Abigail II: The Revenge  King Diamond  Metal Blade Records, 2002
REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen   Sequels are not new ground for
King Diamond and his band. In the late '80s, he followed up Them
(one of the discs argued to be the best in his catalog) with
Conspiracy, thus completing the tale.  But there was a key
difference between those two discs and the situation surrounding
Abigail, Diamond's 1987 release, and Abigail II: The Revenge,
the latest disc from Diamond. Obviously, the biggest difference
is clear - namely, 15 years have passed between albums. But
somewhere along the line, the original story line (which was
cloudy to begin with - not necessarily Diamond's fault, since
you only had 50 minutes on record to tell a story) has become
that much more unclear. Add to that the passage of time on
Diamond's vocal style and an uninspired musical score, and you
have a disappointing release from someone who normally puts out
quality material.  Let's see if I can tie the story up quickly:
When we last left Abigai