Most people who have heard of this band will recognise them for tracks off their first album like "It's Electric", "Helpless" and "Am I Evil?", basically the ones that Metallica covered. They had a rocky career after an amazing first album and even though subsequent releases had some fantastic tracks ("Trick Or Treat" is my personal favourite), they sort of faded away as the bands they inspired became more and more popular...until about six months ago when they dropped this self titled album out of the blue with an almost entirely new line-up (Brian Tatler on guitars being the only original member).
The change in musicians also carries a small change in musical style, as the album is a lot heavier than previous efforts. If you compare Diamond Head's early material to Led Zeppelin (particularly vocals and drums), this album is easily more Black Sabbath (guitar and bass). However, one thing needs to be made clear. Despite the music gaining a bit of weight with old age, this is still fundamentally a Diamond Head album. From start to finish, the band deliver top quality Metal built around epic riffs and powerful vocals, both demonstrated excellently in album opener "Bones".
If you need convincing that Diamond Head still have the fire, this is a perfect track to start on. It's still got the raw power that you first heard in their debut album but it's not just a shallow rerecording of their signature songs. The biggest connection to "classic" Diamond Head has to be the vocal work of Rasmus Bom Anderson, whose pipes are as close to original vocalist Sean Harris' as you could hope for. In fact, I had to double check to make sure Sean hadn't returned after listening to a couple of tracks.
His voice is perfectly suited for each track but particularly stands out during the faster Speed Metal ones that require higher pitched wails ("Shout At The Devil", "Speed"). It might be slightly rougher than Sean Harris' youthful vocals but this adds to the aged maturity of the album, which you would expect from a band with almost 40 years on the clock. Whilst the vocals may have aged gracefully, the rest of the band still play as if they're in their salad days.
As I mentioned earlier, the guitar and bass combo reminds me of both Ozzy and Dio era Black Sabbath with just a hint of Motorhead ("Set My Soul On Fire", "Wizard Sleeve", "Our Time Is Now"). The tracks are built around a strong guitar melody and whilst the songs may lack the same instantly recognisable hooks as the Metal hits from the early 70s that clearly inspire this band, it doesn't affect the album's quality too much. This is one of those great albums that can be enjoyed when sampling individual songs or cannonballing the entire thing, making it arguably one of the most versatile Metal albums I've reviewed recently.
If I had to pick out some flaws, it'd probably be with the slower tracks that try to be epic with the use of string accompaniments ("All The Reasons You Live", "Silence"). They're not bad songs by any stretch but I would call them the weakest ones on the album, if only because 70s Rock/Metal is best when it's not trying to be too grand. However, even though their faster tracks are more noteworthy, this band deserves points for at least trying something new without dedicating too much space on the album towards it.
If Diamond Head continue releasing albums then maybe grander, more progressive material would be better received later down the line. For now, this is meant to be their comeback and nothing kicks down the door and proudly announces "Guess who's back, motherfuckers?" than some good old fashioned Metal. Consequently, the album could've done with at least one shorter, more focused track under the three minute mark. Perhaps the closest this album came was "Diamonds", second shortest song on the album but one that packs a similar feeling punch to "Die Young" - Black Sabbath.
Diamond Head (album) was a real treat for me. It signified the return of a great band and even though their Lightning To The Nations days may be behind them, I'm excited to see what the future may hold for these guys. They've been given another chance; hopefully they won't fuck this one up as bad as they did the first time. They used to be kings of the NWOBHM subgenre and now it's looking like they're gunning for the NWOTHM throne too. For this reason, I recommend this album to fans of classic Heavy Metal over those who prefer the modern kind.
Oh yeah, I rate it 8/10. Diamond indeed!
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