King Diamond Takes the Stage in Guitar Hero: Metallica

Activision has revealed that King Diamond, the front man of Mercyful Fate and one of the people who often join Metallica for stage performances, would be featured in his full metal glory in the upcoming Guitar Hero: Metallica videogame. He will be featured performing the track “Evil,” which is part of the “Mercyful Fate” medley that Metallica has created. The song was initially recorded in 1983, and four of the five original members of the band were involved in the re-recording.

King Diamond stated that “It's been absolutely amazing to be a part of this Guitar Hero experience. It was quite a trip to re-record the song ‘Evil’ almost 25 years after the original recording took place. The end result with four out of the five original musicians turned out so much better than I would ever have hoped for. Seeing my animated character take form was totally eerie in a very good way. It's so strange to see yourself animated in such perfect detail - cross bone microphone, Eye necklace and all. This game looks and sounds METAL all the way. HORNS UP!!!”

Apart from King Diamond, Guitar Hero: Metallica is set to feature other artists like Alice In Chains, Bob Seger, Foo Fighters, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Queen. The songs from all the bands above are said to have influenced the music of the biggest metal band in the world, and Activision Blizzard is aiming to get the original members of the bands to perform their songs as they will be featured in the game, whenever possible.

Guitar Hero: Metallica should arrive in the second half of 2009 and is developed by Neversoft for the Xbox 360 from Microsoft and for the PlayStation 3 from Sony. Versions for the Nintendo Wii and the PlayStation 2 are also being created, but expect some of the features to be cut for those gaming platforms. The title is set to face some tough competition from the Beatles videogame that Harmonix and MTV Games are creating, which will not bear the familiar Rock Band brand.