For The Metal Voice former Anthrax singer Neil Turbin spoke to King Diamond  guitarist Andy LaRocque and Bassist Pontus Egberg on December 3 2020 in California at The Grove of Anaheim.  LaRocque spoke about the making of the new single  Masquerade of Madness and gave an update on the upcoming album The Institute.

Watch the interview below.

When asked about the latest single  Masquerade of Madness
“So far we only have one song from the upcoming album done, we are still working on the new songs for the next album. We really haven’t composed that many songs yet I have about 4-5 in the loop and King has a lot of ideas and he hasn’t had time to put them down on the computer. So one song Masquerade of Madness,  we have managed this summer to play live. For this song I came up with the music and then King needed to re-arrange a few things to make it work with his vocals and then of course he wrote the lyrics. A little back and forth between me and King until it worked.”

When asked about an update on the upcoming albums
“2007 was the last album, it’s been a few years but music takes time. While King Diamond will be with MercyFul Fate doing shows in the summer I will be working on the songs, recording, mixing for the album, I will be busy. ”

When asked when The Institute album will be released
“There will be two albums, the first one will be released late 2020, it will be a concept story over two albums. The second part of the story will be released in the future.”

When asked how the Institute compares musically to past King Diamond albums
“Music wise, I have been looking back to the origins of King Diamond music back in the 80’s and that’s what we have been trying to go back and find, the original roots. So I would say the new album is back to the roots. a lot of riffs will have the style of the early album.”