THE BEAST

Influential Danish metallers   MERCYFUL FATE   played their first concert in 23 years Thursday night (June 2) at the Expo Plaza in Hannover, Germany as the support act for   VOLBEAT . The band's seven-song set included a brand new track,   "The Jackal Of Salzburg" , which is expected to appear on   MERCYFUL FATE 's upcoming studio album, tentatively due in 2023 via   Metal Blade .

In introducing   "The Jackal Of Salzburg" , frontman   King Diamond   told the crowd: "We have a brand new song we'd like to test on you. It's not quite finished. We are lacking a verse and a little more. It's not recorded yet. But let's see if you like this. This is called   'The Jackal Of Salzburg' ."

Joining   King   in   MERCYFUL FATE 's current lineup are   Hank Shermann   on guitar,   Bjarne T. Holm   on drums,   Mike Wead   on guitar and   Joey Vera   on bass.

The setlist was as follows:

01.   The Oath
02.   The Jackal Of Salzburg   (new song; live debut)
03.   A Corpse Without Soul
04.   Curse Of The Pharaohs
05.   Evil
06.   A Dangerous Meeting

Encore:

07.   Satan's Fall

In 2019, it was announced that   Vera   would be replacing original   MERCYFUL FATE   bassist   Timi Hansen   for the band's summer 2020 European festival appearances due to   Hansen 's cancer diagnosis.   Hansen   passed away in November 2019 and   MERCYFUL FATE 's 2020 summer festival appearances were initially rescheduled for 2021 before being moved back to 2022.

In a   Twitch   livestream from a few days ago from the   MERCYFUL FATE   rehearsals, which took place in Glostrup, Denmark,   King   revealed that he and his bandmates were planning to debut a brand new song at the 2022 shows. "We're trying," he said at the time. "We're still working on a song. I wrote the final lyrics the day of our departure [for rehearsals], I would say, and that's a couple of days ago. So the others have not heard me sing the song at all. We played a few riffs from it yesterday. I didn't sing to it at that time. But it's coming [along] here. The next couple of days we're gonna see where it leads us."

Regarding the musical and lyrical content of the new   MERCYFUL FATE   song,   King   said: "It's quite a monster, I would say. It's almost nine minutes long. So it's not just a quick little [tune]. We hope we can play it. We're gonna do everything in our power to play it. It's not recorded yet. So whatever version we might play for you could change before it actually is fully recorded. Some drums have been recorded — that's what I can say. But we will do our damnedest to play it. We put it early in the set even. But that's something to look forward to, definitely. And now we've gotta make it sound correct, 'cause the early demo versions have lots of stuff on that create a certain mood in the whole thing, which we can't do [when we perform it]. The live version will be different. I can't do the backing vocals, naturally, that is intended for the song. But that's also a challenge, to do a version that works live, of course, [with the] vocal lines. It's gonna be fun. It's gonna be heavy. The subject is   very   heavy too. We are back in 1675 till 1690. That's a piece of history that we are describing — a nasty piece of history," he added, possibly referring to the Salzburg Witch Trials.

Back in October 2020,   Vera   told   Dead Rhetoric   about how he landed the   MERCYFUL FATE   gig: "I've been friends with   King   for some time.   ARMORED SAINT   did a tour with   King   back in 1988-89; we have been friends and labelmates forever. And so, he came to see me when I was on tour with   FATES WARNING   supporting   QUEENSRŸCHE   in Dallas where he lives. He came to see the show. [ Metal Blade Records   owner]   Brian Slagel   was in town.   King   pulled me aside backstage and told me the story of   Timi   going through chemotherapy and had a summer tour booked and wasn't sure he was going to be well enough to do it. If he wasn't, would I consider stepping in and helping out. Of course, I was flabbergasted and honored, yeah. I didn't have anything else going on — it was supposed to happen this summer. To honor   Timi   and help them out, thank you for asking me. In the back of my mind, I was thinking   Timi   would pull through, he would get enough energy to make it. I was sadly mistaken and it was devastating."

Two years ago,   Shermann   confirmed that he was working on the first new music from   MERCYFUL FATE   in more than two decades. At the time, he said about the writing process: "First of all,   King   is living in Texas, in the States. I'm living here north of Copenhagen, in Denmark. The drummer [ Bjarne T. Holm ] is also here, so I work with him in the rehearsal room shaping the new songs. The other guitar player [ Mike Wead ] is in Stockholm, Sweden, and our new bass player [ Joey Vera ] is in Los Angeles. So everything is [being done via]   Dropbox   or e-mails."

He continued: "I think there's about six or seven [tracks that are] about to be ready. The first song has been sent to   King   after it's been mixed and all the guys played on the song. So I sent the files to   Joey   in Los Angeles; he did the bass. And then I sent the same files to   Mike   in Stockholm; he did his solos. And now   King   has the first song, evaluating for the vocals to be added. And then we will rearrange certain parts to be twice as long and stuff like that."

MERCYFUL FATE 's last studio album,   "9" , was released in 1999.

MERCYFUL FATE   will be remembered for its unquestionable mark on the history of metal with its innovative sound, complex arrangements, memorable melody, and its influence on bands that later took the genre to new heights.

In 1998,   METALLICA   paid tribute to   MERCYFUL FATE   by recording a medley of classic   MERCYFUL FATE   songs on the album   "Garage Inc."   Titled   "Mercyful Fate" , the medley included parts from   "Satan's Fall" ,   "Curse of the Pharaohs" ,   "A Corpse Without Soul" ,   "Into the Coven"   and   "Evil" .

Lars Ulrich   of   METALLICA   (a fellow Dane) played drums on a new version of   MERCYFUL FATE 's   "Return of the Vampire"   on the   "In the Shadows"   album, which came out in 1993.

Via Blabbermouth