KING DIAMOND will kick off his anticipated North American headlining tour this weekend. The month-long journey will commence on November 2nd in Dallas, Texas and run through December 4th in Phoenix, Arizona with support provided by Uncle AcidAnd The Deadbeats and Idle Hands. VIP packages with KING DIAMOND are available for the first time ever this tour. Visit kingdiamondcoven.com to purchase your ticket or VIP upgrade now. See all confirmed dates below.
KING DIAMOND will be touring in support of The Institute, his first studio album in twelve years! Fans can expect the album in 2020; in the meantime, a tour teaser with a sneak peak of the new stage set can be viewed below.
KING DIAMOND w/ Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats, Idle Hands:
11/02/2019 Bomb Factory – Dallas, TX
11/04/2019 Tabernacle – Atlanta, GA
11/05/2019 Dr. Phillips Center – Orlando, FL
11/07/2019 Kings Theatre – Brooklyn, NY
11/08/2019 The Palladium – Worcester, MA
11/10/2019 The Tower Theater – Philadelphia, PA
11/11/2019 The Lyric – Baltimore, MD
11/12/2019 M-Telus – Montreal, QC
11/14/2019 The Fillmore – Detroit, MI
11/15/2019 The Agora Theatre – Cleveland, OH
11/16/2019 The Palace Theatre – Louisville, KY
11/18/2019 The Riviera – Chicago, IL
11/19/2019 Palace Theater – Minneapolis, MN
11/22/2019 The Fillmore – Denver, CO
11/23/2019 The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT
11/25/2019 The Paramount – Seattle, WA
11/26/2019 The Schnitzer – Portland, OR
11/27/2019 The Queen Elizabeth – Vancouver, BC
11/29/2019 The Warfield – San Francisco, CA
12/01/2019 The Wiltern – Los Angeles, CA
12/02/2019 Magnolia – San Diego, CA
12/03/2019 The Grove Of Anaheim – Anaheim, CA
12/04/2019 Comerica – Phoenix, AZ
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, while I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping.” As of some one hardly rocking, rocking at my smart phone. WOLF to reveal some surprise, raven has never told me any lies. Ah, distinctly I remember it was a night in September. Picked up my phone called Nik, Let’s talk, it will be quick….
Swedish heavy metallers, WOLF have recently shocked their fans with their new line up, featuring Johan Koleberg and Pontus Egberg and that was not all. They revealed that they working on their eighth studio album, entitles “Feeding The Machine”. To find out more I conducted an interview with Niklas Stålvind, an excerpt can be read below.
Asked him about the days that Richard and Andy left the band, what was the story, Nik seemed to be not very happy to talk about that era but he answered:
“We still haven’t finished recording. We have date set for mixing, dead line and we have a release date but it’s been very long process this one… Couple of weeks before [UK] tour, Andy called me, we are good friends but he’s not the guy who call you or at least he never called me. So I was really happy when he called me but then he said there’s nothing to be happy about because I’m quitting the band, but I’ll do the tour but the last thing I’ll do because I don’t feel it’s fun for me to be in the band anymore. Also I should say that Andy is playing totally a different kind of music in his other band and he seems really happy there…. I phoned up Richard to discuss the situation with Andi and everything and he told me that he’s also leaving the band…. I felt like let’s just let it go, because it seems to me neither of the guys are happy with the band and in my head I only had to finish the album and then we can sort it out.”
So what’s story of finding new members, now he sounded more excited and he replied:
“I felt a bit chaotic and I had no idea how we’re gonna to release this album with just half of the band…. Then a friend of us Mike Wead from King Diamond, he’s a close friend of Simon. He knew that we’re looking for people, so he asked Pontus the bass player of King Diamond if he knows anyone around Stockholm area for drummer. He said, yes I know a really good guy, my childhood friend, Johan, who I’ve been playing with for a long time. So I checked out Johan and he was really good drummer and seems to be a nice person as well. Mike Weed also told the bass player of King Diamond the they [WOLF] are looking for a bass player as well but I don’t think you’d be interested. But actually he was …. I did a bit of research on the guys of course, I thought they sound great and they seem to be normal nice guys! So we had a meeting with the guys and they are in the band now.”
“It’s been an emotional roller coaster the last couple of months because it’s not a good way of, I mean people quitting and new members getting in, it’s been really very exhausting to say the least. But I am very happy to have the [new] guys in the band and they wanted to be not just like hired musicians, they really wanted to be in the band for real.”
