In a video message, King Diamond himself has announced a series of re-issues.
Five albums in total will be seeing a repressing, and a return to their original mastering. Or as close to it as possible. It would seem, that King Diamond was displeased with the re-mastered versions of his works – calling them over compressed.
The first recordings to see daylight again, will be “Abigail” and “Fatal Portrait” – two of, if not, the best pieces in the King Diamond catalog. Those will see the light of day on April 24th. While “Conspiracy”, “Them” and “The Eye”, as well as “In Concert 1987” will be available on May 15th.
Although Metal Blade also acquired the Mercyful Fate catalog, news on their re-releases has yet to be announced.
“Metal Blade has acquired from Warner all the old catalogs from both King Diamond and Mercyful Fate” stated King Diamond. “All those old albums will be reissued, but not like what you would think.”
“Because we’re trying to go back to the absolute original stuff when it came out the first time. I personally think it sounds much, much better than the gold remasters. Those were squashed with compression and limiters. But the originals sound really good still today. They’re going to maintain the original dynamics, the clarity and all that stuff, that came out the first time they were released.”
“I was pushing for it coming out with that old sound. I want those to be the ones, if you want to go buy old Mercyful Fate and old King Diamond, I want you to get the best you can possibly get. For my own sake as well. We want to be proud of what we’ve done. So look out for all that stuff. There’s some gems coming up.”
See also : Dio’s 1996-2004 catalog gets a re-release
These rehashed classics will serve as a bridge while we wait for King Diamond’s first new record in over a decade. Last year, King Diamond reveled a single from the new album, “The Institute”. And while it appears to be taking longer than expected to see the light of day, it is tentatively scheduled for release later this year. Lets hope.
