King Diamond drummer Matt Thompson will be joining Floridian prog act Aghora in the studio during the recording of Aghora's third full-length spinner titled simply "Aghora 3". Aghora spoke of Matt Thompson and their new album on their website a few weeks ago, and said the following:

"We are happy to anounce the new drummer for Aghora 3. Ladies & Gents, Please welcome Matt Thompson on board. Matt is a great drummer with a good history and beyond solid chops and skills. Some of you may know him from the King Diamond records. He has begun demoing stuff with us. Please visit his site and get familiar. Link]

Aghora 3 is in the writing process. So far there are 10 solid ideas. We are going to do this album on our terms. But it will be on a good schedule so you will have new music sooner than you think. Thanks to everyone who auditioned and sent in video and mp3's. Best wishes to you all."

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Source:	aghora.org
Band profile:	Aghora

The following has been posted by Ole Bang on the official website of the band:

"Most regretfully we have to announce that King will not be able to tour North America as planned. King has over the past 6 month been suffering from a herniated disc in the spine, and has still not recovered to a satisfactory level. He was prescribed absolute rest for several months, and this appear to be more than half a year.

Following several visits to specialists and most recent MRI-scan; we have to realize that his condition need far more rest than expected in the first place. At the moment he can neither walk for more than an hour at a time, nor can he sit like you would do in a normal daily life; ie. there is no chance that he will fully recover in time for the tour start in March.

We deeply regret the inconvenience caused for everyone involved, for promoters, bands and fans; and most of all we're very very sorry that we can not go out and perform for the fans; who have been waiting for the tour to kick off.

Unfortunately life is unpredictable, and it's completely out of our hands when illness kick in, and no medicine, how harsh it might have been, can cure the situation. If anything could remedy the situation it would have been done, but for now we simply just have to wait, and let King get the much needed rest.

I will post news about any developments as soon as it's available. At this time we will also like to say Thanks, for all the kind words of a speedy recovery we have received."

Kreator also announced they will not tour alone. So the whole tour has been cancelled. An update by the band goes as follows:

"To end the rumours: Kreator will not be playing any of the King Diamond/Kreator tour alone! Here´s a statement from Mille!

"First of all: We are very disapointed that our tour in March/April is not going to happen! We were really looking foreward to see all our North American fans again and were preparing a killer show for you! But I must also say, that right now the most important thing is King Diamonds health. I want to see the King playing shows and producing albums for many years to come in good shape and so all I can say in the name of the whole band at this point is: Get well soon King and all the strenght and best wishes from Germany! All hail to the King!"

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Source:	covenworldwide.org
Band profile:	King Diamond

A new song from King Diamond entitled 'Never Ending Hill' is available for free download online here. The track comes off the group's upcoming new album "Give Me Your Soul? Please", which will be released on June 26th through Metal Blade Records.

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Source:	smnnews.com
Band profile:	King Diamond

King Diamond will tour Europe in October/November. Confirmed dates so far are as follows:

17.10.2007 - Voxhall - Aarhus, Denmark
19.10.2007 - KB - Malmö, Sweden
20.10.2007 - Amager Bio - Copenhagen, Denmark
29.10.2007 - Klubben - Stockholm, Sweden
31.10.2007 - Arenan - Gothenburg, Sweden
02.11.2007 - Metal Massacre III - Linköping, Sweden
03.11.2007 - Betong Screamfest - Oslo, Norway

"Be sure to check in reguarly here] as we will announce more dates soon!"

King Diamond are rumoured to tour North America in the spring of 2008. More details, including other participating bands and exact cities/dates, will be announced soon.

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Source:	covenworldwide.org
Band profile:	King Diamond
Event:

The cover artwork for the upcoming King Diamond album, Give Me Your Soul?Please, has been posted online here. The album will be released on June 26th through Metal Blade Records.

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Source:	smnnews.com
Band profile:	King Diamond

The new King Diamond album will probably be released late June/beginning of July. Nothing is certain yet but it looks that way. The album will be titled "Gimme Your Soul? Please".

The CD contains 13 tracks and the song titles are as follows:

01. The Dead
02. Never Ending Hill
03. Is Anybody Here?
04. Black Of Night
05. Mirror, Mirror
06. The Cellar
07. Pictures In Red
08. Gimme Your Soul
09. The Floating Head
10. Cold As Ice
11. Shapes Of Black
12. The Girl In The Bloody Dress
13. Moving On

According to King Diamond: "I guarantee you this is the best album yet I am positive about it. Its more King Diamond there have ever been. It has the best King Diamond top class through the whole album. The story is very dark, perhaps one of the darkest I have ever done before."
More comments about the album by King Diamond can be found here.

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Source:	covenworldwide.org
Band profile:	King Diamond

Snowy Shaw, ex-drummer of King Diamond, Mercyful Fate and Dream Evil, has joined Therion as new vocalist. According to his official website he will share vocal duties with Mats Leven, which means he'll most likely take over harsh vocals, which were given up by band leader Christofer Johnsson earlier this year. More details to follow.

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Source:	snowyshaw.com
Band profile:	Therion

King Diamond have finished recording the drums, bass and rhythm guitars for their upcoming album, tentatively due in early 2007. The follow-up to 2003's "The Puppet Master" will contain 13 tracks (including an intro), five of which were written by the band's guitarist Andy La Rocque. Frontman King Diamond will soon begin writing the lyrics for the album, which is being recorded in Dallas, Texas and at Los Angered Recording (owned by La Rocque) in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Source:	blabbermouth.net
Band profile:	King Diamond

A live recording of the KING DIAMOND track "Mansion In Darkness" has been posted online in MP3 format at this location:
http://www.metalblade.com/bands/king_diamond/kingd-mansionindarkness.mp3

"Mansion In Darkness" comes off the band's upcoming double live CD, "Deadly Lullabyes Live" (view cover http://www.covenworldwide.org/KingLive.gif), due on September 21 through Metal Blade Records. The album was recorded during the band's last U.S. tour and was mixed at guitarist Andy LaRocque's Los Angered studio outside Gothenburg, Sweden.

