09/09/2026
♦️ King Diamond and Mercyful Fate News ♦️
With an exclusive interview by Metal Injection with The King himself having come out yesterday, a lot of us are buzzing with excitement and anticipation of what’s to come from both King Diamond and MERCYFUL FATE in the next few years.
First of all, King addressed Andy La Rocque’s departure from the band. When the news came out July 24th of this year, yes, it was quite shocking and sad and we will all miss him dearly. But sometimes change is needed and from the sounds of it, it was for the best. I do hope that this interview has put some people’s worries and concerns at ease.
"We are certainly still friends. That's never gonna change. I think it's a gradual thing that's just been going different directions for a while. And it got to a point where it's just, like, 'Okay, something has to change. It's not right.' I wish him and his wife all the best possible in the world. The whole thing about the other band that he plays with now [Lex Legion], the side project and stuff like that, it was never a part of any reasons for anything.”
“When it was decided was over two days. But it had been coming for a while. And it's not one thing or 'you said this' or 'did this or that.' It's not like that. It really is like moving apart a little bit here, a bit there. And I had a feeling recently that when Andy heard the new touring plans and the new plans overall, that it was not something that was, 'Yay,' but more like, 'Oh my God. Are you kidding me?' I don't think he likes touring that much as we're doing now. I've seen that many times before, where Michael Denner stopped because he could not handle touring. There was too much frictions at home whenever he did that. For him, he was missing it too much and all this stuff. I totally understand it. I think others — Chris Estes was the same. And Herb Simonsen... Most of those people that are not playing or stopped playing with us along the road was for that reason — family, you know? We tour longer now these days, and we are gonna continue going that way because it's very, very important."
On the same day as the announcement of Andy’s departure from the band, came the news of a new band member added to the fold. The King Diamond camp welcomed Gus G, who has previously played with Ozzy Osbourne, and is the founder of melodic metal band Firewind, as well as his own solo project. He has also worked with bands such as Dream Evil and Arch Enemy.
"I talked to Hank Shermann, and told him [that I was looking for a new guitarist to replace Andy in KING DIAMOND], and then he said, 'You should check out Gus G'. And I did not know who Gus G was. [Metal Blade Recordsfounder and CEO] Brian Slagel said to me, 'Oh, Gus G, man.' And then I didn't respond to it because I wasn't aware. So he was the second one recommending Gus to me. And then when we talked more about it and this and that, then I started listening and doing all the stuff that I got very interested, of course. He's the first person we talked about for this. We never talked about having an audition or anything like that. We talked about him, and then got in depth about him because it seemed, 'Wow, wait a minute here. Okay.' Then I said to Brian Slagel, 'Can you hook us up? Can you ask him if he would be okay with me calling him?' or something like that."
After Godla [Interviewer] noted that "some things are just meant to be", King concurred. "It really feels like it. You're right. That's really what it felt like the whole time," King said. "And that's also why it doesn't feel like it's this horrible thing, because it's something that is good for both me and Andy. And we played for 40 years. Think about it. It's, like, crazy that you think about it has been that long."
40 years is such a long time, and to me, Andy’s retirement from the band is well deserved. He’s been doing this since he was in his twenties. That is a very long time. You know, priorities and needs change as we grow older and that’s okay. Remember that we have an entire discography of music Andy’s work with King and we’ll forever be grateful for that.
It’s such a huge change that happened, but all the pieces just fell into place and things seem to be moving onward and upward. It really was meant to be. It’s quite exciting to think that not only will we get new King Diamond studio albums, we will also get new music from Lex Legion . I think that’s a win-win, not only for King and Andy, but also for us fans.
King then talks about how Gus G will contribute to the creation of new music in King Diamond. I know that there has been some questions and concerns from fans about how the new music will sound or how the songwriting will go. Trust me, go check out Gus G’s YouTube channel. He’s got a lot of videos of just him playing guitar and WOW! The man’s got the chops! I’m personally very excited to hear what Gus will bring to the table.
“First of all, he's gonna copy Andy as close as he can and fully honor that. That's what people want to hear and see. So, that's one thing. But this is not like a hired hand. He's in the band — 100%. And that's why also he's playing, recording, touring with us for as long as it works out — hopefully till we don't play any longer. That's what I hope. 'Cause he's so down to earth, so nice person, so skilled. He has the right attitude for getting the style correct with what I want. So we are already talking a lot. But I want him to play his own style, but it must also fit with what we're doing. So [you're] not gonna be hearing Gus, what he does with FIREWIND. It'll be some of that, I'm sure, but there'll be a new side of him that maybe he has not even explored himself. He might get into a new addition in his vast technique, because of how I put things together, what I might ask him to try and do.”
