In a recent interview with Peter Kerr of “Rock Daydream Nation,” King Diamond guitarist Andy La Rocque discussed the progress of the band’s upcoming horror trilogy, whose first installment is titled Saint Lucifer’s Hospital 1920.
When asked if fans might see the album released in the near future, Andy said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “That’s a question [that should be put] to [King Diamond‘s namesake frontman] King [Diamond]. As you probably heard, we’ve been working on that for ages. But my part of it is that back in 2022, I had a bunch of songs, pre-production with the right recording guitars, some keyboards from [early King Diamond collaborator] Roberto Falcao, actually. I asked him to do a few things on my songs. So I had, like, eight songs that I sent off to all the members in the band — pretty much ready to start recording, with vocals and the real proper drums and bass from Pontus [Egberg, King Diamond bassist] and stuff, even though I played some bass on it, and [I used a] drum machine [for the demos] and all that stuff, just like a guideline. And we talked about it, and King wanted to use, like, three of those songs. And so I guess now he’s finishing up his part of it, which is gonna be, like, five or six songs on the album. So that’s what we’re waiting for.”
Earlier in March, during an appearance on the “Pod Scum” podcast hosted by “Reckless” Rexx Ruger, Andy La Rocque expressed his hopes that the first installment of their upcoming horror trilogy will finally see a release before the end of the year.
Addressing the current production timeline, the guitarist confirmed that the instrumental foundation is largely in place. He noted that he submitted several tracks to frontman King Diamond years ago, and the band has already debuted one of the selected songs in a live setting.
“I really hope so. That’s our goal. We have most of the songs,” Andy La Rocque stated at the time regarding a 2026 release. “I sent [King Diamond], I think, eight songs, like, four years ago, and we decided to use three of those. And we actually played one live from those songs. And as soon as he’s done with this stuff — he’s gotta write five songs, I believe, and he’s got a lot of the stuff already written down, with the lyrics and everything. As soon as that’s recorded and arranged from his side, we can put the right guitars on, the right drums, bass and everything. So I really hope it won’t take very long before we can continue working on that. And if that’s the case, we can start recording soon, and during the summer, [and] then we have a chance for it to be released at the very end of the year.”
The conversation also touched upon his creative approach to the new material. He explained that his playing style adapts depending on who authored the specific track, ensuring that the instrumental arrangements do not interfere with the complex vocal layers.
“Nowadays King has usually a request for me to play the song the way he would like it to be played. So I probably play my songs a little bit different than his songs, because I know, that, for example, he [doesn’t] like when I play the rhythms with like a vibrato kind of thing at the end of a riff or whatever, because that might be interacting with his vocals that comes on later. But on my songs, I just do what I feel is right to do. I mean, if it’s good for the song, it’s probably good. And if it doesn’t fit, when he puts the vocal on, I change it,” he said.
Ultimately, the guitarist emphasized that the new music stays strictly true to the classic King Diamond sound, remaining firmly rooted in traditional 1980s heavy metal without relying on modern studio trends like down-tuning.
“But first of all, I just write what comes out of the heart. I don’t really care what other people think about the style or whatever. I just write my stuff, and it’s kind of based in the ’80s. I mean, standard tuning — we don’t tune down with King Diamond, so it’s standard tuning, pretty straightforward. And, melodies [are] super essential. I think it’s so important to have melodies in the songs, and create space for melodies, too, for the vocals. That’s really important,” he concluded.
Last year in June, during an interview with Heavy Demons radio show, La Rocque confirmed that recording for the new material began prior to King Diamond’s last U.S. tour and remains an ongoing endeavor.
“We started to record things before the last U.S. tour. And we still have a lot of things to record, so we’re working on that too, and we’re gonna continue with that as soon as the European tour is over. So, we’ve been really busy with everything,” he explained at the time.
La Rocque detailed his initial contributions: “I pretty much come up with a complete demo with a programmed drum track and some keyboards on and some rhythm guitars. I try to make my demos as complete as possible — sometimes even with some solos that we can use on the album — and the right guitar and keyboard sounds too.”
In December 2024, King Diamond issued the studio version of “Spider Lilly,” marking a first-time mixing collaboration with Arthur Rizk, who also handled mastering. The song’s music and lyrics were written by King Diamond.
The official video for “Spider Lilly” was directed by My Good Eye Visuals, with portions filmed at the reportedly haunted Pennhurst Asylum near Philadelphia during a day off on the band’s 2024 North American tour, just two days before Halloween. Only King himself and actress Jodi Cachia were available to appear that day, alongside producer David Brodsky, Allie Woest, and their team.
King Diamond debuted “Spider Lilly” live at the opening show of their 2024 North American headlining run.
