KING DIAMOND Announces Spring/Summer 2025 European Tour With PARADISE LOST, ANGEL WITCH

KING DIAMOND will embark on a European tour next spring/summer. Support on select dates on the trek will come from PARADISE LOST, ANGEL WITCH and UNTO OTHERS.

Tickets will go on sale this Friday, December 13 at 9 a.m. U.K. time (10 a.m. CET).

Tour dates:

June 04 - Sölvesborg, Sweden - Sweden Rock Festival
June 06 - Gdansk, Poland - Mystic Festival
June 07 - Berlin, Germany - Columbiahalle
June 08 - Plzen, Czech Republic - Metalfest Plzen
June 10 - Wiesbaden, Germany - Schlachthof
June 11 - Tilburg, Netherlands - 013
June 13 - Oberhausen, Germany - Turbinenhalle
June 14 - Ludwigsburg, Germany - Mhp Arena
June 16 - Milan, Italy - Alcatraz
June 17 - Zurich, Switzerland - Komplex 457
June 20 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Copenhell
June 22 - Dessel, Belgium - Graspop Metal Meeting
June 26 - Cartagena, Spain - Rock Imperium Festival
June 30 - Manchester, England - Manchester Academy
July 01 - London, England - The Roundhouse
July 03 - Ballenstedt, Germany - Rockharz Festival
July 05 - Dunaujvaros, Hungary - Rockmaraton
July 08 - Bucharest, Romania - Arenale Romane
July 09 - Sofia, Bulgaria - Arena Sofia
July 10 - Athens, Greece - Rockwave Festival
July 31 - Bergen, Norway - Beyond The Gates Festival
August 08 - Helsinki, Finland - Hellsinki Metal Fest

KING DIAMOND kicked off its long-awaited North American headlining tour on October 15 at Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Texas. The "Saint Lucifer's Hospital 1920" trek ran through December 6 in Dallas, Texas. Support came from OVERKILL and NIGHT DEMON. Additional backing vocals for the KING DIAMOND set were provided by the special guest Myrkur.

Last month, the KING DIAMOND shows in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (November 20 at Edmonton Convention Center),Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada (November 21 at TCU Place),Calgary, Alberta Canada (November 22 at Grey Eagle Event Centre),Portland, Oregon (November 24 at Keller Auditorium) and Seattle, Washington (November 25 at The Moore Theatre) were canceled due to "unforeseen circumstances".

KING DIAMOND's setlist for the most recent tour included two new songs, "Spider Lilly" and "Electro Therapy".

When the tour was first announced, KING DIAMOND's namesake frontman said about what fans can expect: "This is Saint Lucifer's Hospital. Enter if you dare!

"We have been busy putting this ever-growing horror story together, and it's still growing. I know the end of it, but how we will get there will be a long trip. There are so many characters, and so many unexpected things along this journey. It's a crazy family on another timeline in 1920, where I experienced some hard times, and they have to come to our time to steal from us to survive. This is the most elaborate thing we have ever done, that goes for the stage production as well.

"There will be additional backing vocals by Myrkur and she'll be playing organ for songs that need it. There will be some horrific surprises taking place on stage, but we are not to be held responsible since we are on a whole different timeline in 1920. It was back at the time when medicine was going through a dark period with lots of testing on human beings in order to progress medicine.

"This is Saint Lucifer's Hospital, also known as The Institute. Enter if you dare!"

KING DIAMOND 2024 touring lineup:

Andy La Rocque - guitar
Mike Wead - guitar
Pontus Egberg - bass
Matt Thompson - drums
Myrkur - additional backing vocals, keyboards

Titled "The Institute", KING DIAMOND's first studio LP in 18 years is tentatively due in 2025 via Metal Blade. It will be made available as a two-LP horror concept story, with the second part arriving at a later date.

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 MyGoodEye Visuals.

At the time of the video's release, King commented: "'Masquerade Of Madness' was released digitally in 2019 before our North American tour. During rehearsals, we took one full day to film 'Masquerade Of Madness' with David Brodsky and Allison Woest. We spent all day and all night recording while performing the song with our full tour stage show choreography. After the tour, Covid happened.

"The video was all but forgotten as the world came to a standstill — we never saw a single frame from all the footage. Years later, as things began to pick up and writing began for both new MERCYFUL FATE and KING DIAMOND records, we wondered, what happened to that video from four years ago? So we decided to check in with David Brodsky and a couple of weeks later, we had the first cut of the video.

"I was speechless! I had nothing to criticize and after just a few notes from Andy La Rocque, the video for 'Masquerade Of Madness' was finished! There's so much mood and black and white is used in a perfect way with Jodi's performances. The visuals fit the music flawlessly and this is now among my favorite KING DIAMOND videos along with 'Sleepless Nights' and 'Welcome Home' — and not to forget of course, our double live DVD."

A month after KING DIAMOND released "Masquerade Of Madness" in November 2019, KING DIAMOND guitarist Andy 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 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 La Rocque and Mike Wead, bassist Pontus Egberg and Matt Thompson.