"Some people might think that, 'Oh, Andy's leaving now, It's the songwriter... What are they gonna do now?' It's, like, wait a minute. You're forgetting something. I have written by far the most in KING DIAMOND. Just the music I have written on an average 70%. And then all the lyrics. So, that's an average through all the albums we've done together. And it's kind of a natural thing, I guess, that it would be the guitarist or a keyboardist that wrote the music. But not with us. That was never the case."
"I have enough for the first one and a half albums on KING DIAMOND, on that story that'll be told over the next three albums, of just my stuff, that is now musically ready to be recorded, fully written. Lyrics, I have the whole story, all three complete. Also up in my head I have what it will look on stage like. When we finish the last note on the third album on stage live, I know what it'll look like there at this point already. So I'm very far with everything. But with regard to Gus, I also said to Mike Wead and to Pontus Egberg, 'If you have something you feel like should be listened to, we can listen to it.' I will always be writing the majority. That's how it is. That style cannot be changed. But I said the same to Gus. I said, 'Well, I know you write music. I've listened to all your FIREWIND albums.' I want him to write some of his own, but he wants to do something that was very nice for me to hear, that he wants to have me tell him the story as the first part to get into that mood, find out what kind of horror it is that's going on, and then he wants to send some stuff to me. I can listen, I can pick and choose, if there's anything that feels interesting to me, and then we'll take it from there, see how we do that. If I suggest something for him to go try, he could go try that. Maybe write something together, this and this and that. But there's open doors for this stuff."
As for the news on the upcoming King Diamond and Mercyful Fate albums, which I know so many of us are more than ready to put onto our turntables and crank the stereo up to the max. King gave an idea of when we can expect to finally see new music in over two decades. The new Mercyful Fate album is expected to be released by Metal Blade Records in spring of 2027. They will play some festivals in Europe in the summer, and then hopefully if things go as planned, a North American tour in the fall.
As for King Diamond, the first out of three albums will expected to be released in spring of 2028. King Diamond will then tour Europe, plus the summer metal festivals. Afterwards they will tour North America in the fall.
There will also be brand new stage productions for both bands, which they were already amazing in 2022 for MF and just last few years for KD. Can’t wait to see what King and company have in store for us all!
We had a post about this big news a few weeks ago, but King himself confirmed that there will in fact be a King Diamond movie. The film is directed by Danish journalist and documentary filmmaker Frederick Brun Madsen, screenplay by Peter Engel and is produced by UpNorth Film AS by Christian Aune Falch, Torstein Parelius and Sondre Johansen in co-production with Wingman Media. The film has received funding from several countries; Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Czech Republic.
"There's a King Diamond movie that has been filmed over the last three years. It's been fully supported by the Danish National Film Institute. They're trying to do it full on with going to the film festivals and all this stuff. It's a full-blown movie, and it's not your average standard documentary. It's more, because they have gone all the way back. They found the old bandmembers from BRAINSTORM from 1976. '78, BLACK ROSE members, and up to 1980, BLACK ROSE. They found old BLACK ROSE playing live from a little — what was it? A mini mall somewhere outside of Copenhagen from, it must've been early '78 or something like that, where one of the first times I sang live ever. It didn't sound bad. It was weird. But we played 'Space Truckin'' without even a keyboard."
“It's pretty much a story about a kid from Denmark with very big dreams who had practically no chance of having that come true, but somehow it really did. This film crew, the way they go about researching things is unbelievable."
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Lots of exciting things coming up from both King Diamond and Mercyful Fate and I couldn’t be more thrilled and excited about it all! New albums on the horizon, tours from both bands, a King Diamond movie… Man! All of us fans, we’re gonna be spoiled rotten I can tell you that! I’m still buzzing from the excitement from all of this great news. Lots of really cool stuff to look forward to for sure.
King seems very positive and excited, so we should be too. I know it’s been a long, long wait for new music and I know it can be frustrating but hey, we’ve waited this long. We can hold on for a little longer.
Do it for “The Baddest Band in the Land”! It will be more than worth it I’m sure.
Alright you all, Stay Heavy!
~ Stories From Hell
Photo credits: Michael Deinlein and Soundterror
