Initial Analysis: "Lex Legion"
A Conspiracy of Them
June 12, 2026; MNRK Music Group
“Life is just a mirror of your dreams”
Micael Kiriakos “Mikkey Dee” Delaoglou hasn’t exactly been slumming for the last 35 or so years. Well, OK, he was definitely slumming on Don Dokken’s Up from the Ashes (a gig’s a gig, amirite), but following that he was not only Motörhead’s unyielding engine for the better part of 25 years but also their secret weapon: besides relentlessly bringing the double-kick energy Mikkey always found a way to subtly weave in little touches like cymbal taps or Peart-like tom fills and counterbalanced Phil Campbell’s rock and roll riffing. And even if playing for Scorpions has to be more straightforward the drummer maintains it’s actually just as intense as supporting Lemmy since the Scorps play longer shows and with practically no breaks.
But even so, none of these groups and their albums had the same dizzying mix of propulsion, dynamics and technicality that Mikkey Dee brought to King Diamond’s first few records. To be sure, the drummer was supporting an extraordinary band: Anders “Andy La Rocque” Allhage was the mainstay guitarist and really the only one Kim Bendix “King Diamond” Petersen would co-write with, but Peter “Pete Blakk” Jacobsson and Hasse “Hal” Patino had to not only keep up and play rather complex goth metal but also replace the likes of Michael Denner and Timi Hansen which was no small feat. It was this collective that backed up King on “Them” and Conspiracy, which not coincidentally are King Diamond’s two biggest sellers, and as everyone save Andy eventually departed the band’s subsequent albums featured strong musicians but failed to replicate the chemistry and full power of the late ‘80s lineup.
That made the formation of Lex Legion both exciting and questionable. With King Diamond himself more focused on the latest incarnation of Mercyful Fate, and the current version of the King Diamond band only intermittently playing shows and going nearly 20 years without a new studio album, there was definitely a void that these individuals were uniquely equipped to fill. But the magic of those King Diamond albums was unmistakably the doing of the man at the mic, no matter how great the band was. And for that matter, as great as those early KD albums were Fatal Portrait came out 40 years ago and that music belongs to a very specific time and place so simply getting most of the crew back together a few decades later didn’t guarantee anything.
So it’s pleasantly surprising as well as rewarding that Lex Legion is such a blast. The band’s self-titled debut is only 35 minutes long (with the longest tune less than 4 and a half minutes) and offers a truer distillation of the legendary King Diamond sound and ethos than anything King himself has done since The Spider’s Lullabye. Everyone locks into an effortless chemistry, with Andy La Rocque’s production thankfully only adding minor modern touches to the primordial sizzle of those ‘80s records, and it is genuinely startling how quickly Mikkey Dee reasserts his prowess over these massively dark and intense riffs. Lex Legion was wise to focus more on the sound of “Them” rather than the aesthetic since the latter largely came from the singer not included in this reunion: “Sleep Eternally,” “Gypsy Tears” and “Dreams of Darkness” have the power and movement of classic King Diamond but don’t sound like imitations in large part because they’re presented as bangers and songs rather than horror suites even if the lyrics aren’t exactly lighthearted.
And this is where no small amount of credit is due Nils K. Rue for briging the right balance of gravitas, grit and elasticity to his vocals. The Pagan’s Mind frontman naturally sounds like King Diamond in spots, but in those moments it’s clear he’s serving the song rather than consciously trying to recreate Abigail; and if one considers that simple or obvious, consider that when Hank Shermann and Michael Denner tried to create their own version of Mercyful Fate Sean Peck’s ceaseless wailing about Satan went from hilarious to ludicrous to exhausting extremely fast. Rue fully inhabits the songs on Lex Legion, seamlessly integrates with the rest of the band and makes these tracks his own to the extent where Lex Legion becomes its own thing rather than just a reunion of past and present King Diamond members.
Considering the backstory, Lex Legion is a shockingly cohesive and fully formed statement that both iterates on the singular glory of classic King Diamond and also establishes Lex Legion as a worthy entity in its own right.