Mercyful Fate's reunion announcement in 2019 promised a handful of festival headliners and some brand new songs written in the style of Melissa and Don't Break the Oath. Guitarist Hank Shermann recently spoke to Heavy, saying he hopes the band can still do some reunion shows in November. Despite the live delays, Shermann said the new material is coming along great.
"First of all, King is living in Texas, in the States. I'm living here north of Copenhagen, in Denmark. The drummer is also here, so I work with him in the rehearsal room shaping the new songs. The other guitar player is in Stockholm, Sweden, and our new bass player [Joey Vera] is in Los Angeles. So everything is [being done via] Dropbox or e-mails."
"I have been working at least the last one and a half years on new Mercyful Fate songs, and I think there's about six or seven [tracks that are] about to be ready. The first song has been sent to King after it's been mixed and all the guys played on the song. So I sent the files to Joey in Los Angeles; he did the bass. And then I sent the same files to Mike in Stockholm; he did his solos. And now King has the first song, evaluating for the vocals to be added. And then we will rearrange certain parts to be twice as long and stuff like that."
Mercyful Fate's new material will be their first with Fates Warning bassist Joey Vera. Vera originally replaced Timi "Grabber" Hansen in 2019 as a live fill-in only, but later went on to replace him full time. Hansen has since passed away after a battle with cancer.
Listen to "MERCYFUL FATE Return To Their Origins" on Spreaker.
