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Andy LaRocque has broken his silence on his shock exit from King Diamond, telling fans the split after more than 40 years was mutual, friendly and respectful — while the man stepping into his shoes, Gus G., has responded to stunned fans with a video message revealing that LaRocque personally reached out to wish him well. The Greek guitar hero also confirmed he’s already working with King Diamond on new music, including the long-awaited “Saint Lucifer’s Hospital 1920” album.

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Scott Penfold breaks down the biggest lineup shakeup in metal this year on today’s Metal Breakdown Daily — what Andy LaRocque’s exit really means for King Diamond, why the Gus G. era might arrive faster than you think, and where Lex Legion fits into all of it. Download the free Loaded Radio App on Apple iOS and Google Play and take the show with you.

Andy Speaks: No Drama, Just A New Chapter

When the news dropped Friday that Andy LaRocque and King Diamond were done after four decades, the metal world braced for the messy part. It never came.

On Sunday, the 63-year-old Swedish guitarist — the only musician besides King himself to play on every King Diamond studio album — posted a message to fans confirming what the band’s statement had already suggested. Leaving what he described as a family after 40-plus years of music, friendship and memories wasn’t easy, he said, but the two sides “mutually decided to part ways in a respectful and friendly manner,” with both camps wishing each other the best.

And Andy’s next move is already in motion. His full focus now is Lex Legion — the band that reunites four-fifths of King Diamond’s classic late-’80s lineup, with LaRocque joined by drummer Mikkey Dee, guitarist Pete Blakk and bassist Hal Patino, plus Pagan’s Mind vocalist Nils K. Rue out front. Their self-titled debut is out now through MNRK Music Group, and Andy has been adamant in interviews that Lex Legion material is its own beast — not recycled King Diamond songs from his vault.

Think about what’s actually ending here. Andy co-founded King Diamond with the King out of the ashes of Mercyful Fate in 1985. Abigail. Them. Conspiracy. That melodic, neo-classical lead voice woven through every horror story King ever told on record — that’s LaRocque. Forty years, twelve albums, zero bad blood on the way out. In this business, that’s practically a miracle.

We Also Recommend – King Diamond’s Wildest Stories You Probably Don’t Know

Gus G. Answers The Shock — And Drops A Detail Nobody Expected

Meanwhile, the new guy gets it. In a video message posted Sunday, Gus G. — the Firewind founder and former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist announced Friday as King Diamond’s new full-time guitarist, writer and touring member — addressed the elephant in the room head-on. He acknowledged fans are shocked, called LaRocque a legend whose shoes will be an honor to step into, and thanked King for choosing him, saying “it’s a big, big honor for me.”

Then came the detail that tells you everything about how friendly this split really is: Gus revealed that Andy — who he calls a buddy — sent him a personal message wishing him well in the gig. The outgoing legend texting his own replacement to say good luck. You don’t get that in the messy breakups.

Gus also made it clear he’s not walking in as a hired gun. He says he’ll bring his own vibe while honoring the catalog on stage — and that he’s even more excited about writing new music with King and finally getting the long-gestating album moving. That would be “Saint Lucifer’s Hospital 1920,” the first chapter of King’s planned horror trilogy, which has been in the works with ten tracks on the board for a while now — and which King has been promising in various forms since before the pandemic derailed everything.

His resume backs the confidence. Born Konstantinos Karamitroudis in Thessaloniki, Greece, Gus has fronted Firewind for over two decades and ten albums, spent 2009 to 2017 as Ozzy’s lead guitarist — playing on the Grammy-nominated “Scream” — and guested with everyone from Bruce Dickinson to Arch Enemy. The man can flat-out play.

Check Out – King Diamond Guitarist Gives Timeline Update on “Saint Lucifer’s Hospital 1920” Album—And You’re Probably Not Gonna Like It

What Happens Now

So here’s the scoreboard: Andy rides off with Lex Legion and his Sonic Train Studios empire, King Diamond gets a world-class shredder with fresh fuel in the tank, and the album fans have waited years for suddenly has real momentum again. Everybody’s working, nobody’s feuding, and the King remains the most delightfully unbothered man in metal.

