MERCYFUL FATE have booked their first live show in more than three years. The Danish heavy metal institution will perform at Leyendas Del Rock, held August 11–14, 2027 in Villena, Alicante, Spain — their first concert since appearing at Brazil's Summer Breeze festival in April 2024.
The band confirmed the booking on Thursday, August 6 via social media: "España! MERCYFUL FATE will be playing Leyendas Del Rock Festival 2027! We will see you next August… Stay Heavy!"
The current lineup consists of King Diamond on vocals, Hank Shermann and Mike Wead on guitars, Bjarne T. Holm on drums and Becky Baldwin on bass. Baldwin officially joined in January 2024; the Birmingham-based bassist had already toured with MERCYFUL FATE in the autumn of 2022, standing in for Joey Vera, who was unavailable because of a scheduling conflict with his longtime band ARMORED SAINT.
Work on a new studio album continues. The band gave fans a first taste of the material back in June 2022, debuting a track called "The Jackal Of Salzburg" in Germany and playing it again at Psycho Las Vegas. A release date has yet to be announced.
MERCYFUL FATE were formed in Copenhagen in early 1981 by King Diamond and Hank Shermann, joined shortly after by guitarist Michael Denner, bassist Timi Hansen and drummer Kim Ruzz. Two demos in 1981 led to a deal with Dutch label Rave On Records and the self-titled EP released in November 1982 — a record that went into heavy rotation on underground metal radio and announced a genuinely new strain of heavy metal, built on occult theatre, twin-guitar counterpoint and King Diamond's falsetto.
A Roadrunner Records deal followed in 1983 and produced the debut full-length "Melissa" the same year. Its successor, 1984's "Don't Break The Oath", remains one of the most influential albums the genre has produced. The band toured the United States for two months behind it, sharing stages with MOTÖRHEAD and EXCITER, then closed out the year with German dates alongside MOTÖRHEAD, GIRLSCHOOL, HELIX and TALON.
By April 1985 the band had split, and King Diamond launched his own group. MERCYFUL FATE reunited in the summer of 1992, signed with Brian Slagel's Metal Blade Records and released "In The Shadows" in 1993. Five more studio albums followed, including 1999's acclaimed "9", after which the band toured Europe with METALLICA — a run during which King Diamond and Shermann repeatedly joined the headliners onstage for the "Mercyful Fate" medley from "Garage Inc."
Source: blabbermouth.net