Graveyard (Reis) [Enhanced, Original recording remastered]

King Diamond | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 13, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced, Original recording remastered
• Label: Metal Blade
• ASIN: B002MXA7NI
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #80,481 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Digitally remastered and expanded edition of the Heavy Metal icon's 1996 album including bonus video content. . King Diamond is quite possibly the most recognizable and prolific personality ever in Heavy Metal. Revered by icons as big as Metallica and Pantera to inspiring new upstarts like Goatwhore, King Diamond, the man and the band, have left an indelible mark on the history, and now again, the future of Heavy Metal.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars King Diamond - The Graveyard, October 8, 2001

By 

"albinowski" (Union, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Graveyard (Audio CD)

This was my first non 80's album of King Diamond and I was amazed just how good it was. It has a real cool story to it and it is by far some of King's most darkest work ever. Andy La Rocque does another amazing job on guitars. If you listen to when "Black Hill Sanitarium" kicks in you can here the Halloween theme to those Michael Myers horror movies being played. I thought that was very cool. My favorite song on the album is definetly "Heads On The Wall". Like I said this is definetly King's most darkest album. I still like his 80's stuff like "Them" and "Abigail" better than this but for an album released in 1996 I was shocked how awesome it still was. It definetly marks #3 on my top 3 favorite King Diamond albums. It is worth it for any King Diamond fan.... LUCY FOREVER

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars King's Black Sheep, August 17, 2004

By 

Stanley Runk "Runkdapunk" (Camp North Pines) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Graveyard (Audio CD)

A great injustice is being done to King Diamond's The Graveyard: Many folks say that this is a bad album, King's worst even. This probably scares away curious would-be buyers. Well, I'm here to tell you not to get a tarnished preceonceived notion of this cd. Normally I state things as opinion(coz that's what they are), but this I'll state as fact coz it is: The Graveyard is the best album King Diamond put out in the 90s. The songs do not "run together", there are too "songs that stand out". You trying to tell me that Digging Graves doesn't stand out?? The music is the best it has been in years(and for some years after as well). The story is a different approach as well. After doing Hammer Film-esque gothic horrors, King tries for an all out psychological suspense type thriller this time. It's a good approach, coz this is one of the most unique and interesting stories King Diamond has ever given us. King even gives a "Don't try this at home" kind of message in the liner notes. Well, I should hope not for crying out loud! But whether you try it at home or not, don't get a jaded opinion of the Graveyard before you hear it-you'll be cheating yourself if you do. Get it and hear it and you'll see what I mean. Then you'll also wish the naysayers well.....In Hell!!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, perhaps King's best., July 14, 2007

By 

Mattowarrior "Mattowarrior" (Madison, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Graveyard (Audio CD)

I fall into a rare breed of Diamond fans (not Neil.. King). I didn't get into KD until the mid-late nineties, so I wasn't around when he was at his (arguable) peak, plus I also don't really have any reference point for the early albums since I got into all his albums around the same time. So, even with this in mind, I can pinpoint my fascination with The Graveyard upon various factors:

1. Story is both realistic and supernatural. The elements that make it "scary" are almost more of the realistic elements, and the supernatural elements are almost benign in comparison which makes for a cool twist (not to mention the "twist" ending).

2. I think that King's mental hospital patient (channeled undoubtedly from Alice Cooper's character on From the Inside), has the characteristics of an "Anti-hero", something that isn't too prevalent in the "good vs evil" themes in heavy metal.


3. The music, though dryly produced, is some of his catchiest material. Black Hill Sanitarium comes out with an almost Panteraesque riff to cover a lot of ground within its minutes. It also has songs like "Sleep Tight Little Baby" which is probably the most anguished sounding King had been since "Melissa"'s title track.

But the real treat music wise is the "Danny Elfman meets Black Sabbath" spectacle of "Digging Graves". I've never heard a Metal song that sounds more like Elfman's material for "Nightmare Before Christmas", even on a Savatage album.

Solowise, Laroque and Simonsen are a little restrained this time around, but the riffs on the album are ingenious. The music is a bit stripped down from those early albums, but not utterly simplified like on such albums as "House of God".

4. Vocal wise, this is probably my favorite performance of King. He is so maniacal, so deranged (in a humorous way which I believe is somewhat intentional) that we believe he is that nuts. Its fun to hear him use his ENTIRE range of voices, from the early Fate groan, to the very Alice Cooper sounding nasal midrange, to the classic falsetto and more.

Conclusion: This is definitely the most underrated King album of all. I believe it to be a peak in a way, as most of the albums after this I haven't liked as much. Voodoo pales in comparison in many ways to the melodies contained on this album.

I think King has come close with The Puppet Master, as that was his best in years, and I haven't listened to Give Me Your Soul Please enough to warrant a final judgement, but The Graveyard stands alone among King Diamond albums. I believe this to be his best nineties album other than Spider's Lullabye, and its comparable (production wise) to Fate's own Into the Unknown (ever notice how they kind of seemed to overlap with their songwriting style and production, each KD and Fate released during the same period?)