I asked him what took them so long for a new album, as “Devil Seed” was released in 2014. Nik answered:
“When we were making the “Devil Seed” album I didn’t have a job, I had to quit my job because I was burned out and I took my sick leave and invested on writing music… After the release of the album, I got a new job and start to work full time and that’s what I was doing. I have a family with two kids and also we did more touring on “Devil Seed” than we done with other albums so we were playing more lives… But mostly because I’ve been working, all the WOLF members have been working full time with day jobs but I wrote the first song for this album in 2015…. For this album, I wanted to go deeper into myself, I couldn’t really force it, to me it is just not like any songs….”
What’s the concept and idea behind the title of “Feeding The Machine” album, Nik answered me thoughtfully:
“The idea, I got, I think it was in 2016, I started to noticing that social media has become something very manipulating. When I was unemployed, I used social media to sell my artworks and I was fortunate that people saw them and buy them so I can buy foods for my children, I was very thankful. But around 2016, I started to noticed, what the f*ck is this, it’s not me using Facebook anymore, it’s Facebook using me. It’s so manipulative and it just make people gather in small groups hating each other and I felt something is really wrong there. Whatever. I take Facebook as an example but it’s the same with Google and everything, if you don’t buy service then you are the merchandise! Not only that, they are really manipulating opinions, elections, these companies are not neutral… Some people recognize it and some people don’t…. We are all feeding this machine!”
Nik and I spoke many other things like how the upcoming album would sound like and its production, so you can listen to the whole of this interview on the Audio Player below:
KING DIAMOND will embark on a North American headlining tour later year. The trek will commence on November 2nd and run through December 4th. Support will be provided by Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats and Idle Hands.
Comments KING DIAMOND, “Watch out North America, we are coming for you this Winter. I’m very proud to bring two special and amazing guests to you. Their names are Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats, plus Idle Hands. Make an appointment now… kingdiamondcoven.com.”
Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats notes, “As the long nights draw in and the temperatures drop, I can’t think of a better artist to creep around North America with than the legendary KING DIAMOND. You’ll all be in for a treat…See you there!”
Adds Idle Hands, “Touring with the iconic KING DIAMOND is nothing short of a dream and we are excited to make it a reality.”
See all confirmed dates below. VIP packages with KING DIAMOND are available for the first time ever on this tour. Visit kingdiamondcoven.com to purchase your ticket or VIP upgrade now.
KING DIAMOND will be touring in support of The Institute, his first studio album in twelve years! Fans can expect the debut single to arrive this Fall and an album in 2020; in the meantime, a tour teaser with a sneak peak of the new stage set can be viewed here
KING DIAMOND remarks about the upcoming full-length, “For reasons unknown to you, it is clear that you have no way of making it to The Institute on your own at this point. Therefore, we will bring The Institute to you. You don’t want to miss this special opportunity for treatment only we can give you. It could be for your own good, you know…”
KING DIAMOND w/ Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats, Idle Hands:
Well known for his time with MEGADETH, KING DIAMOND and his own power metal band EIDOLON plus more besides, Canadian guitarist Glen Drover is back with a brand new project – WALLS OF BLOOD. The album, titled “Imperium” featuring an esteemed assortment of metal vocalists such as Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens (JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH), Chuck Billy (TESTAMENT), Todd La Torre (QUEENSRŸCHE) and Henning Basse (METALLIUM, FIREWIND), is set for release on 22nd February via Metalville.
MSF Senior ManagerAlison Booth recently caught up with Glen to chat about the album in more detail, as well as various other subjects, including the story of a career highlight at the UK’s Download Festival. You can read a few excerpts from the conversation below and the full interview is on the audio player:
Discussing “Imperium”, Glen stated:
“I think it’s the strongest album I’ve ever done, period. This album for me, you know I worked on it sporadically over six years and I’m just really proud, I love the whole album. I couldn’t be happier right now.
It was all people that I really wanted to work with and some, in fact most of them, were singers I might not have worked with before, but wanted to.
And then there were situations where I would approach somebody that I wanted to have on the album and then I would write a song around his type of style – something I knew he would probably be comfortable with and be able to deliver.”
