VOLBEAT's Collaboration With KING DIAMOND Available For Free Download

"Room 24", a brand new song from Danish metal rock 'n' rollers VOLBEAT, is available for free download at this location. The track, which features a guest appearance by legendary Danish heavy metal singer King Diamond, comes off VOLBEAT's fifth studio album, "Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies", which will be released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on April 5, in the rest of Europe on April 8, and in North America on April 9 via Vertigo/Republic Records/Universal Music.

Comments VOLBEAT guitarist/vocalist Michael Poulsen: "I'm a huge fan of MERCYFUL FATE and KING DIAMOND. Having King on the record is a huge privilege. Normally, it's not something he does. He wrote his own lines, and it is half my lyrics and half his. It's a weird, scary story, and he's the perfect person for it."

Poulsen joined KING DIAMOND on stage at last year's Sweden Rock Festival to perform a cover version of the MERCYFUL FATE classic "Come To The Sabbath". Fan-filmed video footage of his appearance can be seen below.

"The show was fantastic and King sounded better than ever," Poulsen stated last June.

"I have been a huge KING DIAMOND / MERCYFUL FATE fan since my school days in Denmark. He was the first frontman in a metal band that I really became a fan of. At a very early age, I was already on my knees for Ronnie James Dio and Tony Iommi. But when the Danish newspapers started to write about KING DIAMOND and his new record, 'Them', I knew that I was about to discover something unique and special.

"A few minutes after reading the newspapers, I jumped on my bike and headed to my local record shop. 15 minutes later, I was holding the record in my hands and a new young KING DIAMOND fan was born and I have been following him and buying all his records since.

"I remember asking my dad if I could have some money for a KING DIAMOND concert ticket, he said, 'Sure, but how will you earn the money for the train ticket and merchandise?' he asked smiling. I responded I would figure it out, smiling.

"I ended up selling my BMX Raleigh bicycle, my dad got a little pissed about that in the beginning, but he ended up thinking that was real dedication and a good smart move from my side, because now he also had to buy me a new bike so I could get to school. Even my first tattoo was a MERCYFUL FATE cover ('Don't Break The Oath'). I was still in school and not old enough to get a tattoo, and I was begging the local tattoo artist to give me this tattoo. In the end, he said, 'Okay I'll do it if you. Come NOW, but don't tell anyone.' I said, 'I cannot do it now because I'm about to have my exam in school in less than an hour.' He didn't care, so I said, 'Fuck school, I'm on my way.' I didn't take my exam, but I got something that was so much more important to me, my first tattoo.

"The first time I met King in person was around 1996 or 1997, at that time, I had released my first two metal records and some demos with my previous band, DOMINUS. As an eager fan, I was telling him how much he inspired me. And now here in 2012 he still inspires me a lot in VOLBEAT.

"King has been to a few VOLBEAT shows in the U.S. to check us out and hang out and also to say hello to his good friend, Hank Shermann (MERCYFUL FATE),who [helped] VOLBEAT on our U.S. tour, which also is a great compliment for me and VOLBEAT.

"If you, as a reader, haven't met King in person, then let me tell you about him, he's the most dedicated man to his music and one of the nicest guys in this scene I have ever met. I am proud to calling him my friend."