Fatal Portrait by King Diamond

Fatal Portrait, released on Roadrunner in 1986, was the debut from King Diamond, the Danish band the singer formed with Michael Denner and Timi Hansen after the three of them had broken up Mercyful Fate. Mikkey Dee was on drums, and Andy LaRocque arrived at the eleventh hour: the second guitarist wasn't working out in the studio, so LaRocque was brought in, and cutting a solo on "Dressed in White" served as his audition. That makes it the only King Diamond album without a writing credit from him.

Unlike most of what followed, it isn't one continuous concept piece; the first of those, Abigail, came a year later. The title comes from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, where the painting is more than once called the fatal portrait. It has sold more than 100,000 copies in North America alone.

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