Matt Thompson

Matt Thompson has been King Diamond's drummer since 2000, which makes him the longest-serving member of the band after Andy LaRocque and the singer himself. Born in the United States in 1974, he joined in the period when the group resumed making concept albums at a regular pace, and recorded House of God (2000), Abigail II: The Revenge (2002), The Puppet Master (2003) and Give Me Your Soul...Please (2007). That repertoire imposes a particular demand. Because the tracks are part of a single story, they change tempo and character as the plot advances — a passage of tension, one of pursuit, one of lament — and the drums must mark those transitions without the piece seeming to break into pieces. It is dramatic support work, closer to film scoring than to conventional heavy metal.