Heavy Metal Frontman King Diamond To Join Cast Of Guitar Hero Metallica

February 23, 2009

HEAVY METAL FRONTMAN KING DIAMOND
TO JOIN THE DIGITAL CAST OF GUITAR HERO METALLICA

Having united forces with rock ‘n’
roll legends Metallica for encore performances and recordings throughout the
years, GRAMMY® Award-nominated heavy metal vocalist and Mercyful Fate frontman
King Diamond will take to the cyber-stage with Metallica this spring in
Activision Publishing Inc.’s Guitar Hero® Metallica®.

Fans, stagehands and groupies alike
will have the opportunity to shred and drum with or wail as the digital King
Diamond during performances of “Evil.” The song, which originally was recorded
in 1983 and is one of the Mercyful Fate songs that comprise Metallica’s
“Mercyful Fate” medley, was re-recorded by four of the five original band
members for Guitar Hero Metallica. The recording session was overseen by
guitarist Hank Shermann in the band’s native Denmark; after which King Diamond
laid down his vocals in Dallas, Texas, and mixed the song with J.T. Longoria.

“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,” said King Diamond. “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!!!”

“Ride the Lightning” with musical
icons Metallica and 21 other rockin’ acts in an all new Guitar Hero® experience
– Guitar Hero Metallica. Enter the world of Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Kirk
Hammett and Robert Trujillo and experience the intensity and skill of one of the
greatest bands of all time. Shred on the guitar controller, rip on the drum kit
controller and wail on the mic to a set list featuring over 45 explosive hits
from Metallica’s illustrious career and a wide variety of other legendary
artists personally selected by the band, such as Alice In Chains, Bob Seger, Foo
Fighters, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Queen. Fans will be able to rock as Metallica while
performing in venues reminiscent of the band’s epic album covers, themes from
their music and real world locales.

Guitar Hero Metallica is being
developed by Neversoft Entertainment for the Xbox 360® video game and
entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment
system. The Wii™ home video game system from Nintendo and the PlayStation®2
computer entertainment system versions are being developed by Budcat. The game
is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB.