20 Years Ago - A Night of Rehearsal

Album Review

Few things can be as mindlessly entertaining as a bad bar band. Filled with their own sense of importance with a heaping helping of silly songwriting, it can make for a full night's entertainment. But what could make it more entertaining? Why not have the band be fronted by a young King Diamond, the infamous Satanist metal singer who may be best known for pioneering the black metal genre with Mercyful Fate. This recording is basically a rehearsal of his first band, Black Rose. It would be hard to put into words how much Diamond improved from his first band to the one that gave him international recognition. Try to imagine a bunch of young Danish rednecks trying to jam out on '70s power rock songs that they wrote themselves, then imagine it with lyrics about killing virgins and drinking blood sung in a fake falsetto. This is missing the grandiose writing style that Diamond would later adopt, as well as any real metal tendencies outside of a few Golden Earring-inspired moments (including a cover of "Radar Love"). It is very entertaining, but truly wretched at the same time. Even fans of the singer will probably have a hard time warming up to these awful songs, and anyone else should know better than to buy this album for any other reason but to make fun of it.