King Diamond has offered an update on his first solo album since 2007.
In a new interview with Fistful Of Metal magazine, the Danish metal despot says that the follow-up to Bring Me Your Soul… Please is still being worked on, but that the next single from it will “definitely” come out in 2025. The new track will follow previous taster Spider Lilly, which landed in December.
The King also spills that his new album’s title has been changed from the one that was originally announced, The Institute.
“The original name that we had picked was The Institute. However, that has now changed to St Lucifer’s Hospital 1920, since the start of the US tour [from October to December 2024],” he reveals (via Blabbermouth).
The singer continues: “There very well may be a track on the album called The Institute. We were supposed to release the album this year, and in fact the album was supposed to be completely finished prior to the live shows, but I just want to make sure that it’s the best material I've ever released.”
The King then adds that there will be another song on the album entitled Lobotomy, the music video for which is about to be filmed. “[The single] will definitely be released later this year,” he says.
Other songs set to feature on St Lucifer’s Hospital 1920 include an “intro track” called Under The Surface, plus others called The Nun and Faceless.
“Andy [La Rocque, guitarist] has been working on at least five tracks, one of which has a monster chorus that we plan to record with a choir,” the King says. “The plan is that this album will be the first of a trilogy, and I already have all three album titles.”
King Diamond will hit the European festival circuit and play some headline shows across the continent from June to August. He also continues to front Mercyful Fate, who reunited in 2019 and have a new album of their own, their first since 9 in 1999, in the works.
Mercyful bassist Becky Baldwin said in an interview in January that the band were demoing their new material and that “instrumentally, it’s mostly there”.
“And so the next step is for King to work on it,” she added, “but King also needs to put out the King Diamond album this year, hopefully.”
