ANDY LA ROCQUE Is Still Hopeful KING DIAMOND Can Release Long-Awaited New Studio Album In 2026: 'That's Our Goal'

In a new interview with "Reckless" Rexx Ruger of the Pod Scum podcast, KING DIAMOND guitarist Andy La Rocque spoke about the status of the band's forthcoming horror trilogy, part one of which is titled "Saint Lucifer's Hospital 1920". Asked if "Saint Lucifer's Hospital 1920" will still be released in 2026, Andy said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I really hope so. That's our goal. We have most of the songs. I sent [King Diamond, KING DIAMOND's namesake frontman], I think, eight songs, like, four years ago, and we decided to use three of those. And we actually played one live from those songs. And as soon as he's done with this stuff — he's gotta write five songs, I believe, and he's got a lot of the stuff already written down, with the lyrics and everything. As soon as that's recorded and arranged from his side, we can put the right guitars on, the right drums, bass and everything. So I really hope it won't take very long before we can continue working on that. And if that's the case, we can start recording soon, and during the summer, [and] then we have a chance for it to be released at the very end of the year."

Regarding how he approaches playing the new KING DIAMOND material from a guitarist perspective, Andy said: "It depends. Nowadays King has usually a request for me to play the song the way he would like it to be played. So I probably play my songs a little bit different than his songs, because I know, that, for example, he [doesn't] like when I play the rhythms with like a vibrato kind of thing at the end of a riff or whatever, because that might be interacting with his vocals that comes on later. But on my songs, I just do what I feel is right to do. I mean, if it's good for the song, it's probably good. And if it doesn't fit, when he puts the vocal on, I change it. But first of all, I just write what comes out of the heart. I don't really care what other people think about the style or whatever. I just write my stuff, and it's kind of based in the '80s. I mean, standard tuning — we don't tune down with KING DIAMOND, so it's standard tuning, pretty straightforward. And, melodies [are] super essential. I think it's so important to have melodies in the songs, and create space for melodies, too, for the vocals. That's really important."

Last June, Andy told the Heavy Demons radio show about the KING DIAMOND songwriting process, Andy said: "[I] pretty much [come up with] a complete demo with a programmed drum track and some keyboards on and some rhythm guitars. And I try to make my demos as complete as possible with everything — except for the vocals, of course — but sometimes even with some solos that we can use on the album even, and the right guitar sounds, and hopefully the right keyboard sounds too. When it comes to King's stuff, he's a little more basic with a few of the things. For example, the guitars — he lets me re-record the guitars. And then I put solo on, and then Pontus [Egberg], the bass player, puts the bass on and all that stuff. So it's a little bit different, but it's quite complete anyway, from his side. You totally understand what he wants with the feel and the atmosphere of the song. And once that's done and we're okay with the arrangement and stuff, we send that out to the other members in the band so they can start recording. For example, Matt [Thompson, KING DIAMOND drummer] has his own recording studio in Dallas, where he lives. So when he gets the demo from us, he just mutes the drums, put his drums on, and sends it to me so I can fix the drums and set up a good sound on everything. Same with the bass player and also with Mike [Wead], the other guitarist — kind of the same procedure. And once the drums are done and we're okay with everything, King is doing the vocals. So that's about it. And then, of course, we can go in and change a few things too. If something needs to be added or changed — a rhythm part on the guitar or solo; whatever needs to be changed — we can do that whenever. So it's a pretty creative procedure."

Last year, La Rocque spoke to Finland's Chaoszine about the new KING DIAMOND songs "Electro Therapy" and "Spider Lilly" which were first performed during the band's fall 2024 U.S. tour. He said: "We were kind of done with these songs. That's why we decided to try to play them live and see how it works out. And that's what we did. So, for example, 'Spider Lilly' is gonna be on the album. And we play that live. And it's also released on video. So, yeah, that's how we do it. We don't have to wait for a whole album. We thought, 'We need to put out something now for the fans.'"

During the same chat, La Rocque addressed his previous comment that he wanted the next KING DIAMOND album to have a more organic sound, similar to how it was on some of the band's early efforts. Asked if he and his bandmates will have to do a lot of "tweaking" in the studio to achieve this sound, Andy said: "Not really. That's what we don't do this time around. We don't do a lot of tweaks to it. It's organic also in the way of the playing is not like copied and pasted, stuff like that. It's more relaxed play. And there might be some things you hear that are like, 'Oh, yeah…' We're gonna keep that… Because that's what we had back in the '80s too when we recorded an album. Everything wasn't perfect — more organic, and not everything triggered and sound like everyone else. But we want a more acoustic, kind of more of the acoustic drums, and stuff like that, to make it a little bit more organic. It doesn't have to be perfect everywhere. It's good, but some things might not be a hundred percent, only 99.99, you know what I'm saying? But that's also to make everything like a more loose or organic feel to it. Of course it's gonna be good. We don't release anything that we're not happy with."

In a separate interview with Fistful Of Metal magazine, King stated about the status of the long-awaited new KING DIAMOND album: "Well, for starters, 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 U.S. tour. There very well may be a track on the album called 'The Institute'… I just want to make sure that it's the best material I've ever released. Right now, we are gearing up to film the next video for the single 'Lobotomy'. Other songs that are completed are an intro track called 'Under The Surface', 'The Institute', 'The Nun', 'Faceless' and, of course, 'Spider Lilly'. There's another track, which I'm not sure is going to be on the album yet, called 'Deep In The Darkness 1920'. Andy has been working on at least five tracks, one of which has as monster chorus that we plan to record with a choir. The plan is that this album will be the first of a trilogy, and I already have all three album titles."

In December 2024, KING DIAMOND released a studio version of "Spider Lilly". It was a first-time mixing collaboration with Arthur Rizk, who also mastered the track. The music and lyrics were written by King Diamond.

The official music video for "Spider Lilly" was directed by My Good Eye Visuals. Part of the clip was filmed at the very haunted Pennhurst Asylum outside of Philadelphia on a travel day during the band's 2024 North American tour, two days before Halloween. It was only King himself and actress Jodi Cachia who could participate on that specific day, together with producer David Brodsky, Allie Woest and their crew.

KING DIAMOND performed "Spider Lilly" live for the first time at the kick-off concert of the band's 2024 North American headlining tour.

In October 2023, KING DIAMOND released a music video for the 2019 single "Masquerade Of Madness". The clip was directed by David Brodsky and Allison Woest of My Good Eye Visuals.

A month after KING DIAMOND released "Masquerade Of Madness" in November 2019, La Rocque told The Metal Voice that he came up with the music for the track first before passing it off to King, who "needed to arrange a few things and change just a small few things for making it work with his vocals. And then, of course, he wrote the lyrics for it," the guitarist revealed. "So we [went] a little back and forth until he felt like, 'Okay, this is cool, man. This is the right key to sing in,' and all that."

KING DIAMOND received a Grammy nomination in the "Best Metal Performance" category for the track "Never Ending Hill" off the band's last album, 2007's "Give Me Your Soul … Please".

"Give Me Your Soul ... Please" sold 4,500 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 174 on The Billboard 200 chart.

KING DIAMOND released a DVD/Blu-ray, "Songs For The Dead Live", in January 2019 via Metal Blade Records. The set captured 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 featured KING DIAMOND's current band, comprising of guitarists La Rocque and Mike Wead, bassist Pontus Egberg and Matt Thompson.

Photo by Jeremy Saffer