On Matt Cuthbertson, who provides vocals on the track ‘Walls Of Blood’:
“Yeah he did a really good job. The band Untimely Demise, they’re from Canada and I really liked his, he’s got the raspy, growly voice like a lot of bands do – but he has more of an identity I think. I find, with all due respect to the bands that do sound similar in the vocal department, sometimes I can’t tell them apart. But there are some that have an identity, ‘oh yeah, that’s him or that’s her’ or whatever, you know. And he’s one of those guys and I just thought he’ll do really well on the song. Shawn wrote the lyrics and away we went.”
Talking about what’s next for WALLS OF BLOOD and if there’s any possibility of touring, Glen revealed:
“I’m gonna wait to see how it’s received and how I feel about it down the road. One thing I can say is that I probably wouldn’t do another album with multiple vocalists, because I’ve already done that now and it’s a little bit harder. I’m very, very happy that I did it and I’m extremely proud of the album like I mentioned, but I don’t think I would do that again. I would do an album with one singer.
As far as touring, no not at this point because of everything I just said, but is it possible that I could streamline it where it’s one line-up of say four guys, yeah and play shows, absolutely possible. If I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna know when the time comes and it would be very easy to do that. I have a couple of vocalists in mind, one in particular, I’m not gonna mention his name, that I know would be able to do all the different material that’s on the album.”
Reflecting on highlights from his career, Glen reminisced about a MEGADETH performance:
“Highlights, there’s a few. And you know, speaking of the UK, I gotta say, that’s probably if I had to pick one particular event it would’ve been the first time we played Download. We played there twice, but you know you can’t forget that.
We played on the main stage. I remember we were back waiting as the into was about to be rolled. And I was looking out in the field on the main stage at Download and there was a lot of holes. I went ‘oh shit, I was hoping it was going to be full!’ And then just before the intro, I looked my other way and in droves there’s all these people coming down the pathway ’cause one band just finished on another stage. By the time we got on stage there was not a piece of grass you could see, it was just so electric. As far as you could see, everybody was going nuts, you could feel it – it was so heavy with electricity. We played for fifty minutes and it felt like five minutes, literally. That has to be the pinnacle for me.”
“Imperium” Track Listing:
01. Leave This World Behind (feat. Nils K. Rue)
02. Discordia (feat. Todd La Torre)
03. Waiting To Die (feat. Chuck Billy)
04. Blood Sacrifice Ritual (feat. Henning Basse)
05. Tarnished Dream (feat. Tim Owens)
06. Walls Of Blood (feat. Matt Cuthbertson)
07. The Fault Of Man (feat. Henning Basse)
08. Dark Lords Of Sleep (feat. Dan Cleary)
09. Junkhead (ALICE IN CHAINS cover) (feat. Lance Harvill)
10. Seven Spirits (feat. Henning Basse)
On January 25th, KING DIAMOND will release a new DVD/Blu-ray, Songs For The Dead Live, via Metal Blade Records. To celebrate this DVD/Blu-ray, a release party will take place at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn, NY on February 6th at 7PM. Featuring an appearance by Abigail, this event will include a showing of both shows from Songs For The Dead Live: Belgium’s Graspop Metal Meeting in June 2016 and Philadelphia’s Fillmore in November 2015, both of which contain a brace of classic King Diamond and Mercyful Fate tracks before launching into Abigail. To RSVP, please email: kingdiamondparty@gmail.com
There is only one King Diamond, and for more than thirty years the great Dane has been dropping classic albums and putting on shows fans remember for the rest of their lives. Perhaps the only downside to having such a formidable catalogue is that there are just too many great songs to fit into a single set. However, you would be hard-pressed to find a fan who wouldn’t want to hear 1987′s seminal Abigail in its entirety, and Songs For The Dead Live captures this, twice, and in very different locales. The performances of the all-star lineup of musicians, comprising of guitarists Andy LaRocque and Mike Wead, bassist Pontus Egberg and drummer Matt Thompson, are absolutely ferocious, hammering home every single moment.
