Happy 60th Birthday, King Diamond!

The word “true” gets thrown around a lot in metal, and is usually just used to hate on people with stupid haircuts. For me, “true” means that you never changed your sound or aesthetic in order to bow to fashion or trends, and that you never rested on your old material. And if there’s anyone who can be called true in metal, it’s Kim Bendix Petersen, better known as King Diamond, who turns 60 (!!!) years old today.

From his early days in Black Rose and Brats, to his formidable genre-defining material in Mercyful Fate, to his elaborate solo career, King Diamond has never wavered in his sound, message, and persona. There is no King Diamond nu-metal album full of bad guttural vocals, no era where the King took off his facepaint, no moment where he decried Satan to keep from alienating potential mainstream listeners. For about four decades, King Diamond has wowed audiences with his theatrical brand of musical horror performed in an ear-piercing falsetto voice. He’s the real fucking deal, and the fact that he’s as real as ever at age 60 shows the world that you can live your insane, grandiose dreams if you just throw your whole heart into it (and that old age doesn’t mean your sex life has to suffer).

So from everyone here at MetalSucks, happy 60th birthday, King Diamond! You’re the only man on earth who can put on a top hat and velvet jacket and then wow a room full of heshers with a song about tea. You will forever light the candle in the jack-o’-lantern of our hearts. Hail Satan.