Danish heavy metal legend King Diamond has confirmed to Knotfest.com that he is hard at work not only on the new album from his namesake band, but the first LP in the 21st century from the reformed MERCYFUL FATE as well. King stated: "I've recently moved into a new house with a studio upstairs which is the best-sounding room I have ever been in. I have very high expectations for what we are doing now. You can hear on the new [KING DIAMOND] song 'Masquerade Of Madness' as well that it is back to the old vocal style where anything goes. All vocals are lead vocals in my mind. That's how it was in the old days. Sometimes you can be talked into leaving the choirs as backing vocals or whatever but that is not how I feel. I will sing a lead and then the next part of that lyric will be sung by a choir to the right, then a choir to the left takes over the next line, where it is always moving around taking on different effects. That is what I love, that craziness, because that makes it even more theatrical to listen to. We are back into that, full blast." Asked when fans might be able to hear some of the new material he is working on, King said: "Everything has been thrown around by how things have happened obviously. MERCYFUL FATE will be playing live first, doing these European festivals that were supposed to be being played now. We're in Denmark for rehearsals first and then there are eight or so festivals in Europe, then we have to fly all the gear over to the U.S. to play Las Vegas. There will be a couple of new songs from the MERCYFUL FATE album in the set next summer, which otherwise will just be from the EP, 'Melissa' and 'Don't Break the Oath'. Totally old, with a couple new songs added to it. The other side of New Year's should be the new KING DIAMOND coming out, and then touring, touring, touring till we don't tour anymore. The virus decides more than we do ourselves, but it's not a wasted year for us as we can do the albums in our own time without having to book time in someone else's studio which really I am so glad for. I can get in here at three in the morning and start recording with no one bothering me." KING DIAMOND received a Grammy nomination in the "Best Metal Performance" category for the track "Never Ending Hill" off the band's last album, 2007's "Give Me Your Soul … Please". KING DIAMOND released a DVD/Blu-ray, "Songs For The Dead Live", in January 2019 via Metal Blade Records. The set captures 1987's seminal "Abigail" album in its entirety, twice, and in very different locales: Belgium's Graspop Metal Meeting in June 2016 and Philadelphia's Fillmore in November 2015. The performances feature KING DIAMOND's current band, comprising of guitarists La Rocque and Mike Wead, bassist Pontus Egberg and drummer Matt Thompson. MERCYFUL FATE's last studio album, "9", was released in 1999.
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