Fatal Portrait

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Fatal Portrait
KingDiamond FatalPortrait.jpg
Studio album by King Diamond
Released February 17, 1986
Recorded July 1985
Genre Heavy metal
Length 41:41
Label Roadrunner
Producer Rune Hoyer
King Diamond chronology
No Presents for Christmas
(1985)No Presents for Christmas1985
Fatal Portrait
(1986)
Abigail
(1987)Abigail1987
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 3/5 stars[1]

Fatal Portrait is the debut album by the heavy metal band King Diamond. The album was released in 1986 on Roadrunner Records. It is the only King Diamond album to date in which guitarist Andy LaRocque does not receive writing credits. Fatal Portrait was produced by Rune Hoyer. Along with The Spider's Lullabye, this is one of the band's only albums which is not a whole concept album. This album has sold over 100,000 copies in North America alone.

Plot

Five songs on this album (first four and "Haunted") form a short story. Narrator sees a face in "every candle that [he] burns". This face speaks one word to him: "Jonah". So he finds an old book, speaks a rhyme and frees the spirit from the candle. It's the spirit of a little girl named Molly, who tells him her story, that happened seven years before. Mrs. Jane kept her 4-year-old daughter Molly in the attic until she (Molly) died. Before, Mrs. Jane painted Molly's portrait and put it above the fireplace, so that Molly would become immortal; however, Molly made the portrait speak to her mother, so that Jane would know about Molly's pain. Mrs. Jane then speaks a rhyme and burns the portrait. A free spirit of Molly returns to haunt her until she goes insane.

Track listing

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "The Candle"   King Diamond 6:38
2. "The Jonah"   King Diamond 5:15
3. "The Portrait"   King Diamond 5:06
4. "Dressed in White"   King Diamond 3:09
5. "Charon"   King Diamond, Michael Denner 4:14
6. "Lurking in the Dark"   King Diamond 3:33
7. "Halloween"   King Diamond, Michael Denner 4:12
8. "Voices from the Past" (Instrumental) King Diamond 1:29
9. "Haunted"   King Diamond, Michael Denner 3:54

Remaster bonus tracks

No. Title Writer(s) Length
10. "No Presents for Christmas"   King Diamond, Michael Denner 4:20
11. "The Lake"   King Diamond 4:11

Personnel

References

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