Widely recognized as King Diamond's solo masterpiece, Abigail is also unquestionably one of heavy metal's greatest concept albums. A passion for dark-themed theatrics had always qualified the work of the man formerly known as Kim Bendix Petersen before this release, and yet his band's debut from two years prior had merely hinted at the conceptual ambitions yet to come. So turn out the houselights, draw the curtains, and listen closely as King Diamond's synthetically altered voice introduces us to the witch Abigail La'Fey (in an obvious tribute to Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan) through ? fittingly enough ? her "Funeral." Moments later, proper musical opener "Arrival" introduces the familiar post-metal, semi-thrashing style over which Diamond will narrate his spine-tingling tale of horror, a tale which, in the process, conjures such career-topping compositions as the stunning "A Mansion in Darkness," the surprisingly clever "The Family Ghost," and the quite beautiful acoustics, orchestrations, and sound effects introducing "The 7th Day of July 1777."