The Gus G. era of King Diamond starts now. Strange days. Good ones, though.

Also Check Out – Lex Legion Debut “Sleep Eternally” — King Diamond Icons Finally Reveal Their Sound

TL;DR

• Andy LaRocque confirmed Sunday that his exit from King Diamond after more than 40 years was mutual, friendly and respectful, with both sides wishing each other well.
• LaRocque’s focus is now Lex Legion, featuring fellow King Diamond alumni Mikkey Dee, Pete Blakk and Hal Patino with Pagan’s Mind singer Nils K. Rue — their self-titled debut is out now via MNRK.
• Gus G. (Firewind, ex-Ozzy Osbourne) responded to fan shock in a video message, revealing LaRocque personally messaged him to wish him well.
• Gus joins King Diamond as a full member who will write, record and tour — and says he’s excited to finally get the “Saint Lucifer’s Hospital 1920” album moving.
• LaRocque co-founded King Diamond in 1985 and is the only musician besides King to appear on all twelve of the band’s studio albums.

FAQ

Metalheads, be honest — can anyone truly fill Andy LaRocque’s shoes in King Diamond, or is Gus G. exactly the right call? Drop your take in the comments, and follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.

The post Andy LaRocque Breaks His Silence On Leaving King Diamond After 40 Years — And The Private Message He Sent To The Man Replacing Him Says It All. appeared first on Loaded Radio.

Last Friday, our great deconstructionist pop star Charli XCX released her new album Music, Fashion, Film. The record gets its title from a line in Charli’s song “SS26“: “Nothing’s gonna save us/ Not music, fashion, or film.” But even if those things won’t save us, Charli continues to participate in all three arenas. Since the LP release, Charli has already shared more music and a film. No fashion, though, unless the mere act of being Charli XCX and wearing clothes counts as “sharing fashion.”

The post Charli XCX Shares More Music, Film appeared first on Stereogum.

Our latest Track Of The Week contest was a truly international affair, with Northern Irish rocker Ricky Warwick leading the charge, aided by the great English guitarist Phil Collen. Second place went to Greek stoners Villagers Of Ioannina City, while zesty New Zealanders Powder Chutes romped into third place. Congratulations to them all. Or Συγχαρητήρια, as they say in Athens.

Our latest competition is now underway, featuring heavyweight contenders of all sorts. We hope you enjoy their respective excellence.

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats – Shapes Of Midnight

Back in our lives with a deliciously fuzz-heavy, boot-stomping boogie, the UK’s original 21st-century psychedelic/proto-metal revivalists are reminding us exactly why we fell in love with them in the first place. Part of a new, Abbey Road-tracked record (of the same name) that draws from Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque Of The Red Death, and “the too-real nightmares of our modern age”, Shapes Of Midnight finds them mining the past in their own inimitably dark and delightful way. “Our albums exist in an alternate universe to our own,” band mastermind Kevin Starrs says. “They’re all stories that could happen here, but everything’s just a bit ‘off’.”

Ghost Hounds – Something Wicked

Picking up high-profile support slots, TV appearances and media hat-tips all over the US, Ghost Hounds have brought their slick, soulful brand of rootsy rock’n’roll to an increasingly wide audience. Now on Something Wicked they bring a touch of heartland-y outlaw heft and mystique to the table, singer SAVNT’s stand-out pipes (think Sam Cooke in a country club) front and centre, as they should be. Like what you hear? Check out more on their new album, Justified, which comes out in August.

Black Spiders – Cool Reaper

You know who’s misunderstood? The Grim Reaper. Or at least that’s the message (‘message’ is maybe a stretch, but you get the idea) of this rambunctious, shaggy-haired banger from Pete Spiby and his merry band of brothers in rock arms. Now given the single treatment with a video that taps into snippets from Black Spiders’ budget-friendly but no less fun or triumphant career, Cool Reaper is well worth cranking up. There will be denim. There will be riffs as thick and juicy as T-bone steaks. There will be puppets. Hell yeah.

