House of God

For their ninth album of fictional horror storytelling, King Diamond settled on the location of Rennes-le-Château, an enigmatic French hilltop village that's central to The Da Vinci Code and countless other conspiracy theories. In the album's narrative, a man falls in love with a ghostlike woman who's been sent by the devil to guard the township’s famous castle. Driven by an unattainable lust for the woman, the man uncovers the secrets of the castle and is eventually driven insane when the nihilistic truth of humankind is revealed to him, shattering his preconceived notions of religion. This is by far King Diamond’s most psychological work, with strong parallels to the supernatural fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. Musically, it's the band’s most visceral statement. Where its predecessor, Voodoo, was all about peculiar atmosphere, songs like ”Follow the Wolf,” “Catacomb,” and the brawny “Help!!!” get their power from the riffs' muscular force. Those craving the theatricality of '80s-era King Diamond can proceed to “Just a Shadow” and “House of God,” which finds the mighty King alternating between a guttural snarl and his resplendent falsetto.