are deadly effective.

Can I hear a sample of YOUR song writing Semus?

[xicetraex]

Klyptoman wrote:

You could look at it this way, it is really easy for someone to judge one person's writing capacity from the outside based on something someone else has done. However, if one should make a judgment on someone else's accomplishment, he or she should be able to provide better.
Ownt.

King Diamond's lyrics may be simplistic but, where some fail by jamming their songs full of useless and misguided syllables, they are deadly effective.

Can I hear a sample of YOUR song writing Semus?

[xicetraex]

Ownt ^

[Angelic_Demon]

I love the argument that when you judge that something isn't very good, you automatically have to be better than the thing you are judging. This is a very lame fallacy used by people who don't seem to be able to have any arguments relevant to the case at hand.

[jared420]

nerds just listen to the damn album

[RZK88]

Guys this he is the KING. Simple as that :P BTW this is an awesome album. Sure King has a quite unique style which you may like or not but this is exelent music.

[RZK88]

semus :
there is no way the lyrics on this album got a 10.
king diamond's lyrics, although interesting, are on a 10 year old level...
they are not really close to being good.

What's the problem with the lyrics? I agree king has a unique style but his lyrics are masterpieces. And we are talking about concept albums which are a lot more complex... King is King!

[CommunistBear]

His lyrics maybe straight forward, but it's telling a story there's no need for a deeper meaning behind them or anything.

Sure you could write a song with "better" lyrics, but just because you use big words or have some kind of a deep meaning behind it doesn't make it good.

At the end of the day it fits perfectly with the instruments and together I think they made a marvellous album, one of my favourites.

GRANDMAAAAA

[Haunt3dAng3l]

Angelic_Demon wrote:

I love the argument that when you judge that something isn't very good, you automatically have to be better than the thing you are judging. This is a very lame fallacy used by people who don't seem to be able to have any arguments relevant to the case at hand.

That last sentence of your's was a "very lame fallacy". The argument of "can you do better" is totally relevant when a person is criticizing another's work but providing none of their own.

[ozzynator]

CommunistBear wrote:

His lyrics maybe straight forward, but it's telling a story there's no need for a deeper meaning behind them or anything.

Sure you could write a song with "better" lyrics, but just because you use big words or have some kind of a deep meaning behind it doesn't make it good.

At the end of the day it fits perfectly with the instruments and together I think they made a marvellous album, one of my favourites.

GRANDMAAAAA

Agreed,
and King Diamond Kicks ass, so does this album !

[CommunistBear]

Oh and it just says "lyrics and singing" it doesn't say "the complexity of the lyrics" or "the vocabulary used in the lyrics". And King's singing is spot on.

[dave1Mustaine]

great album

[Geothermal]

Everyone should go buy this and Abigail haha, I ****ing love King Diamond
The lyrics only seem bad because he's telling a story and half the time he's a pretty good story teller ^^

[TheReverend724]

CommunistBear wrote:
GRANDMAAAAA

[bikerluke666]

I've been drinking and the opening track scared the shit out of me

[Stranglehold]

For once, a good review on this crappy part of UG.

[atwags01]

wow, this seems like a really unbiased review...end sarcasm

[Ambush72]

King has one of the best guitarists ever, he is rarely mentioned as one of the best but if you listen to how much harmony and melody he puts into his songs you might realize just how awesome he is and how much it improves the overall sound of the KING who is a phenominal singer in his own right!

[Darkkon]

CommunistBear wrote:

At the end of the day it fits perfectly with the instruments and together I think they made a marvellous album, one of my favourites.

I guess music is a relative thing.

[kingheadshot]

It's good to see other KD fans because they are the best band in the world.

[RZK88]

CommunistBear wrote:

GRANDMAAAAA