Diamond Head – Diamond Head


Diamond Head – Diamond Head album cover ghostcultmag

Returning to the studio after an absence of nine years, West Midlands NWOBHM act Diamond Head go down the self-titled route with their comeback album Diamond Head (Dissonance).

Guitarist Brian Tatler may be the band’s only original member, but new singer Rasmus Bom Andersen sounds like he’s been in place for years. The band have returned to their classic sound, and his voice suits them perfectly. In fact, if it wasn’t for the album’s crisp production, you could be fooled into thinking this latest offering had been lost in the vaults for years.

There’s nothing here which is going to change the world, or suddenly turn the band into megastars, but if you want to hear what the follow-up to 1982’s Borrowed Time (MCA) could have sounded like without all the Prog waffle and experimental nonsense of Canterbury (MCA) then this really is the album for you.

Tatler’s playing is superb, and the riffs fly at you from all directions. It doesn’t even matter that some of them sound a little familiar. The solos are sweet and precise, the choruses are memorable, and the whole thing is just enjoyable. Something a Diamond Head album hasn’t really been for years.

‘Shout At Devil’ and ‘Speed’ rock seriously hard, ‘Diamonds’ is a great closer, ‘All the Reasons You Live’ is nice and dark, and the amusingly dirty ‘Wizard Sleeve’ with it’s “can I come inside your wizard sleeve” chorus is a song which really does sound like it could have been recorded in the early ’80s.

A fine, and long overdue return to form by a band who don’t sound like they’re desperately attempting to recapture former glories, but who are just doing what comes naturally.

And I didn’t even mention Am I Evil or Metallica once.

Oh…

7.0/10

GARY ALCOCK

[amazon asin=B01CZT1BTC&template=iframe image1]