It’s been 17 years since metal godfather King Diamond released an album, but fans have been in a state of heightened anticipation for a few years now. At Hellfest in 2019, he debuted a new song onstage, “Masquerade Of Madness,” which dropped as a single later that year. He also announced a reunion of his band Mercyful Fate, legends of the so-called first wave of black metal; the band toured the following year and debuted a new song in ’22, its first such effort since 1999. At The Riverside Theater on Friday, the King surprisingly didn’t venture into the Mercyful Fate catalog, though. The “Saint Lucifer’s Hospital 1920” tour isn’t just a meat-and-potatoes metal show; even for one of rock history’s most theatrical singers, the look and feel was closer to a Broadway production.
Not at the beginning of the night, though. Opening the show were Ventura, California power trio Night Demon, who fit right in musically with their brand of Motörhead-worshipping retro metal, though their visual aesthetic was more Scorpions than Alice Cooper.
Following their rousing half hour set, their backdrop banner was swapped out for that of Overkill, their second visit to Milwaukee this year, though with a significantly different lineup than at Metal Fest in May. After returning to the fold in the spring, founding bassist D.D. Verni had to sit out this tour due to an ongoing shoulder issue; his replacement was longtime Fear Factory bassist Christian Olde Wolbers, whose main gig these days is with Vio-lence. Also, drummer Jason Bittner left Overkill in August; new drummer Jeramie Kling fit in just fine. However they were also down to one guitarist for this show; Derek Tailer was nowhere to be seen, leaving Dave Linsk to handle rhythm and lead duties. He did okay but there were definitely some awkward transitions, and no mention was made as to Tailer’s absence.
The big burgundy curtains came down in preparation for the headliner. When they rose at 9 p.m. sharp, smoke billowed around an elaborate construction of stairs and scaffolding. The drum kit was on a platform above and behind the main stage; underneath it was the appearance of a neglected sanitarium, with various props lurking in corners and a creepy-looking cell door. King emerged in a long black cloak and top hat, resplendent in his trademark ghoulish black-and-white face paint (unlike at his last Milwaukee show in 2015, when he was forced to forego the paint due to an eye infection!) Founding guitarist Andy LaRocque still leads the band, emerging with the funereal opening of Diamond’s 1987 landmark album Abigail. Although the name of the tour suggests a narrative theme might be running through the proceedings, the reality is that King’s catalog is practically one long horror anthology unto itself; no need to try and tie it all together.
Augmenting King Diamond (the band) on this tour is Myrkur, a fellow Dane whose primary outlet is her solo black metal project. Perched to the left of the drum kit, she played keyboards and backed up Diamond on vocals. At age 68, it’s a minor miracle King is still able to perform such rigorous vocal feats, particularly after a series of health scares in the late aughts/early teens, but his vocal recovery following heart surgery in 2010 seems to have been a rousing success; there seemed to be no limitations on the range of his wailing falsetto. Myrkur didn’t get too involved in the spectacle but her strong voice was a perfect fill-in where most legacy acts nowadays would be utilizing backing tracks.
There’ve been four new King Diamond albums so far this century, but although it had to be tempting to work in something from Abigail II: The Revenge for conceptual purposes, none of this recent material made the cut. However, the band has been hard at work on a new album for several years now, reportedly to be named The Institute, and they’ve debuted two songs from it on the current tour. The first, “Spider Lilly,” fit nicely into the set following 1998’s “Voodoo,” which itself still sounded relatively modern compared to Diamond’s classic ‘80s material. There’s little chance the band will be breaking any new ground with The Institute, but there’s clearly a demented story behind “Spider Lilly,” brought vaguely to life by an unknown actress playing with a creepy doll on the stage-left staircase.
King followed this with a descent into his crazy-grandmother mythology; “she” emerged in a wheelchair and became the object of King’s wailing. “Sleepless Nights” preceded “Welcome Home” and “The Invisible Guests,” the iconic opening pairing off 1988’s Them album. King was now wearing an all-white mask with scraggly white hair—“the doctor” at St. Lucifer’s, apparently. He ostensibly drank some wine and pulled away the sheet from a glass box, revealing what looked like a baby floating inside it, welcoming us to his laboratory. The bits of narration and banter were engaging and never long; the passage of time has made King’s demonic caricature less shocking and more campy, but no less essential. Then following “The Candle” (one of the oldest songs played), the still-fresh “Masquerade Of Madness” preceded another brand-new song, “Electro Therapy,” during which an actor writhed inside a glowing glass coffin.
Closing out the set were a pair of tracks off The Eye, King’s last album prior to reuniting with Mercyful Fate in ’92, the frontman now back in his regular outfit and air-guitaring on his legbone-cross microphone. Myrkur’s organ work came to the fore on this one, which also featured one of LaRocque’s wickedest guitar solos of the night. Despite the over-the-top nature of Diamond’s presentation, nobody in the group was trying to bowl us over; the songs spoke for themselves, while the props and visuals gave us a generous glimpse into King’s morbid universe. While most attendees were probably there hoping for one last chance to see a legend, they greeted the new material with just as much enthusiasm as the classics. Perhaps The Institute can still usher in a vibrant final act for extreme metal’s once and future King.
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