Back in the day, King Diamond found himself in a situation where he ended up needing to change his vocal presentation. You see, the iconic vocalist had heart surgery back in 2010, and after this surgery, he ended up having to go through one hell of an unnerving incident.
In a new interview with Metal Injection, King speaks to an incident where, while he was performing, he felt metal rods within him starting to shake – these rods were placed in him during that surgery. King says he felt this sensation during a concert and says that, because of this, he had to change his approach to vocal performance.
“[At a Volbeat show about five months after the surgery] I had discovered that the metal rods had not completely [fused with my rib cage to hold it together] and it started shaking inside my chest. I thought I was dying. I couldn’t really run at that time, but I got out of there as fast as I could because I thought I was dying. Because of the loud sounds and vibrations, [the sounds] would vibrate this metal rod inside. So I expected something like that would happen while I was in San Francisco [with Metallica]. It was exactly one year after the operation. But it was firm. There was nothing happening. I was like ‘cool, I don’t have to fly home right now.’ Then we tried playing.”
“I had to change my technique of singing on the spot because I had a bigger lung capacity than before. I could take really giant breaths. So something changed because of the whole rearranging inside, so that has helped me [along with] stopping cold turkey with smoking cigarettes. My voice came back. It was like, ‘here’s a new one if you want one.’ It feels like it’s better than when I recorded the Abigail and Don’t Break The Oath albums. The way I was singing them back then, I’m singing them stronger than I did back then.”
That incident where he felt the metal rods shaking within him sounds terrifying. But as of more recently in life, it appears that King is in a healthier place (and we are very thankful to hear that).
In other news related to King Diamond… Mercyful Fate is currently touring throughout North America! You can see the band live now, and they are performing alongside Kreator and Midnight. You can find all the upcoming dates and locations associated with that tour below.
- 10/29 Inglewood, CA – Youtube Theater
10/30 Wheatland, CA – Hard Rock Live Sacramento
11/1 Denver, CO – Fillmore Auditorium
11/3 Gary, IN – Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana
11/4 Cincinnati, OH – The Andrew J. Brady Music Center
11/5 Detroit, MI – Masonic
11/8 Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore Silver Spring
11/10 Brooklyn, NY – Kings Theater
11/11 Laval, QC – Place Bell
11/13 Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall At Fenway
11/14 Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore Philadelphia
11/16 Atlanta, GA – Tabernacle