Following the release of In Amber – the debut album from his new band, Denner's Inferno – legendary Mercyful Fate and King Diamond guitarist Michael Denner spoke to Bardo Methodology.

Throughout the conversation, the Danish musician recalls a plethora of trivia from his past, history that helped propel Mercyful Fate into cult status. For example, Michael discusses his almost telepathic relationship with fellow guitarist Hank Shermann; he compares their respective styles as well as backgrounds as musicians. Also, he talks about the Mercyful Fate split – how he was asked by both Hank and King to join their new bands, as well as why his choice fell on King Diamond and what conditions were offered. Michael mentions that the songs “No Presents For Christmas” and “Charon” were originally written for the third Mercyful Fate album.

Furthermore, it’s revealed that when King Diamond entered the studio to record “Fatal Portrait”, they discovered that guitarist Floyd Konstantin wasn't good enough. So, at 3 AM in the morning, Michael called a friend of Mikkey Dee's in Gothenburg: Andy LaRocque. Andy flew to Copenhagen a few hours later and then had an in-studio audition for King Diamond. The “Dressed In White” solo as heard on the album is the very one he played as his audition.

Denner also opens up about his childhood, during which he was traumatised by his parent’s obsession with spiritism and the occult. When he first got to know King, who was getting heavily into sinister metaphysics at the time, it was through discussing these experiences they really bonded.

“My parents were hippies and also experimented with various strange medicaments and similar shit, stuff that gave them visions. They started getting interested in the occult and so on, and even tried calling down spirits. When I was still a child, my parents gave me a pendulum – they would then place a photo of someone upside-down on the table, so I couldn't see who it was. 'Hang the pendulum over the photo. If it swings this way it's a man, and the other way means woman.' And every time they made me try, it swung in the right direction. There was clearly something from the outside coming in to take control of the pendulum, and it scared the shit out of me. We had a fireplace with this massive iron door; one evening during these sessions it just slammed shut, like, SHOOF! Also, my mother raised a ghost down by the lake nearby our house. I was scared shitless, the most frightened child in all of Copenhagen. My childhood was horrible, you know, really horrible."

Read the full interview here.

(Photo by: John Mortensson)