Danish metal titans Mercyful Fate will kick off a European tour on June 2, crisscrossing the region before heading West for an appearance at the Psycho Las Vegas festival in Nevada this August. If you’re lucky to catch some of these dates, you’re also likely to be treated to something very extra special in the form of a new Mercyful Fate song, the group’s first new music since 1999. Via a Twitch livestream while the band was rehearsing in Denmark, vocalist King Diamond explained now Mercyful Fate are planning to debut a brand-new song for this upcoming tour.
"We're still working on a song,” King Diamond said. “I wrote the final lyrics the day of our departure [for rehearsals] … So, the others have not heard me sing the song at all. We played a few riffs from it yesterday. I didn't sing to it at that time. But it's coming [along]…. The next couple of days we're gonna see where it leads us."
In providing some some context for the new track, King Diamond noted, "It's quite a monster, I would say. It's almost nine minutes long. So, it's not just a quick little [song]. We hope we can play it. We're gonna do everything in our power to play it. It's not recorded yet. So whatever version we might play for you could change before it is fully recorded. Some drums have been recorded — that's what I can say. But we will do our damnedest to play it. We [may] put it early in the set, even. But that's something to look forward to… Now we've gotta make it sound correct, 'cause the early demo versions have lots of stuff on it that create a certain mood in the whole thing, which we can't do [live]. The live version will be different. I can't do the backing vocals, naturally, that is intended for the song. But that's also a challenge, to do a version that works live… It's gonna be fun. It's gonna be heavy.
“The subject is very heavy too. We are back in 1675 till 1690. That's a piece of history that we are describing — a nasty piece of history," King Diamond added, though he didn’t elaborate further.
You can find the dates for Mercyful Fate's spring and summer tour below:
6/2 – Expo Plaza – Hannover, Germany (w/ Volbeat)
6/4 – Mystic Festival – Gdańsk, Poland
6/10 – Sweden Rock – Sölvesborg, Sweden
6/14 – Wuhlheide – Berlin, Germany (w/ Volbeat)
6/16 – Graspop Metal Meeting – Dessel, Belgium
6/18 – Copenhell – Copenhagen, Denmark
6/24 – Rock The Castle – Verona, Italy
6/26 – Hellfest Open Air Festival – Clisson, France
7/1 – Rock Fest Barcelona – Barcelona, Spain
7/2 – Tuska Open Air – Helsinki, Finland
7/22 – Hills Of Rock – Plovdiv, Bulgaria
7/24 – Artmania Festival – Sibiu, Romania
7/28 – Fezen Festival – Székesfehérvár, Hungary
7/29 – Metaldays – Tolmin, Slovenia
8/4 – Wacken Open Air – Wacken, Germany
8/6 – Beyond The Gates – Bergen, Norway
8/11 – Brutal Assault – Jaromer, Czech Republic
8/13 – Bloodstock Open Air – Derbyshire, UK
8/21 – Psycho Las Vegas – Las Vegas, NV
