The saga about the upcoming King Diamond album is running a tad long. Let's refresh our collective memory for a moment: The last bit of new music from King arrived in 2019, in the form of a song called "Masquerade Of Madness", and that got everyone excited with the prospect of a new studio effort.
Almost three years later, mid-2022, we learned King and Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel planned to release the new 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… which obviously didn't happen. And last but not least, last July King confirmed the album would be the first of two completing a full story, and promised some "creepy, weird stuff."
Now, in an interview with Friday 13th Metal, guitarist Andy LaRocque offered yet another tidbit about the songwriting sessions for the record, tentatively titled The Institute.
"We have songs. I sent King Diamond like a bunch of songs a long time ago, actually. And we started working on that, with arrangements and such. And then the Mercyful Fate tour came in between, and they've been busy with that. And I think they're gonna be recording one or two singles with Mercyful Fate." LaRocque said.
"But I talked to King just like a week ago, and he said that he was gonna be starting yesterday or something like that. So he's starting with setting everything up and he's gonna start to record the vocals for Mercyful songs, and as soon as he's done with that, we're gonna continue with King Diamond. So we have songs; they just need to be a little bit arranged. And, of course, King has a lot of riffs and ideas in his head. So he needs to get that down to the computer and do some riffing and stuff. So we started it, but it's a long process to have it good and to have it the way we want it." he added.
Asked the question on everyone's minds, which is if the album will see the light of day this year, LaRocque said: "It's impossible to say. That's something you actually have to ask King. I really hope so. But as soon as we're done with a couple of songs, we'll probably release those. And that's all I can say."
So, what's new? Pretty much nothing, we have to continue waiting… they're working on it! Not to say that we're not excited for the new material – we're going to be thrilled the second it hits.
King released the brand new music video for "Masquerade of Madness" in time for Halloween, which was made available on 12" vinyl with "Welcome Home (Live at Graspop)" and "Arrival (Live at Graspop)" as the B-sides.
