As our decreasingly little blue rock of a planet called Earth gets worse & worse, we’re shown terror from reality that dwarfs anything you can find in a novel or a movie. Happens in anime & manga, and even the world of Heavy Metal is no stranger to this (Just listen to 90% of Thrash Metal). In fact, the famous King Diamond at least once decided to throw more real world issues into his supernatural tales of the macabre, and this resulted in perhaps one of his most genuinely terrifying tales he’s ever done. A tale that just over 30 years later still gets under your skin.....and manages to churn your stomach. So, make sure you haven’t eaten anything in a bit, have a stuffed animal near you, and get ready for my look at King’s 1996 release, The Graveyard. Let’s begin.
Background
After the release of The Spider’s Lullaby in 1995, King Diamond & the rest of the band were at a crossroads. Heavy Metal, while still a well known sub-genre, wasn’t in the spotlight as much as it was in the 80s. Bands by this point were doing one of two things: either adjusting their musical style to match with the times for the right or wrong reasons, or completely see out & lose their soul. King Diamond hadn’t gone far down that route, but he most definitely was dipping his toes in the water if you know what I mean. A year prior to his next release, he found out that him & band would be the opening act for Metallica.....no, I am not joking. Metallica weren’t all the way in sellout land yet, but they were most definitely moving in that direction. Whether it was because of that experience or because of other factors in the mid 90s, it would be a more approachable album that everyone would create, and on the 30th of September in 1996, The Graveyard was released.
Ironically, this approach would make The Graveyard the most successful King Diamond album to date at the time. It would peak at #23 in the Finnish Charts and remain for two weeks in the Top 40 chart. However, it would sadly be the last time that Darrin Anthony would be on the drums, as after the album’s release he would leave the band due to a car accident. His replacement would come in the form of former Chastain drummer John Luke Hebert, and without saying anything else.....he was a good replacement.
As for the album’s story, we find that King Diamond is playing a new character. A mayoral aide to the morally inept Mayor McKenzie, to be specific. Working late one night, he stumbles onto the mayor’s office, where he sees the horrific sight of the political figure fondling his own daughter! A child by the name of Lucy no less, and while it’s never said HOW old she was, it is implied that she is most definitely young. Not staying quiet about the scandal, McKenzie sends King to Black Hill Sanitarium in an effort to shut him up. Some time has passed, and King has become maddened by the experience, desiring nothing but revenge against the pedophilic mayor, and decides to strange his nurse & escape the sanitarium. Running from the cops, he happens to stumble upon an old graveyard as shelter, and it’s during him hiding that he learns of a myth about the place. Apparently, if someone dies within this graveyard & loses their head, their souls is trapped within it forever. After slaying a few victims to see if there’s truth to the story, King finds out that it’s most definitely real, and that gets the wheels turning in his head for vengeance against the mayor. After kidnapping Lucy, King calls the mayor to the graveyard, and the perfect sees a disturbing sight: 7 graves, each with an identical headstone that says “Lucy Forever”. King puts a blindfold on McKenzie, and says that the mayor has 3 guesses as to which grave holds his daughter. If he guesses right, him & his daughter go free, but if he gets all 3 wrong King will kill him. Can the mayor find his daughter before his former aid rightfully slaughters him.....what do you think?
Basic Description
When the Supernatural meets the Real World.
Let’s get this straight: The Graveyard at no point doesn’t let up on the supernatural horror that King Diamond made a career on. Whenever it appears, it is incredibly obvious & enjoyable, and maybe even some of the best he’s ever done. It’s only when the real world subject matter of child molestation kicks in that it takes on a far more sinister vibe, and makes the whole record feel more realistic than anything that King & the band has ever done. It’s done perhaps a little too realistically (More on that a little later), but maybe it’s done by design. Even so, this record marks the first & only time that King Diamond ever went into the real world when it comes to his music, and that’s what makes it unique.
Best Track
Like I said in part 2 of my overview from 2019, Digging Graves was my favorite track off of The Graveyard, and still remains so to this day. While there is a sliver of hokiness here & there, the story of the album picks up quite a bit here. At this point, King’s character has successfully kidnaped the mayor’s daughter, and is already setting up his plan to get revenge against the one that wronged him. This is reflective in the creepy & doom-like instrumentation, which almost borders on being a Black Sabbath song with the atmosphere it’s producing. Again, there’s a sliver of goofiness at certain points when a cello kicks in, but even then it still manages to create a creepy atmosphere that’s just right, and I can’t take that away from the song.
Digging Graves
Worst Track
While there are no bad songs on this album, I’d be lying if I said that it actually left me rather uncomfortable when it ended. Hell, if anything it was uncomfortable WHILE I was listening to the Graveyard. Child molestation is a subject matter that’s exceptionally stomach churning, and King Diamond really leans into that a lot of the time. That’s not to say he doesn’t discard his patented supernatural horror he’s famous for, because that also kicks in pretty hard as well. It just that due to the more realistic nature of the subject matter King drills into the music & the listener, you’ll have a somewhat nasty feeling linger about for a little bit.
Apart from the thematic elements, The Graveyard’s only fault lies with the blatant attempt to conform to musical norms of the times. Thankfully King Diamond never well all the way in that regard, but he & the rest of the band went far enough that you can tell where it comes up. More modern styles of playing, trying to match up to what other bands were doing at the time, chasing trends, etc. Again, it’s never done at 100%, but it’s very obvious if you know what to listen for.
Other
If you’re curious about listening to this album, click on the link below:
The Graveyard
Overall Impression & Rating
The Graveyard is definitely not for the faint hearted. If the supernatural aspects weren’t around, I would avoid this record like the plague. Thankfully, that aspect is still very much accounted for, and oddly makes the experience of this album a little easier to go through. As for King’s attempt to stay connected with the times, they’re not done so much as to ruin the album, but like I said a little earlier it is most definitely noticeable if you know what to listen for. This release is not for everyone on account of it’s subject matter, and I get that. However, if you’re able to stomach some of the imagery on here, then you’ll find The Graveyard to be surprisingly fun. Maybe not one of his most essential album’s, but more certainly one to listen to if you’re curious!
The Graveyard gets an 8 out of 10.
And that was my review of The Graveyard. Definitely an album that’s leave you feeling a little sick when you’re done, but the musical craftsmanship is still great despite some shifting in style. Again, because of what King decided to cover in this release it is not for everyone, but for anyone that can stomach the subject matter they’ll find a hidden gem for sure. So, I do have one last album review for this month on Halloween Day, but before that I have that treat I promised you all at the beginning of the month. See you all next week!
***
My opinions on this album have definitely change since I first looked at this album almost 6 years ago. Click on the link below to see what I originally thought about it:
Metal Overview: King Diamond (Part 2)
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