The Complete Roadrunner Collection 1986-1990

It's widely accepted in that country or kingdom or dimension that we all belong called heavy metal that King Diamond is a pretty cool guy and has made some great albums with his self-named band. It's important that people can appreciate the classic albums and know where the genre came from and blah blah blah - what I'm saying is that it's a good idea for Roadrunner to release these "5 albums in a box" sets, not only for the King, but also other older label artists, such as Type O Negative, Sepultura, Obituary, and so on. For those of us who weren't around in the '80s or early '90s, these boxsets are an opportunity to quickly get to grips with individual artists' rich discographies and to take a musical history lesson. Also, if you're strapped for cash, it's not going to cost you anywhere near the price of all the albums individually, especially not those that are out of print, so there's a financial benefit too.

King Diamond's first five albums are the most celebrated and influential from the band, as well as all being high quality. I won't go into too much detail, since you can get an idea of each albums respective merits and flaws from the specific reviews, but Abigail is rated as an absolute classic, while most would add Conspiracy and maybe The Eye to that list. Personally, I find that Abigail and Conspiracy hold up to the most intense scrutiny, while The Eye is occasionally rather flimsy, Fatal Portrait has great songs though sounds most dated, and "Them" suffers from overdoing the conceptual story. Some kind of horror story narrative runs through all of the full-lengths, so it's worth reading the lyrics the first time you listen; however, if you aren't interested in that kind of thing, the music is always enough to ensure an 80% or 90% listen in any case.

Unfortunately, for those who wish to read the lyrics along with the music, you'll have to visit Metal Archives and read from here, because there's practically nothing in the package except for the CDs, each stored in a slim cardboard sleeve with song titles and cover artwork. There's no booklet, no notes, not even a thank you list anywhere to be seen, so this purchase is strictly only for the music. Also, the original bonus tracks from all of the albums have been omitted, which wouldn't seem like a great loss for new fans, though any completist has good reason to be annoyed. I'm not completely sure if the albums have been remastered for this release or if older remasters have been used: whatever the truth, the sound quality is very high for four of the albums, while Fatal Portrait is showing more wear and tear, even if it sounds acceptable. This kind of release could be looked upon as a cash-in by the label, and I'm sure it is to some degree, yet it provides a genuinely helpful package for people like me who want the music - just the music. Excellent for new fans, pointless for old ones.