For a preview of Songs For The Dead Live, videos for “Arrival (Live at Graspop)” and “Sleepless Nights (Live at The Fillmore)” can be viewed at: metalblade.com/kingdiamond – where Songs For The Dead Live can also be pre-ordered in the following formats:
–2DVD/CD 6-Panel Digipak
–Blu-ray (includes audio digital download of Philadelphia Show)
–opaque blue with white splatter vinyl (US retail exclusive – limited to 600 copies)
–root beer marbled vinyl (US webstore exclusive – limited to 250 copies)
–clear pale orange marbled vinyl (US webstore exclusive – limited to 250 copies)
–180g black vinyl (EU exclusive)
–transparent amber marbled vinyl (EU exclusive – limited to 700 copies)
–clear ghost white vinyl (EU exclusive – limited to 500 copies)
–orange-brown/black marbled vinyl (EU exclusive – limited to 300 copies)
–black/purple melt vinyl (Nuclear Blast exclusive – limited to 200 copies)
–orange/red marbled vinyl (Napalm exclusive – limited to 300 copies)
–clear lavender marbled vinyl (EMP exclusive – limited to 200 copies)
–clear ash grey marbled vinyl (Bengan exclusive – limited to 200 copies)
–pink blue marbled vinyl (Ebay exclusive – limited to 200 copies)
Captured on film by director Denise Korycki for Wild Wind Productions, she worked closely with King on every aspect of filming, and throughout the viewer finds themselves front and center as the shows unfold. This includes some inventive camera placement, such as riding in on the back of the wheelchair as it is wheeled out to “Out From The Asylum” at the start of the show, or looking up from the coffin at the commencement of Abigail opener “Funeral”, which adds an extra dimension to proceedings. Naturally, the theatricality that has become synonymous with King Diamond is there in full force, making for an even more immersive experience. The gothic stage set and the participation of actors playing out certain scenes tying into the songs definitely increases the drama and the sense of complete disconnect from the trappings of reality, ensuring that the shows remain riveting from start to finish.
While the setlists are virtually identical, the drastic difference in the two venues make for distinctly different atmospheres. The sweeping, epic scale of Graspop and the virtual sea of baying metalheads makes for a particularly thrilling spectacle, King holding them all in the palm of his hand. The Fillmore show is immediately more intimate, and rather than a mixed bag of metal lovers drunk on a weekend of the heavy stuff, the audience is comprised entirely of the King Diamond devout, screaming back every word, their love for their hero bleeding from every frame. Songs For The Dead Live gives those who missed out on seeing these shows in the flesh a chance to vividly experience them, offering so much deeper an experience than your run of the mill live DVD.
Graspop Metal Meeting track-listing
1. Out from the Asylum
2. Welcome Home
3. Sleepless Nights
4. Halloween
5. Eye of the Witch
6. Melissa
7. Come to the Sabbath
8. Them
9. Funeral
10. Arrival
11. A Mansion in Darkness
12. The Family Ghost
13. The 7th Day of July 1777
14. Omens
15. The Possession
16. Abigail
17. Black Horsemen
18. Insanity
The Fillmore track-listing
1. Out from the Asylum
2. Welcome Home
3. Sleepless Nights
4. Eye of the Witch
5. Halloween
6. Melissa
7. Come to the Sabbath
8. Them
9. Funeral
10. Arrival
11. A Mansion in Darkness
12. The Family Ghost
13. The 7th Day of July 1777
14. Omens
15. The Possession
16. Abigail
17. Black Horsemen
18. Insanity
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to Former Megadeth, King Diamond guitarist Glen Drover. Drover spoke about his new Band/Project Walls of Blood and his new album Imperium which will be release February 22 2019 via Metalville. He also spoke about his days recording with Megadeth on United Abominations and King Diamond’s album House of God.
Watch the interview here:
When asked about his new project Walls of Blood
“I started this project about six years ago. What happened was for fun in between whatever I was doing at that point, I got Henning Basse (Firewind, Mayan) to sing an old Eidolon song that I’d always loved but unfortunately was destroyed by mediocre vocals. So I gave Henning the lyrics but not the original music, I didn’t want him to listen to the original melodies and he just loved it and we did the track and it came out killer. Then shortly after that I had started talking to Todd LaTorre from Queensryche and he said yeah let’s do a song. So I thought to myself you know what how about an album that’ll have multiple guest singers on it. Ten songs, ten different singers and that was the original design and that’s what ended up happening in the end. I think we did a good job and making everything sound real cohesive with all the different singers. It’s pure heavy metal, there’s some pretty heavy stuff on it you know, there’s a lot of melody too.”
When asked if he would Tour with Walls of Blood
“I compare my situation to Jake E Lee’s Red Dragon Cartel, Jake formed a band and released an album that had different singers. I think he was testing the waters, since he had not been in the industry for sometime. Then he did a tour and it turned out really positive and then on Jake’s second album he decided just to have one singer and tour. I feel the same way let’s see how it goes on this album, test the waters and then I am open to anything that makes sense in regards to touring.”
