Released: 1989
Tracks: At the Graves; Sleepless Nights; Lies; A Visit From the Dead; The Wedding Dream; “Amon” Belongs to “Them”; Something Weird; Victimized; Let it Be Done; Cremation
Best track: too hard to choose, all the songs are really good
Track to skip: it’s a concept album, so none really
It kinda goes back and forth: sometimes I think this is absolutely cool and sometimes it’s absolutely silly. The thing that really increases the silliness is the singing of King Diamond himself. He switches from growling to very high pitched screaming. There really isn’t much middle ground there. I know this is serious music and of course King takes it seriously, but often the vocals are extremely funny. King Diamond is definitely an acquired taste. Just considering the music, any heavy metal fan would dig this stuff. The music is nearly always excellent on this album. The only things that grate me are the keyboards; they’re mighty cheesy on this.
Guitarists Andy LaRoque and Pete Blakk are damn good. They’re obviously heavily influenced by the guys in Maiden and that’s probably one of the reasons this appealed to us back in the day. The guitar playing and the riffs are fantastic on this thing. So yeah, musically, this is a great album. I like the story, it’s pretty cool, but the thing that keeps me from listening to this very often is the vocals. Tolerable sometimes, silly others. But honestly, being that I’m a musician, I listen to this thing for the music. King’s a really good songwriter, but his vocal style (his trademark) is the least desirable part of this music.
Rating: 84
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