The saga about the upcoming King Diamond album continues! It all started in 2019 with a song called "Masquerade Of Madness". Almost three years, Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel revealed that he planned to release the new King Diamond album prior to the new Mercyful Fate album, and that "Masquerade Of Madness" probably won't even be on included.
Then last February – again, almost a year ago – Mercyful Fate guitarist Hank Shermann said the band had roughly eight or nine songs ready for their new record, and both Mercyful Fate and King Diamond albums should come out that year. And here we are in 2024, Diamond-less.
Slagel has now commented to The Metal Voice that he's hoping another new song or two can surface before King Diamond hits the road this October, but y'know – who knows.
"The hope is that we've got [new music] to release before the tour but that's really up to them, getting it finished and recorded. So that's the hope. But I will tell you, that obviously he's known for especially in the last like 10-15 years for having these elaborate stage shows for both Mercyful Fate and King Diamond. And some of the things that he's attempting to do on this tour just stage of production wise I don't think anybody's ever done before."
"He kind of told me about what they're doing and how they're going to do it and all these concepts, and it looks like they're going to pull it all together to be able to do all this stuff. And for him you know, I think it's expected now that you need to see something over the top production wise because he set that bar.
"After they played that Sweden rock festival, kind of his first comeback after the heart attack and ever since then you know they are constantly raising the bar production wise and this one's going to be some pretty insane stuff that's going to go on production wise. So I can't give you the details but I can tell you it's going to be more than likely something you've probably never seen before.
Slagel later added: "We're hoping that we'll get a song or two, and then the record will come out hopefully fairly shortly after that, it just takes time … art takes time."
King Diamond will hit the road across North America for the first time since 2019 this October through December for the Saint Lucifer's Hospital 1920 tour. King Diamond will be joined by black metal artist Myrkur for backing vocals and organ throughout the tour, while all shows will be opened by Overkill and Night Demon. Tickets are available here.
10/15 Aztec Theatre San Antonio, TX
10/16 Bayou Music Center Houston, TX
10/18 Andrew J Brady Music Center Cincinnati, OH
10/19 The Factory St. Louis, MO
10/20 The Midland Theater Kansas City, MO
10/22 Murat Theatre At Old National Center Indianapolis, IN
10/23 The Louisville Palace Theatre Louisville, KY
10/25 The Eastern Atlanta, GA
10/26 Duke Energy Center for the Arts Mahaffey Theater St. Petersburg, FL
10/28 The Fillmore Silver Spring, MD
10/30 Kings Theater Brooklyn, NY
10/31 Roadrunner Boston, MA (no Overkill)
11/2 MTelus Montreal, QC
11/3 The Theatre At Great Canadian Mississauga, ON
11/4 The Masonic Temple Detroit, MI
11/6 The Agora Theatre & Ballroom Cleveland, OH
11/7 The Chicago Theatre Chicago, IL
11/8 The Riverside Theater Milwaukee, WI
11/10 The Fillmore Minneapolis, MN
11/11 Vibrant Music Hall Waukee, IA
11/14 Mission Ballroom Denver, CO
11/16 The Complex Salt Lake City, UT
11/18 Orpheum Vancouver, BC
11/20 Edmonton Convention Center Edmonton, AB
11/21 TCU Place Saskatoon, SK
11/22 Grey Eagle Resort And Casino Calgary, AB
11/24 Keller Auditorium Portland, OR
11/25 Moore Theater Seattle, WA
11/27 Fox Theater Oakland, CA
11/29 Youtube Theater Los Angeles, CA
11/30 The Theater At Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, NV
12/1 Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre San Diego, CA
12/2 The Van Buren Phoenix, AZ
12/4 REVEL Albuquerque, NM
12/6 The Factory In Deep Ellum Dallas, TX
