After 12 long years KING DIAMOND has release a brand new studio song. “Masquerade Of Madness”, which will appear on KING DIAMOND‘s first studio album in 12 years, “The Institute” – due to be released in 2020 via Metal Blade Records – can be streamed below. The song has made presence in the KING DIAMOND set-list for his month-long North American Tour that started at the beginning of this month of November, a tour we recently witnessed and we wholeheartedly recommend you NOT to miss.
“The Institute” – the first record since “Give Me Your Soul… Please”, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance for “Never Ending Hill” – will mark KING DIAMOND long awaited return with new studio material after his long battle with multiple health issues since 2006, of which he seems to have come out victorious.
KING DIAMOND‘s next album is said to be a story set in a 1920s mental institution. “I chose that because I think it’s a very creepy scenario,” King told Full Metal Jackie. “And the thing is that I know that somebody has talked about that, but that’s not the setting, actually. There’s a lot of other things involved, but the setting looks as if it was a 1920s asylum — that’s exactly what it looks like. And some of the things that go on that we’re gonna show onstage is also things that certainly was going on back then, when medicine was beginning to take a beneficial turn in history and actually being able to help human beings live longer. But there was some experimentation going on, too, that was absolutely gruesome. Some of that is involved in the story, but it’s something totally different. Once you get to the second part of the story, you will begin to suddenly understand that, ‘What the hell is going on here? What is this really about?’ ‘Cause there’s a whole different story that will not come to you till second part. But in the first part, you’re gonna get to know a lot people at a certain place.
“Instead of telling the story — it’s way too much — but some of it takes place here, this world, and some of it takes place in a parallel world. And there’s a correlation between what happened to me and what happens to some people in this place and where they suddenly appear. And you will find out why they are there, how they appear there and the places down the road. I won’t say too much right now, but it’s gonna be very creepy.”
“There is a girl in misery
And insanity
Painting figures on her walls
Those voodoo dolls
I come to say goodbye
I’ll take you down to #9
Masquerade of madness
Masquerade of sadness
Madness
There is a masque for all the dead
And a masque for pain
You gotta leave your mind behind
Don’t go insane
I come to say goodbye
I’ll take you down to #9
Masquerade of madness
Masquerade of sadness
Madness
…And when they come for you tonight
Darkness of the mind
Keep on the masque they made for you
Only speak inside
I come to say goodbye
I’ll take you down to #9
Masquerade of madness
Masquerade of sadness
Madness”
KING DIAMOND released a DVD/Blu-ray, “Songs For The Dead Live”, in January via Metal Blade Records. The set captures 1987’s seminal “Abigail” album in its entirety, twice, and in very different locales: Belgium’s Graspop Metal Meeting in June 2016 and Philadelphia’s Fillmore in November 2015. The performances feature KING DIAMOND‘s current band, comprising of guitarists Andy LaRocque and Mike Wead, bassist Pontus Egberg and drummer Matt Thompson.
Check out all the remaining dates for the current tour below!
