Tearstained - Nightmare Visions (2008)

Related:
Night Conquers Day - The First Snowfall (1999)

Tearstained began as a depressive, goth-tinged black metal project, but at some point along the line (I'm not sure when, as I've only heard this and the first album) it turned into blackened King Diamond worship. The first half of "The Old House on the Mountainside" is a remarkably faithful simulation of the classic King Diamond sound, while "Coffin" finds dude actually talking about his creepy grandmother -- positively shameless. Oh, and it's a concept album.

But, here's the thing: I fucking love it. It's a low-rent, homemade-sounding, black metal-infused homage to one of the greatest heavy metal artists of all-time, and dude has the chops to back it up. What's not to like?

Track listing:
1. The Old House on the Mountainside
2. Crawling with Tarantulas
3. The Coffin
4. When the Sun and Moon Share the Sky
5. Mesta Mansion
6. The Plague Dream
7. The Porcelain Doll
8. Not Quite Awake
9. Necrophiliac [Slayer cover]
10. Reap of Evil [Bathory cover]

Traveling at high speed
Spiders erupt all over the car

You should also hear:

King Diamond -
The Eye (1990)

Dark Quarterer -
War Tears (1994)