Customer Reviews

Eye

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is King Diamond (KD) at its best. After "Conspiracy", KD is no longer a black metal band, but a progressive one! This is demonstrated in "The Eye": It opens with an energetic and powerful piece: "The Eye Of The Witch", which is for me one of the bests KD themes ever. This CD sounds mature and majestic. The mystery and urgency is everywhere, and the musicianship is ground-breaking and excellent. Keyboards work with harmonies in a very professional way, and the tense atmosphere is maintained through the entire story. Not to mention guitars! Andy LaRocque reached again in this album a very neoclassic taste, without loosing his own personality and style. With tempo changes, riff after riff, he and Pete Blakk know how to play innovative metal without becoming jazzy. Drums are also brilliant, as well the bass guitar: KD has developed into a band that deploys a high level of quality in the metal scene, still maintaining its heavy roots. In addition, the entire album is coherent and well produced, with vocals delivering passion, fear, rage, anger, mercy... Admirable! And please, don't close the eyes to the song "Two Little Girls", in spite of its softness. It's a very well composed tune, at the same time chilling and tender: an actual masterpiece!

My final words: If you like progressive rock, this one is for you! Five stars!

This album is a pure masterpiece. It is one of the top ten heavy metal albums of all time. The Mercyful Fate album "Don't Break the Oath" is the only other album that King Diamond participated in that is on equal footing as far as pure listening enjoyment is concerned. The complexity of this piece of metal artwork is breathtaking.

I think, that "The Eye" ranks right up there with "Abigail" in terms of quality from King.

There are a lot of really excellent tracks on this release. Some of my favorites are: "The Eye of the Witch", "Two Little Girls", and "Father Picard". And, that doesn't mean that the rest aren't as good.

The intro song (".. Witch") is a great way to start a new story. It's evil, it's creepy and contains all the elements King's music is known for. It sets the stage for what is about to come.

I like "Two Little Girls" even though it's missing half of the band, instrument-wise. It's very creepy. "Father Picard" contains some excellent verses and chorus structure. When combined with the lyrics and characters, both of these really shine. I have always liked how King uses different vocal tones to really creep out the listener.

This is a story about witches, evil, corrupt clergymen, and ancient artifacts. It's a classic KD release.

If you liked Abigail or the "Them" saga, this one is a natural buy.

People tend to call Abigail, Them and Conspiracy the best of King Diamond's work, yet The Eye tends to not be talked about much. Believe me, Jack, when I say that The Eye is just as good if not better than those three albums. There are some excellent, excellent, catchy and powerful songs here. And lets not forget the story here: Once again King has toned down the supernatural element and focuses more on the horror humans are capable of. In this case it's the Inquisition along with other corruptions in the church. It's not based on any particular documented event, but the story is wrapped in real life events. It's certainly one of his best stories, no doubt about it. Other reviewers constantly tell you to get the aforementioned holy trinity of King Diamond albums, and they are correct. Just let me add The Eye into the mix coz it more than deserves it's place there.

This story creeped me out and left me with chills. Very dark and forboding with a serious twist that'll make you smile. I recommend this for first time listeners of Kind Diamond as it is an easy way for those who don't know his work to see how well he takes you for a ride and then brings you back down. I got completely drawn into the story and was kind of upset that the album ended. I loved it that much!

Ok, I'm not a kid, and I'm relatively new to the fandom of King Diamond. This is my first and currently only KD album. I went to a music store in search of Abigail, but they only had the Eye, Conspiracy and the Deadly Lullabye's Live album. I want to hold off on getting Conspiracy until I get both Them and Conspiracy at once. So I got the Eye and brought it home. I've sampled many songs and have downloaded many somgs off of each KD release, and this albums is the most unique of all. Instead of the usual horror-theme-based albums that the King conceieved in the past, it is mostly constructed around the true facts of the French Inquisition. They always say that the best stories are the ones that are true, which applies here. The only King-exclusive feature to the album is the magical amulet The Eye he contributed to the story to stretch interest. All the character portrayed in this album were real people, the names apparently unchanged and actions true to the accounts.What makes this story really good is the fact that it doesn't hold back on the detail, and it really let's the listener understand that these were hard and scary times in history. As always, King really shows that he can carry a melody, and he does it more tastefully than some of his other releases. I've only listened to the album once through since I got it yesterday, and it will take me some time to fully appreciated it. But the songs that make up this album have much variety. The song Two Little Girls is absolutely eerie, insanity holds classic beauty in it's structure and sound, and Eye of the Witch has the least complex structure of King's career, but the hypnotic keyboard riffs really show the gothic side of the King's nature. The liner notes also tell you about how the album was overlooked because of the changing music climate in the US with the emergence of the grunge movement.There is a lot of use of non-guitar instrument sounds in the record, like violin and other syntesized sounds. They sound really authentic and give it's eerie mood that lasts through the whole album. As always, LaRoque plays great solos through the album, and Blakk is no slouch either. As I said, it will take some time working it's magic on you. The first time I listened to it, nothing really seemed too familiar after listening to it, but I will say it will take maybe 2-3 more plays to become fully understood. The thing that makes KD's music so appealing to me is that the stories that make up the records are trully entertaining and educational. I've heard too many metal albums that sound alike, and so KD was a breath of fresh air. It's nice to see someone doing something really original and thought provoking instead of the mindless babbling of most thrash metal releases. Many people are quick to judge the King, and his notes inside the album reveal this fact, and his beliefs and opinions let you realize and respect him for what he stands for. I highly recommend checking this album out, I assure you that you won't be disappointed.

I think The Eye is a kick ass album and one of my personal favorites by King Diamond himself.Every song just rocks but if i had to pick my favorites that would be tracks 5 through 8.I would recommend this album to any metal fan it's that good and has such a neat story and a solid sound.Go out and grab this album trust me you will love it!!!!!!!!!!!

I got this last night. I finally found it used, after looking for it for about 2 years. After my first listen, it was my favoriteKD cd so far. I still need about five of them. Conspiracy, Abigail Live, Nightmare In The Nineties, The Dark Sides, Shape, Black Rose, and A Dangerous Meeting. oh wait. thats 7. oh well. This cd tells a great story, and its even true. The music rules. Everthing about this cd is awesome. My favorite song is either Burn or Father Picard. Buy this cd. WE'RE GONNA GET YOU, WITCHY WOMAN

This is one of those rare albums that really can broaden your horizons. I've been a King/MF fan since I first heard "Melissa", and I can appreciate the hardcore aficionados who want primarily to be bludgeoned with the sound. These guys can certainly do that with the best of them.

Yet that's easy. King's style has always been a bit further out there than other bands, and The Eye, for its melody and seductive (apparent) simplicity, is a fine example. The first time I heard King's falsetto melody in "Into the Coven" and "Satan's Fall", I knew this was different. I remember Motorhead fans shaking their heads at those melodies, as though this robbed the music of something important.

In fact, it just makes the sinister more so. Like the contrast in Led Zeppelin's music, the haunting melodies make the wicked heaviness seem even more brutal. It takes guts to put those elements together, and King has certainly demon-strated that.

Give The Eye a listen, and the other reviewers are right - there are a lot more keyboards and melody here than on Abigail or Them. But this just enhances the sinister seductiveness of the overall theme, as well as the powerful music, itself.

Great songs do not make it less heavy. Judas Priest's British Steel, a classic, was attacked on those grounds, and we now see how silly it was. That album rocks, and so does this one.

When this album came out, many former Mercyful Fate fans gnarled. I was hooked! King`s melodic feeling is to be heard on this album in the widest scale. Never has he used so many keyboards and so many catching melodies but on this one! The lyrics is also one of his best deeds, just check out "The Trial", it`s so scary and realistic. "Behind These Walls" is my favourite and again, the melody in this song prevails. King`s vocals chill to the bone in places and the overwhole impression is very very deep! "Insanity" is the best acoustic instrumental by a heavy metal band ever and I cannot understand how this song never made it in the Charts. It could be played during funeral ceremonies, such a moving melody in there! None of King`s albums coming after "THE EYE" matched this one!