King Kraken – I Am The Apocalypse

“Rolling with stomping, slow pounding grooves laden with soaring lead guitar work,” the Welsh hard rockers say, of this new marriage of heavy fire and brimstone, “all of which compliments the guttural vocals and thunderous bass making this song unmistakably King Kraken.” Not sure we’re totally sold on that key-change in the final section, but otherwise this is a most satisfying slab of low-slung beefcake riffage, choice guitar flashiness and heavy, ribcage-rattling beats – like Clutch shaping up for WWE, in hell, or something.

Arthur Brown – Bursting The Bubble

There’s something freeing about the God of Hellfire’s latest release, as he both embraces his advanced years and defies them with a sizable, psychedelic spring in his step. All balloons, spacey synth bounce and 70s hippie freakout vibes, Bursting The Bubble is a beguiling swirl of existential fears, glitchy lo-fi textures and jubilant classic rock’n’roll. Lovely soaring, short n’ sweet guitar solo, too. More to be found where that came from on his new album, Nature.

Halestorm – Perry Mason

With a year gone since Ozzy Osbourne tragically left this mortal coil, the internet has been awash with memories, many of them from his epic last concert. Yungblud’s Changes was dubbed the surprise hit at the time, but for our money it was the sight of Halestorm smashing this gnarly, less widely celebrated but still ace Osmosis-era Ozzy number that really cracked a smile as we watched. So we were delighted to see it getting the spotlight it deserves – a fiery gem from a heavy metal event like no other.

The Zac Schulze Gang – Hellhounds On My Trail

In an age when rock bands have largely forgotten how to swing, along comes Hellhounds On My Trail by Gillingham rockers the Zac Schulze Gang, and it swings hard, pounding and pummeling and puffing its chest out and having a mighty fine time as it does. It’s a cover of a cover song by late blues guitarist Tony Dowler, which in turn was inspired by Robert Johnson’s Hellhound on My Trail. “We’d never rehearsed it before, but from the first time we played it, we knew it had to stay in the set,” says Schulze. “Every time we perform it, it evolves. We improvise and discover something new.”

Hoa – The Great Hazby

“Jang-in-jeong-sin” is a Korean word that describes obsessive devotion to achieving the absolute best outcome in one’s work, and it seems to us that The Great Hazby by Seoul quartet Hoa might be an example of that. It’s a beguilingly crafted song that sounds like it might have been written by the Beatles in their mid-Sixties pomp, with touches of The Kinks thrown in for good measure. Bassist Lim Jin-hwa plays a Paul McCartney-style violin bass while singing in a convincing English accent, and we might be suspicious of the entire project were it not so beautifully executed. Lovely stuff.

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William Matheny’s new album, Material Witness, was released earlier this month. It’s great songwriting with real rock and roll grit. The title track gets the live-in-studio treatment for this week’s video — just Matheny and his band, no overdubs to hide behind. Matheny played NYC last night, a show I appropriated as my birthday party. […]

For a minute there, it wasn’t entirely clear that alterna-metal titans Faith No More would ever perform together again. Faith No More broke up for the first time in 1998, reunited in 2009. They kept touring together for the next six years, and they released the 2015 reunion album Sol Invictus. But classic-era frontman Mike Patton hasn’t performed with the band since 2015. As of right now, the most recent Faith No More shows are a pair of reunions with original singer Chuck Mosely, who passed away soon afterwards.

The post Faith No More Announce First Shows In 11 Years appeared first on Stereogum.

Alternative metal acts, System Of A Down and Faith No More, will be touring Australia and New Zealand in early 2027. Flyer with confirmed dates and venues is at your disposal below.
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Stoner metal operatives 10,000 Years have premiered “Paranoidium”, the newest preview tune off their soon-to-be-released studio record Esox Lucifer.
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It’s that time of year again where we talk to as many bands as we can who are raring to blow you away at Catton Park! Swansea electronic alternative rock outfit Inscape will be bringing their high-energy blend of synths, pop-rock hooks, and crushing breakdowns to the Stowford Press New Blood Stage on Saturday at … Continue reading Road To Bloodstock 2026: Inscape

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