I won't spoil the party and tell you the story here. I will just say that for metal guitar freaks like me this album is a present from... heaven? :-D Well, no mater from where it came, this CD is a true guitar fest. The solos from Mike Wead and Andy Larocque are simply amazing. There's no lacking ingredient in their playing: technique, melody, taste, speed and aggression. I specially like Mike's solos this time, because his tone is awesome and his phrasing is expressive as... hell? ;-)
About the album itself, King Diamond is to me the real metal deal: horror mini-operas told through almost-progressive metal formulas -- but still sounding pure and raw, like true metal should be. The idea is truly original and the formula does work for me all the time. "Give me your soul... please!" is no exception. Of course, King is not breaking any ground anymore and this is absolutely more of the same, but that's *THE SAME* I love to hear and that's what I like from King Diamond: consistency, quality and loyalty to himself. After all, King has already innovated, so it's OK to reuse the innovations to craft a bunch of great albums, one after another.
Now the unavoidable: compared to "The Puppet Master", I think the previous album had more melodic hooks, while "Give me your soul... please!" is more guitar-oriented. Also, I got the impression King uses more his middle range this time, but I always loved his "natural" voice, so that's fine to me. If I had to rank the new album respect to other King's efforts, this still is in my top five or six. The story is great and wicked, so our Halloween-esque desires will be more than satisfied. If you add to the story the band's total mastery of metal cliches, you get a super-boosted package of the finest metal extract ever.
So, to conclude the review, I love the cover, the white letters for the lyrics on the booklet and all the artwork in general. Heavy metal fans need releases like this one, so this scores five stars in my book without hesitation. Just go BUY IT NOW and support artists like King, as he truly deserves kudos for his craftsmanship and authenticity. In fact, buy all the albums from King Diamond. I bet you won't regret it. You'll spend many creepy nights reading the stories while listening to a great metal score, so it is worth the price, believe me -- actually, joy is priceless! -- and by the way, thank you, King!