When asked what he thinks of Megadeth’s United Abomination album today
“I think it came out really well, it’s a very strong album, there are songs on there that I favour more than others of course but overall I think it’s a great album. My favorite albums by Megadeth are the first three ones, especially So far So good, So What and Peace Sells But who’s Buying.”
When asked about his experience working on the album with Dave Mustaine and if Dave sang him the solos to reproduce
“Dave I got along with him really well, he wasn’t a taskmaster with me you know I always went in very prepared. I did my homework so much that he really didn’t question a whole lot. When it came to solos I would do something and then Dave would go why don’t you try something like this. Dave was not singing all the notes in the solos he was just kind of mimicked the melodies and the flow of the tempo of the solo. That’s what it was like for me I can only speak for myself. “
“I remember doing Sleepwalker, the first song on the album. By the way, that song wasn’t going to make the album thank god it did because it’s pretty much one of the very a few up-tempo tracks because there were too many mid-tempo songs and we needed something that was going to be more of a fast. But Dave didn’t want to do it. In the end what happened was me and Andy Sneap did a demo of it and sent it to the record company and they said yeah we’re using this one. So I guess Dave was overpowered on that sorry Dave but that’s how the story went.”
When asked about his experience working on the King Diamond album House of God
“It was amazed experience. How I got the gig was as I sent an audition tape in the early 90’s to their people while I was still living at home, I was really young. King liked it and we kept in contact and then the situation came up in 1997 and he called me and said you want a job and that was that. It was great everybody got along really well together. In the studio I just went in and had a lot of fun. They flew me into to Dallas and I spent two weeks just doing all my solos. I would do three or four songs a day and then I go back to the hotel that night and work out the songs for the next day and I go in. I also had a great time touring but my lifestyle had changed, I got married and I had a kid on the way, so I couldn’t just rely on the sporadic touring that would happen here and there.”
When asked if he had any regrets leaving King Diamond and Megadeth too soon
“For King Diamond I don’t have any regrets because I’m not sure how much of a difference it really would have made after I left King Diamond, their next album was Abigail two. Yeah it that came out okay but I would say the House of God album is a little stronger. For Megadeth there was issues that came up and I had to go at that point. I couldn’t have stayed any longer because of what was going on and I didn’t have any regrets. If I stayed in there longer there might have been more problems but I I left when I had to and that was that.”
WALLS OF BLOOD, “Imperium”, contains 10 songs of “high-class power metal,” with guest appearances by some of the genre’s most acclaimed vocalists, including Tim Owens (JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH), Chuck Billy (TESTAMENT), Todd La Torre (QUEENSRŸCHE) and Henning Basse (METALLIUM, FIREWIND).
Drover handled all guitars and keyboards on the album, while the drums were tracked by Scott Barrymore and bass by Chris Myles (except the songs “Discordia” and “Tarnished Dream”, which feature bass by Joe DiBiase). All music was recorded, produced and engineered by Drover at Eclipse Recording in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
“Imperium” track listing:
01. Leave This World Behind (feat. Nils K. Rue)
02. Discordia (feat. Todd La Torre)
03. Waiting To Die (feat. Chuck Billy)
04. Blood Sacrifice Ritual (feat. Henning Nasse)
05. Tarnished Dream (feat. Tim Owens)
06. Walls Of Blood (feat. Matt Cuthbertson)
07. The Fault Of Man (feat. Henning Basse)
08. Dark Lords Of Sleep (feat. Dan Cleary)
09. Junkhead (ALICE IN CHAINS cover) (feat. Lance Harvill)
10. Seven Spirits (feat. Henning Basse)
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Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
Well known for his time with MEGADETH, KING DIAMOND and his own power metal band EIDOLON plus more besides, Canadian guitarist Glen Drover is back with a brand new project – WALLS OF BLOOD. The album, titled “Imperium” featuring an esteemed assortment of metal vocalists such as Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens (JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH), Chuck Billy (TESTAMENT), Todd La Torre (QUEENSRŸCHE) and Henning Basse (METALLIUM, FIREWIND), is set for release on 22nd February via Metalville.
On Matt Cuthbertson, who provides vocals on the track ‘Walls Of Blood’:
