Mercyful Fate are back! The band has announced the reunion on the incomplete 9 era lineup, declaring that they will be playing an undetermined amount of shows in 2020.

A statement was made on King Diamond's social media pages that Mercyful Fate, who last played a show in October 1999, will be performing in Europe during the summer of next year.

The lineup consists of King Diamond (vocals), Hank Shermann (guitar), Bjarne T. Holm (drums) and Mike Wead (guitar) from the group's last record, 9, in addition to Armored Saint and Fates Warning bassist Joey Vera in place of original member Timi Hansen.

"We asked Joey Vera (Armored Saint, Fates Warning) to fill in because he has a very unique style and sound playing with his fingers, much like that of Timi Hansen," the statement reads.

A new record is expected from King Diamond, but Mercyful Fate have revealed that they too have new material in the works. "This is very important, since the set list will only consist of songs from the very first 'mini LP,' the Melissa album, and the Don’t Break The Oath album, plus some brand new songs written specifically in that very same style," the band said.

"This will very much be Mercyful Fate as we were in the very beginning, except for a brand new major stage production," the statement concludes.

Regarding new music, King Diamond recently told Full Metal Jackie that he plans on releasing two albums unified by the same concept. We're speculating here, but maybe the King intends on splitting the two albums between the King Diamond band and Mercyful Fate?

"The storyline is, well, it's in a way where I can't even put it into just one album. So, it has to be over two albums," the singer explained in the interview. "And it's really planned out to work in a very special way with the show as well. So the show is being built right now in Denmark and built around that story so it really can go hand in hand."

It is worth noting that Mercyful Fate have one record left on their contract with Metal Blade. This has fueled speculation of a reunion album for years.