King Diamond Names Life Event That Impacted New Horror Trilogy

King Diamond is continuing to chip away at what will eventually be a horror trilogy of musical releases with a unifying concept, and during a chat with Full Metal Jackie the legendary vocalist revealed that the idea started percolating after his hospital stay in 2010 when he underwent triple bypass surgery.”A lot of this comes from years and years ago when I was in the hospital for the triple bypass and all this not knowing if I was ever going to sing again, not knowing if I was ever going to be able to even walk normally again,” confessed the musician who underwent rehab afterward to retain his status as a performing musician.He recalled to Jackie of his hospital stay, “I’m just thinking, of course, horror stories all the time, because it’s like, “Wow, they could kill so many people like this, like me there. No one would know because I don’t know what floor under the ground I’m at in this hospital and they just take me into this door and no one asks questions.”King Diamond has already debuted the song “Spider Lilly” from the upcoming St. Lucifer’s Hospital, 1920 album and he speaks about the haunted video shoot for the track. He also offers some insight into the concept he’s exploring and a little bit on the progress of the music. Plus, King Diamond discusses the addition of Myrkur to the band’s live sets and new music.Check out more of the chat below.It’s Full Metal Jackie and I am honored to welcome back the legendary King Diamond. Since we last talked, we have got some new music in “Spider Lilly.” It’s one of the first pieces of music from your upcoming horror trilogy. And you also went the extra mile to create your art special, spending time at a haunted asylum to film the video for the song. Having delved into this mindset creatively, how was it to actually find and shoot a video at the Pennhurst Asylum to really set the visual.The mood can’t really be described except for that that was the perfect setting for us for doing it. There were so many things that came with it that it was not just on and shoot a video.It was the whole mood of the place. It’s a very sad place. It’s also extremely haunted and there was things that happened there. The final goodbye for that time, I was talking to the guy that was in charge of Pennhurst, at this time at least, and he invited us back for more if we wanted to. It was really and exceptional experience. I think we are going to be back for more, definitely.[The video] illustrates really what this place looks like as well. And we can continue coming there and doing things where he will open up everything for us practically so we can get very different scenarios to shoot in, which would be fantastic. It was very unique.King Diamond, “Spider Lilly”King, tell us more about that experience at Pennhurst Asylum. What was it like filming in such an infamous location?You had to talk to things you could see just to try and make them understand that we are not here to take your place or do anything disrespectful. This is actually very much opening a door for other people to go and look up Pennhurst Asylum. There’s horror for you if you ever wanted some.It’s absolutely horrific what happened there. But for us it was a perfect setting. Every time you see a red scenario in the video, it’s down in something they call the basement of the Mayflower House, which is a very haunted place.I’m not trying to be funny, but there is really a place called The Basement where there’s a ghost called King that is ruling there. It was weird to talk to King, both for the film crew and me and just say that, “Hey, we are here for a good purpose,. And it’d be nice if you just watch it and then don’t interfere.” Because we were already interfered with outside when I sent the boss man to put some makeup on because I’m wearing masks for a couple of different characters that we introducing in that video.So it’s the very beginning of trying to get people into this world that I’ve created for this, which has a timeline of next to two hours. But this has only gotten to 1920. And they have found some portals to get over to our side and steal some people and then doing a lot of experiments at this place called St. Lucifer’s Hospital, which is an asylum on this other side.There’s a lot of things that people find out as we go through how these mechanisms work, how they go over there and the kind of people they’re taking and for what purpose. It turns into a thing.II think it’s already too big for one and too big for two albums. So it’s going to be very interesting to move around in this world and follow them back with ours and see how the characters are lining up.Also other musicians have said they would like to be part of it, specifically a couple singers. So there’s a lot of stuff going on with this. It’s a really big, big project. But it’s right up my alley to do these kind of things and specifically now get the opportunity to go really deep.King Diamond with us. He’s been working on a horror trilogy and the first part is titled St. Lucifer’s Hospital, 1920. You can find inspiration in all sorts of places. What first drew you in as this was something you wanted to write about and create a musical around the whole thing?A lot of this comes from years and years ago when I was in the hospital for the triple bypass and all this not knowing if I was ever going to sing again, not knowing if I was ever going to be able to even walk normally again. You have to do a rehab.It was so heavy that you felt like a little child again. You had to learn. I could barely walk, could barely hold anything, lift anything, I couldn’t drive a car, couldn’t do anything. It took a year before I was pretty much ready to say, “Okay, I’ll try and do some of the normal things again.” But that was a long one.And seeing hospitals from the inside and how some of them are built way into the ground. You don’t even know there are that many floors underneath being rolled around in a bed where there are no people to see you and what’s being done. Door after door after door where it just says authorized personnel only. And they open one door. So the one that rolls you in a wheelchair down and you go into this place where it’s full of instruments and just one person.And I’m just thinking, of course, horror stories all the time, because it’s like, “Wow, they could kill so many people like this, like me there. No one would know because I don’t know what floor under the ground I’m at in this hospital and they just take me into this door and no one asks questions.”But for my mind, it was absolutely totally like that. There was a kind of secrecy there and all this stuff. “So what did it show? What did the test show?” “I can’t say. I can’t say that.” “Oh, come on. I can. I can handle it. It’s okay. Just say it.” “No, no, no. I’m really not allowed to tell you.The doctor will tell you.” “Okay, when can I talk to the doctor?”  “Tomorrow morning when he takes his rounds in the morning.”And then you’re just stuck there with these thoughts in your head and all this stuff and I had these three tubes going into my neck so that If they had to give me something fast, it would go straight in there and go straight down to my heart.I also had some other tubes. There was wires going in up to my heart through two holes in the in my front chest, so they could give me instant access in there if it was needed. Eventually these things were taken out and I was just there for 10 days, which is crazy that it was that little for a triple bypass before they sent me home and said, “You go back and take a walk for at least half a mile.”But all these things that I experienced, there is a lot of that is going to be sounding and looking totally different. It’s just a lot of things that maybe I need to get out of my mind, strange thoughts that, that comes from all that stuff.For the first couple of months, I didn’t even really acknowledge that I was still here. It was so weird. But there’s a lot of things that you can take and use in a story like this here. And it has been growing and growing and growing year after year. And finally it started just exploding inside with characters and scenarios and things I wanted to say and that fit into this story.King, how is the music coming along?There’s so much actually. There’s another song we’ve been played live, which has not been finished yet, but it’s extremely close. The lyric is not completely finished, but all the parts for the lyric is there. The way to sing it is there completely. It’s one of the songs that will probably have a guest sharing one of the characters with me, the different moods of that character. This is a song called “Lobotomy,” which all the music is written except for the guitar solos that the guitarist will do themselves, but everything else …almost on that one.There’s another song I was thinking about called “The Nun” that has an old Hammond from start to finish, actually. Super raw. It’s  very, very tricky. There are parts with tempo changes, and it’s a very full power double kick.But this one at the bottom is heavy and very dark. I played it just the music for my friend one day in my house and he was like, “That is so dark.” It’s turned out exactly like it should.It also has some heaven parts in it that makes it really crazy because live, we had an extra wheelchair actually onstage that was supposed to be for “Lobotomy,” but the bottom we never got finished completely. So in Europe, we are hoping that it will be done by that time and we will be able to do “Lobotomy” and show it onstage.Since we last spoke, there’s been a new addition to your live performances and it appears the next album as well. What has it meant to get Myrkur into your live show and as a guest in your new music and has being able to have her services allowed you some new creative options, both live and in studio?Livia, my wife has been doing a lot with us until our son Byron was born. And then when he started school, she could not tour with us anymore and we would have to find someone else. But there was one girl that stood in for Livia just through three shows, I think a long time ago in South America and Mexico and other places. Elena, who is from Greece and she plays in a couple of bands actually now herself.But I said also that she was very interested in helping out if we ever needed, so when Myrkur’s name came up, I knew of her of her music, you know. But I only met her once actually before, which was shortly backstage in Las Vegas at the festival there Psycho Fest. But that was back maybe even before 2019. It might have been even before that.So it was interesting. I saw that she had done her own classical version of “Welcome Home,” just her singing and playing a piano. It’s an amazing performance, amazing arrangement. And you can clearly hear what she can do with her voice. She can do anything pretty much and she’s a great musician too. Classically trained on keyboards. So that was a great suggestion that was put on the table.It was around this time and we talked a lot last year about the possibilities of actually having her go out on a tour with us and do stuff.It was not till we had started rehearsals here that it came up. You want to sing these parts? I can take some of my parts out. I already sang all the parts recorded. I have it still here that she did on the song. But it just felt cool if we could do it that way where she sang on the song.She was totally into it, so we recorded it right here in my studio room that I sit in right now here in the house. I muted some of my baggy vocals and she redid them and it has a special sound for those places. It’s really cool. It works very well.She’s very professional with her stuff. Whether she sings or plays keyboards, and it’s nice to have a keyboard player that actually plays. When we play “The Eye of the Witch,” for instance, you know the real Hammond is being played by a real person. We don’t have to, because we used to have that on tape. That’s the only thing I think we had on tape when we were normally touring instead of bringing a keyboard player to play one song live with a little overkill. But now she plays on a couple of songs, including the new one in “Spider Lilly,” and then does the banging vocals.She has said yes to also being able to do, at least for now, a tour in Europe as well. So we’ll see how everything works. We totally respect that she has naturally her own career. She’s doing her own shows too this next summer here coming up, or this