We know King Diamond has been working on a double album that would be his first new material since 2007's Give Me Your Soul… Please. The album will be based around a 1920s mental institution, and the lyrics will be heavily influenced by his recent health scares and heart surgery. He discusses his choice about the mental institution topic below.
"Actually, I chose that because I think it's a very creepy scenario. And the thing is that I know that somebody has talked about that, but that's not the setting, actually. There's a lot of other things involved, but the setting looks as if it was a 1920s asylum — that's exactly what it looks like. And some of the things that go on that we're gonna show onstage is also things that certainly was going on back then, when medicine was beginning to take a beneficial turn in history and actually being able to help human beings live longer. But there was some experimentation going on, too, that was absolutely gruesome. Some of that is involved in the story, but it's something totally different. Once you get to the second part of the story, you will begin to suddenly understand that, 'What the hell is going on here? What is this really about?' Cause there's a whole different story that will not come to you till second part. But in the first part, you're gonna get to know a lot people at a certain place.
"Instead of telling the story — it's way too much — but it does take place, I won't say where, what it's called, because that's the title of the album and I won't let that out yet. But some of it takes place here, this world, and some of it takes place in a parallel world. And there's a correlation between what happened to me and what happens to some people in this place and where they suddenly appear. And you will find out why they are there, how they appear there and the places down the road. I won't say too much right now, but it's gonna be very creepy.
"The stage that we're building for this is gonna be something else. Some of the things that are gonna happen onstage will be also very, very amazing. We are adding an extra floor to the whole thing, [to] what we had last time. We had stairs leading up to a second floor, and there's gonna be a third floor as well now. And I don't like heights very much, so this is one of these stupid things I like to do to myself sometimes. I test myself and see how I'm gonna feel when I'm up there on the third floor — looking out over [with] only a broken banister to make me feel safe, you know."
Now, first the very first time, we're hearing some new material from the records! King Diamond played a new song called "Masquerade Of Madness" on June 21 at Hellfest in Clisson, France. You can watch the performance, which not only sounds awesome, but should have every single King Diamond fan really excited!