Regarding the upcoming live CD, vocalist King Diamond recently stated: "The new double live album simply KICKS ASSSSSSS!!!! Top-notch performance by everyone involved, including our amazing audiences. I don't think I have ever heard the old classic DIAMOND songs performed this well and this close to the originals. I speak for everyone when I say, that we have never had as much fun on stage as we had on this last tour, and it shows when you listen to the album. This is the ultimate KING DIAMOND line-up at work ON STAGE. For my own part, my voice is stronger than ever, and singing old songs like 'Welcome Home' gives me more pleasure today than ever before. It's all there for our fans to hear, a KING DIAMOND show from beginning to end, RAW * IN YOUR FACE * LOUD * MOODY * BRUTAL * HORROR * and AWESOME AUDIENCE SING-ALONGS * it's KING DIAMOND LIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!!!!!!!"

"Deadly Lullabyes Live" track listing:

01. Funeral
02. A Mansion In Darkness
03. The Family Ghost
04. Black Horsemen
05. Spare This Life
06. Mansion In Sorrow
07. Spirits
08. Sorry Dear
09. Eye Of The Witch
10. Sleepless Nights
11. The Puppet Master
12. Blood To Walk
13. So Sad
14. Living Dead "Outro"
15. Welcome Home
16. The Invisible Guests
17. Burn
18. "Introductions"
19. Halloween
20. No Presents For Christmas

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Band profile:

King Diamond

KING DIAMOND guitarist Andy LaRocque will begin mixing the group's upcoming live album at the end of March at his Los Angered studio outside Gothenburg, Sweden. According to a posting on the band's web site, "no details are known at the moment such as album title, if it's going to be 2 CD etc. Andy however that most of the song the band played on the USA tour will be on the album."

In a recent interview with Denmark's Metal Reference, frontman King Diamond discussed the recording process for the live CD.

"We wanted to have released earlier than this, but it seemed quite inappropriate as there was no tour to support 'Abigail 2', and we obviously have to conduct more shows than that if we want to select some of the better parts for a live release," he said. "But we definitely thought at that time that we would be able to release a live album."

Asked if the recordings will also be released on DVD, King said, "Oh, no. It's going to be a double live album, this one, and it was recorded on our last US tour, and we almost recorded all the shows for this purpose. A live DVD will probably surface later, and both my record labels Metal Blade and Massacre are interested in joining forces to release it. will however feature live material from our European tour, and this is likely to happen right after summertime 2004."

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Band profile:

King Diamond

KING DIAMOND recently spoke to Metal Reference about the his upcoming live album, tentatively due next fall through Metal Blade Records.

"The musicians are currently located in Andy 's studio in order to listen to their takes ," he explained. "The real task is to pick the best takes of them all from each and every concert... the guitars, the drums, and I don't need to participate in that. I think that Hal has joined them as well in order to scrutinize his bass work.

"We wanted to have released earlier than this, but it seemed quite inappropriate as there was no tour to support 'Abigail 2', and we obviously have to conduct more shows than that if we want to select some of the better parts for a live release. But we definitely thought at that time that we would be able to release a live album."

Asked if the recordings will also be released on DVD, King said, "Oh, no. It's going to be a double live album, this one, and it was recorded on our last US tour, and we almost recorded all the shows for this purpose. A live DVD will probably surface later, and both my record labels Metal Blade and Massacre are interested in joining forces to release it. This one will however feature live material from our European tour, and this is likely to happen right after summertime 2004".

Regarding the group's original plans to record material from both "Abigail" and "Abigail 2" towards the live album, the singer said, "Yes, that was indeed my intention. We wanted to record 75 - 80 percent of those two records, but these plans were as you suggested abandoned... due to the massive illegal downloading of 'Abigail 2'. Our record label said that we lost about 30 percent of the sales due to illegal downloading. That was a bit tough, and we thus had to renegotiate our contract with the record label. We were in fact ready to go on tour in the U.S. and had almost signed a contract with a local promoter when we learned from our record company that they wouldn't support the tour. This is the first time that we experienced such a thing. The only good thing that came out of this situation is the way that we were forced to record 'The Puppet Master'."

King also commented on his contribution to the upcoming PROBOT CD (in the form of the track "Sweet Dreams"), the project headed up by former NIRVANA drummer/current FOO FIGHTERS frontman Dave Grohl.

"I contributed my vocals to the tracks just before I flew to Denmark," he explained. "When we were about to rehearse for the Sweden Rock Festival. The record label has kept much of it a big secret... which of the tracks that would be released, the cover and the release date. Dave told me to just do it my way, the way I sang, the lyrics and so on. 'Just do it like KING DIAMOND,' he said. I actually never met him, but we corresponded through a representative of his. Dave Grohl is actually depicted as King Diamond on the front page in the newest issue of Kerrang! ... I refused to believe it, but it's true. He's wearing my outfit and make up. This is totally awesome."

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Band profile:

King Diamond

KING DIAMOND "THE PUPPET MASTER" giveaway on official site!

King Diamond's official website is giving away 10 CD's to the first people who can answer the following question:

What is the name of the Puppet Master's wife?
Send your e-mails to: webmaster@covenworldwide.org

Go to http://www.covenworldwide.org/contest.htm for more info.

The Puppet Master out on 10/21/03... who's pulling your strings?

Band profile:

King Diamond