Heavy metal icons Mercyful Fate and bassist Joey Vera (Armored Saint) have mutually decided to part ways. King Diamond has issued the following brief statement:

“Our friendship and respect for each other will always remain the same, and we all sincerely wish each other the absolute best for the future.”

King Diamond guitarist Andy LaRocque is featured in a new career-spanning interview with Friday 13th Metal, which can be viewed below. During the chat, LaRocque revealed there is new King Diamond album in the works.

LaRocque: "We have songs. I sent (him) a bunch of songs a long time ago, actually. We started working on that, with arrangements and such, and then the Mercyful Fate  tour came in between, and they've been busy with that. But I talked to King just like a week ago, and he said that he was gonna be starting yesterday or something like that. So, we have songs; they just need to be a little bit arranged. And, of course, King has a lot of riffs and ideas in his head, so he needs to get that down to the computer and do some riffing and stuff. We started it, but it's a long process to have it good and to have it the way we want it."

Armored Saint will return to Europe in the summer for a full run of club shows and handpicked festivals! Dates below, more to be confirmed.

July
27 - Brande-Hörnerkirchen, Germany - Headbangers Open Air
28 - Rottenburg-Seebronn, Germany - Rock of Ages Festival
30 - Berlin, Germany - Hole 44
31 - Goleniów, Poland - Rampa Kultura

August
1 - Wacken, Germany - Wacken Open Air
4 - Rasnov, Romania - Rockstadt Extreme Fest
7 - Josefov, Czech Republic - Brutal Assault Festival
9 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg
10 - Essen, Germany - Turock
11 - Kortrijk, Belgium - Alcatraz Festival
13 - Nottingham, UK - Rescue Rooms
14 - Manchester, UK - Rebellion
16 - Wolverhampton, UK - KK's Steelmill
17 - London, UK - The Dome
18 - Milton Keynes, UK - Craufurd Arms