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Deconstructing the House Of God

The King Diamond album that saved my life.

By Nick FalknerPublished 6 years ago 6 min read
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The House Of God album cover

I bought the King Diamond album, House Of God, the day it was released in 2000. I was the first one in the piddly town I lived in to buy it. It had a wild story, excellent guitar work, some wild album artwork painted by Thomas Holm (who painted classic Mercyful Fate and King Diamond album covers in the 80’s) and a few new King voices that were never heard before, or ever heard since. I’ve listened to the album a lot, but never really paid attention to hidden meanings the songs might hold. It wasn’t until recently that I was listening to it on Spotify that I realized at least three of the songs reflect how I felt during certain times in my life.

On that note, this album saved my life.

The album itself is very interesting. When I first picked it up, it was in digipak form. It is also available in a plastic jewel case. The song list on the back has a cross with it, but the song list is printed upside down. To read the song list, you either had to be good at reading things upside down, or turn the digipak, which means turning the cross, as well.

The story itself was inspired by a church in France called Rennes le Chateau, which is a weird church. I doubt I’ll ever go there, but it’s on my bucket list. There was a website leading to it, but it might be gone now. Do a search.

Band lineup:

King Diamond - All Vocals, keyboards

Andy LaRocque – Guitar

Glen Drover – Guitar

David Harbour – Bass

John Luke Hebert - Drums

The Story of House Of God

The intro track, “Upon The Cross,” is a monologue, with a weird musical backing: “Upon the cross, he did not die. They tortured him, but he survived. Smuggled across the open sea, to southern France, tranquility. There, he married Magdelene, and founded another dynasty. A church was built upon a hill to serve all of the gods at will.”

King tells the story from the first person perspective. In the story, he plays a man who was riding his horse one night and lost his way. He ending up being surrounded by wolves, but they were chased away by another. (The Trees Have Eyes) The wolf beckoned King to follow her to a church that stood not far from where he was. The church had inscription above the door that read, “THIS PLACE IS TERRIBLE.” (Follow The Wolf)

As the doors opened, King saw that the church was badly decayed, but once inside, everything changed before his eyes. The place was beautiful, and the wolf changed too, into a lady. She called herself Angel, and King was in love. There was plenty of food and wine in the church, and it seemed like heaven on earth. (House Of God) Seven days pass, and King explores the church. He notices things that are not characteristic of a church, such as strange paintings, two pulpits, and a statue of a devil. (Black Devil)

Angel reveals to King that she was selected by supernatural forces to guard the church, and she needed to find her replacement within a year. At this point, she was seven days away from her deadline, and if King refused, she’d die. If King signed the pact, she’d leave the church with no memory of it. Out of his love for her, King agrees. (The Pact) Angel then leaves the church, leaving King alone. (Goodbye)

Loneliness sets in, and King is going insane. His time with Angel was too good to be true. (Just A Shadow) Out of desperation, King tries to destroy the church, smashing the mirrors on the wall. (Help!!!) Doing this causes the altar to move and reveal a passage to a catacomb. (Passage To Hell) King goes into the catacomb with a candle in his hand, and finds a tomb that held the mummified remains of Jesus Christ. An entity appears from the mummy, and King runs from it, out of the catacomb, back into the church. (Catacomb)

It is followed by others. The entities inform King that he found what he was never meant to find, that god and Satan are but puppets on their strings, and they tell him to make the best of his life. Having learned the truth about everything, King is driven further insane. He challenges god to prove his existence and explain why the world is what it is. He carries a rope to the tower and hangs himself. (This Place Is Terrible)

The final track, “Peace Of Mind,” is a somber instrumental.

I never realized just how much of an impact that album had on me. It seemed almost for a chunk of the album, King was singing about me!

One of the songs, “Just A Shadow,” is a song I’d relate to a break up. It starts with “Again, I’m so alone…” It also seems philosophical song, with the lyric, “Must we have the other side just to feel alive?” Also, at the time, it seemed like King was singing about me, with the lyric, “If life is so divine, how come I suffer so in mine?” That got me! That was me! You also get the feeling that in the story, King realized that Angel lured him to the church with the promise of love and companionship, as evidenced in the title track, “House Of God,” (“I’ll love you forever…never leave.”), only to leave him all alone. Again, break up theme.

The song can be heard here.

The song that follows, “Help!!!,” relates to a time when I was going through a deep depression and a self destructive phase. This song represents a lot of things I was going through at the time, in fact, the chorus sums it up nicely. “I’m hanging on to a memory”…remembering when times were good. “I’m hanging on to myself”…trying to stay sane. “The wine is turning sour”…things I once enjoyed were no longer giving me pleasure. “I’m longing for my final hour”…feeling suicidal. “Never to be free, cursed for eternity”…not to mention I was living at home, and my mom was married to a guy that made me feel like a prisoner in my own home. This song was highly relatable to me, and it’s one I still enjoy, and actually sing it at work.

The studio version can be found here. There was a concert video where he performed this song, but it seems to have been taken down.

The last song I can relate to is “This Place Is Terrible.” I was born Mormon, but I really started to question it. Not the Mormon religion, which I now question and make fun of on a daily basis, but the concept of religion itself. If god loves us, why does he keep piling on the shit to see if we break? What’s the use of teaching us about Sodom and Gomorrah if the priest is banging chicks in the confessional? Don’t even ask about Mormon bishops talking to teenage girls about their coming of age changes. I used to read the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and around this time, I had books on Wicca, spell casting, and I also bought The Satanic Bible by Anton Szandor LaVey. I rarely went to church, but I did once in a great while, and still do, go to church functions all metalled up, and the most anyone says to me is, “Welcome. I’m glad you could make it.” As you could see, unlike King’s character, I did not hang myself.

That song, along with the outro, “Peace Of Mind,” can be heard here.

House Of God is a solid album, despite having the most temporary line up of any King Diamond album. I’m surprised it still works in my player, even though I have a hard time digging out my CDs these days. I should also mention that this album is one of my go-to albums when I’m feeling down.

I leave you with an instrumental track that King closed his last few shows here.

Also, there's an interview that took place during the tour of this album. You can see it here.

The back cover.

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About the Creator

Nick Falkner

I like to write about music, video games, and anything else that pops up. Based out of Utah.

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