Legendary guitarist Hank Shermann has spent the bulk of his career playing in Mercyful Fate. The axeman stepped in as a live member of Volbeat between 2011 and 2013, getting to tour the U.S. as part of Dave Mustaine's 2012 Gigantour. In an interview, he explained how the Megadeth mainman prevented King Diamond from joining Volbeat onstage to perform a Mercyful Fate classic in Texas.

Volbeat hail from Denmark, like Mercyful Fate, and expressed desire to play "Come to the Sabbath" off Don't Break the Oath with King Diamond, who had since relocated to Texas. This didn't sit well with Mustaine, as Shermann told Vita in Musica that King was in attendance, "But, apparently, Dave Mustaine didn't want King to be onstage and do whatever Satanic lyrics, or whatever that was all about. So, King came to the concert and he was given the… he was told that, 'Hey, King, you're not allowed' from Mustaine for some reason."

"Then we went onstage and when King was down among the spectators... We did the intro where [King Diamond] was singing the intro vocals. That was pretty funny," admitted Shermann. "What that was all about, I really don't have a clue. I don't know if suddenly Mustaine had gotten into God, or, you know, for whatever reason. But that was pretty bizarre, you know, because back in the days, they were very good friends... Megadeth were touring with [King] Diamond back in the '80s. So there's [been] a lot of changes in [Megadeth]. But, you know, they're good guys and I like them, and they have made some really cool records over time."

Shermann has teamed up with his old Mercyful Fate bandmate Michael Denner to form Denner / Shermann. The group released the Satan's Tomb EP last year and will be releasing their debut, Masters of Evil, on June 24 through Metal Blade.

In our interview with the guitarist late last year, we asked the guitarist about the possibility of a Mercyful Fate reunion as they still have one record left on their contract and Shermann stated, "I can only hope that one day it will happen at least for the fans’ sake because we have a strong following and they’re really loyal to the band. We have fans that have been there since the early ’80s, when we started, and still to this day."

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