MetalInterviewKing Diamond: 'I welcome the powers of the unknown'
Kim KellyDenmark’s premier heavy metal export explains how he’s balanced haunted houses, songs about satan and litres of face paint for 30 years
Of course King Diamond’s house is haunted. Given his status as one of the most enduring figures in heavy metal horror, it’s fitting that the Danish musician would have a few skeletons lurking in his closet. He seems utterly unconcerned about his uninvited house guests, too; according to the King (née Kim Petersen), he’s been witnessing paranormal phenomena since he was very young, and casually chats about otherworldly experiences that seem ripped straight from of a Victorian seance.
“I welcome the powers of the unknown. I lived in a house in Copenhagen that was uber-haunted for many years, with flying teacups and things like that; there was a time when I saw glasses rising off the table, and I took it as a sign of something saying, ‘Hey, we’re with you,’” he recalls.
“They have shown themselves to me many times, and still do. We have four hotspots in this house now; they don’t visit often but just the other day, my wife walked into the kitchen after midnight and got a cold breeze blasted at her right when she turned the light on, like something was telling her to get out. She came back and said to me, ‘I guess I interrupted something!’”
Despite a musical career that spans three decades, King sounds more energetic than ever. His soft, cultured Danish lilt remains untouched by even the slightest twang despite decades spent living in Dallas. Though his demeanor is genteel, he’s long dabbled in darkness. In the staggeringly influential Mercyful Fate and, since 1985, in his own eponymous band, King Diamond has explored his fascination with the occult, evil and, yes, Satan, beckoning for us to come ever further into the crypt. Black metal as a whole owes its existence to the King’s deathly stage makeup and morbid atmosphere, and scores of other artists – from Metallica to Ghost – have cited his work as an inspiration. Thirty years into his career, he’s as spiritual and spooky as ever (though decidedly less satanic in his approach).
King Diamond is no stranger to the specter of death. In 2010, a series of heart attacks culminated in triple bypass surgery; recovery proved an arduous task, but an extended hiatus gave him time to heal. In 2012, the King returned. Three years, multiple festival appearances and two compilation releases later, King Diamond has launched a headlining North American tour alongside Bay Area thrash legends Exodus, with the promise of a brand-new album hanging suggestively in the air. He’s keeping mum about it though, preferring to keep a characteristic air of mystery.
“It’s coming out when it’s done. It has to be one that can kill every other album we ever did,” he says.
“Andy [La Rocque, original guitarist] and I have some ideas already, and I have my own recording studio out here, which means that for the first time ever I will have the opportunity to build a 50-voice choir if I feel like it! No one’s there pointing at the clock, saying, ‘You don’t need to make it any bigger.’ It will be amazing to do it this way.”
For now, he’s out on the road on a very special tour – one that shuns the new in favor of the old, and sees him and his bandmates stalking and swaggering theatrically through 1987’s classic Abigail in full (as well as a few surprises that are sure to please Mercyful Fate fans). As he tells us: “Half the set is new, if you compare it to our past two tours; there are six songs that we haven’t played since I don’t know when! For example, Omens was last played live in 1992, at a New Year’s Eve party which I played with three of the Pantera guys: Dimebag, Vinny Paul and Rex Brown.”
The spirit world even follows him out onstage, which is where all the real magic happens. For this current round of headlining dates, he and his crew pull out all the stops. Blessed (or cursed) by a meticulous attention to detail that has him fretting over the perfect shade of black to paint the prop bassinet sitting in his hallway, he spends his time at home overseeing the day-to-day business of being King Diamond. He has no manager; instead he and his wife, Hungarian singer Livia Zita, work in tandem with a supportive record label (Metal Blade Records) and the small army of helping hands that it takes to construct the illusion on stage each night.
The sheer amount of work that it takes to bring the Broadway-level production to the stage each night is dizzying; hoisting the three new backdrops painted by Canadian artist Yannick Bouchard is enough of a headache, not to mention all the lights, props and actors left to wrangle.
“New Abigails are being brought in because we’re filming for a DVD,” King adds. “Everything has to be right and be done correctly with respect to which songs we play and what it looks like. This new Abigail doll is almost scary – everything looks so real these days it’s crazy!”
Despite his stoic exterior, King is quite the talker; we spoke for over an hour, wandering off onto many a tangent along the way. (Did you know that King once owned a pet wolf named Angel, or that he’s written songs about his cats, or that he personally reads every fan comment on his Facebook page?) He sounds like an excited teenager about to jump in the van and hit the road on his first tour, not the seasoned icon he is, nor the 57-year-old elder statesman he’s become.
Still possessed of (or, perhaps, by) that octave-climbing banshee wail that skips from an air raid siren falsetto to a raspy growl, the King comes alive onstage – one moment striding across it with aristocratic grace, the next throwing the devil horns and waggling his tongue during a particularly tasty solo, his face painted bone white and ebony in a diabolical mask that takes him two hours to perfect each night. In that moment, he seems immortal – and judging by his track record, perhaps he is.
King Diamond is on tour in the US until 5 December
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