summer coming up in Europe. But it doesn’t conflict with when we’re playing. So it kind of worked out by itself. But if you can’t do it there will be others that now when we are looking for a backup vocalist for the future, if she can’t do it at some point there are others that we know that already said yes.. And the criteria is not just to be able to sing our songs, the parts that we after, but also play keyboards. So it adds that dimension in.It’s nice to hear actually also onstage as we are playing it and singing it and all this stuff. It’s really cool to hear the real thing and not just the tape thing playing behind. So that was a really cool and she’s a super nice person too, you know. I’s been a great experience. Absolutely.Fans started to get a taste of what’s to come with the live show last year. You also introduced “Electro Therapy” as a new song with a pretty amazing stage visual last year as well. As you put this together, especially with something like this album, there has to be a unifying idea. Are you already thinking about how this will come off onstage and does that factor into when you’re writing the music?Yeah, absolutely. I have a clear vision of what it’s going to look like when the stage presentation for the third album finishes. I know what that should look like if I can get it to look like that. But I’m pretty confident that we can make things look like what we want because we have a lot of good minds that are on the same wavelength for what it is we are after.Like I said, “The Lobotomy,” we had the wheelchair for it, a real one from 1920. Wonder what happened in that wheelchair for real, you know? But it’s on our stage now and it’ll take place up on the upper right side. If you stand in the audience and view up at the stage, at the set, that’s where the actual lobotomy will take place.There are other things that are going to come and I know how some of that will be filmed once we do the videos for it. I think “Lobotomy” will definitely be one. There’s one more that we will do. We might be doing two more. That’s what I’ve heard, with full videos before the album comes out.READ MORE: King Diamond Debuts Two New Songs at 2024 Tour KickoffSo with that in mind, there’s one song called “The Nun” that is the one that has a full Hammond the whole way. Really raw, up-tempo, cryptic changes, all this stuff. It’s really like something I look very much forward to record. But also what happens in “The Nun” takes place right before “Lobotomy” on the album.It’s the same characters that the doctor is in there and Faceless that you have seen on stage too. But in the video, at least in “The Nun” might not be in the bottom. I think it’s just the doctor and The Nun and that’s part of that.But “The Nun” will be a new character too to see. And the whole thing about “The Nun” is It’s a very sad song actually because … God, I should start talking about the story now because you won’t be able to stop me very shortly but the nun is from our timeline and has been taken by the people from 1920 timeline.Because she was performing miracles in our timeline, something happened to her and she had a son and threw all the powers away so she can’t do that anymore. That’s why they snagged her on the other side in 1920 was because of her ability to do miracles. Because they need someone to make something happen on that side that they are becoming extinct and they have to do anything to try and survive on that 1920 timeline. She had something that they could use in their experiments and now they find out that she can’t provide any longer.But they found out that she had a son so they want the son now. And then they are going to all extremes to try and make her tell them where her son is. That’s so much going on in this story. Since it’s three albums. There is so many things going on because my experience has also been coming over to the other side and by a complete mistake, a portal that is open by mistake.I experienced a lot of things over there and there’s ways that people can see you and not see you. They have a very hard time seeing me over there, but I can see them and I see a lot of stuff that’s going on over there and eventually I get that they find out that I’m there.There’s a few of them that can see me and they sent me back to our timeline with I think it’s going to be her son that they fight and do something to. And I find out that I will have to go back because they have made a twin of me.They make twins of people from our timeline. But they have not succeeded probably yet. That’s why you saw some of these tanks onstage. There’s a lot of things going on there, things you won’t think about unless I suddenly say it.If I say it now, you will go what that too? Yeah, but it’s more fun I think for people to experience instead of me trying to tell a lot of stuff about what the story is all about and what’s going to happen. Find out, see it, hear it, listen to it, get to know the characters.Just like I have spent a lot of time getting to know them and to just get pictures through some of the videos of what it might look like. When you listen to the album, it becomes very visual, the whole thing. So it’s by far the biggest way I’ve been part of trying to put a story together and it really takes some heavy turns along the way, which I find so intriguing.King, I always want to ask, as you have the back and forth balance with Mercyful Fate as well, where do things stand with your other band as we prepare for this King Diamond trilogy to arrive?Well, of course, you will get the first King Diamond album of those three. And after that, I certainly expect that Mercy will drop that new album we’re working on and then go out and tour. And I have clear ideas also for how we want to present that new album onstage. So that’s the plan definitely.And then when that cycle finishes, the second kid of the three will be finished, ready to go, and so on.Thanks to King Diamond for the interview. Stay up to date with King Diamond through his website, Facebook, X, Instagram and Spotify accounts. Find out where you can hear Full Metal Jackie’s weekend radio show here.22 Makeup Trends That Define the History of Rock + MetalMakeup trends throughout rock and metal history.Gallery Credit: Lauryn Schaffner