PORTRAIT - The Host 2-LP (Burgundy Red Marble Vinyl)

Issued with a gatefold cover, 4 sided printed folded insert with lyrics.

Imitation may well be the greatest form of variety, but it can also be a sure way for an idea to run its course prematurely. Without some degree of stylistic innovation, heavy metal would wither and die, yet there is a fine line between taking things a step further and wandering clear off the map. This is particularly a delicate issue in the case of keeping the theatricality and vintage metallic darkness associated with Danish metal icons Mercyful Fate and their front man King Diamond’s solo project alive in the face of more than 15 years of studio silence. Curiously enough, many would be disciple projects have sprung up within the same frame that the latter had put out his, to date, final studio LP Give Me Your Soul…Please, with such acts as Germany’s Attic, the U.S.’s Them and Sweden’s now defunct In Solitude providing interesting continuations of the style in question, spanning numerous albums of high caliber. Yet the peculiar case of another Swedish outfit dubbed Portrait stands apart from the crowd, functioning less as a tribute-based continuation and more of a logical evolutionary step forward within a NWOTHM context, especially when considering their most recent studio LP The Host.