Abigail II: The Revenge

The tenth studio album carries on the story of Abigail, from 1987. In February 2001 the band's official site revealed the working title "Abigail 2", and in May Metal Blade Records announced that King Diamond had begun recording the sequel to Abigail at Nomad Recording Studios in Dallas. The album was recorded, mixed and mastered there between May and September 2001, with additional recording at Los Angered Recording in Gothenburg. Kol Marshall, King Diamond and guitarist Andy La Rocque produced it; Marshall engineered, and he and King Diamond mixed and mastered it. Travis Smith painted the cover. The line-up was King Diamond on vocals and keyboards, Andy La Rocque and Mike Wead on guitars, Hal Patino on bass and Matt Thompson on drums. In January 2001 the official site announced Wead, who also played guitar in Mercyful Fate, as Glen Drover's successor and Thompson as the new drummer. Patino, who had played bass on Them, Conspiracy and The Eye, had been announced as the returning bassist in October 2000. Alyssa Biesenberger sings as a guest on "Little One". The story continues from the end of Abigail. O'Brian of the Black Horsemen, the riders of that album's closing song, reveals that a young woman is the reincarnation of his stillborn half-sister, whose soul the Horsemen saved and raised in their chapel. On a stormy night she reaches the mansion of the Count de La Fey, who has lost his wife, Miriam; he sees Miriam in her and begins to want an heir. Metal Blade Records released the album in Europe and North America in January 2002, the North American edition on 29 January. It reached number 11 on Billboard's Independent Albums chart in the United States and number 24 on the official Finnish chart. Shortly before the release King Diamond complained that the label had withdrawn its promised tour support two days before Christmas, and in July 2002 the band were reported to be signing new deals with Metal Blade Records for North America and Massacre Records for Europe.