The Band’s BEST Work – 90%
Luvers, March 28th, 2023
Written based on this version: 2019, CD, Silver Lining Music (Digipak)
There will always be reasons why a band fails to capture commercial appeal, and for some bands it comes down to one unfortunate, yet painfully ironic, reason. Whereas most bands fail for multiple factors, those unluckiest of all bands are doomed to lesser tiers simply by being too varied. For every eclectic Judas Priest who soar to unprecedented success right in the face of the career crippling desire for variety, there are those bands who are just as capable in being diverse but fail to find that special niche to catapult them to the professional heavens. Diamond Head are one of those bands.
Now to be sure, the lasting legacy of Diamond Head is never within question. Exactly how much influence they had might be debatable but their acclaim from fellow artists is beyond reproach. So was it just the diversity that derailed Diamond Head or was it something else? Perhaps it was the pedestrian followup to their magnum opus with Borrowed Time, the lack of any real hooks on metal return Death And Progress, or their complete venturing away from metal with What’s in Your Head?. No matter the cause, Diamond Head appeared to be a true one album wonder, with no way back to relevance, especially as vocalist Sean Harris departed following Death and Progress, and his replacement Nick Tart was a tremendous step down. The two albums with him – All Will Be Revealed and the aforementioned What’s in Your Head? – were not the greatest in songwriting excellence so it did him no favors. So Diamond Head split up for the third time and were destined to remain irrelevant, and then…
Enter Rasmus Bom Andersen. A man who was still a handful of years away from being born when Diamond Head was helping lay the groundwork for the thrash metal boom that would occur in their wake. So it might seem strange to single him out when the rest of the core band formed while he was just a young child, but there are few instances when someone can come in and rejuvenate an older band like here.
In 2016 the band reformed for a second time and unleashed their self-titled seventh album and while that record too has its flaws, it was a gripping and welcome return to the kind of metal the band had been known for. So with a certain amount of consistency in the lineup and direction the band wanted to take, they followed it up with what is, undeniably, the strongest album to bear the name Diamond Head.
The bands eighth album begins with a four track punch that signals not only what the band is currently striving for but is a collection of all their prior ideas. The speedy anthem Belly Of the Beast clocks in under four and a half minutes but manages to contain three distinct guitar solos, two of which are actually performed by normally rhythm guitarist Andy Abberley. It should be seen as a sign of what this album is ready to put forth, but the next three songs in the mentioned quadruple opus are nowhere near as speed driven.
All three songs feature one identifiable mark, they flow organically despite having discordant sections. The Messenger has a near minute long intro that gets quickly swallowed up by the mammoth riffage and never returns again. That is not a problem however since the band replaces it with an infectiously groove-laden tune that has one of the harshest choruses the band has ever conceived. Shades Of Black is also somewhat slow for the first half before disappearing completely in a second half that sounds like a completely different song. The title track is also one song for the first half while the second half spikes with an energetic riff of staccato articulation.
I should point out that the member with the most impact on this slab of metal is vocalist Rasmus. The prior release had already shown the mans vocal pipes but as the band grew with him as songwriters, he has a much more varied performance then his debut. Not only contributing rhythm guitar in parts and composing parts of the composition at large, his vocals matter with each syllable sung. Rather it was clear power metal styling of the first two tracks or Death By Design the sorrowful blurring of vocal lines in Shades Of Black or epic closer Until We Burn, his voice is simply immense. Even on the songs that do not work as well (yes there are three) his voice is still a highlight and positive. If the rating above pertained only to Rasmus Andersen’s contributions, it would be a perfect score.
Of the songs that do not work as well, one is the Sleeper. Despite having a creative prelude, a very memorable bass riff played under harmonizing vocals by Rasmus and founder Brian Tatler, the song underutilized the guitars huge tone. The track is structured like a doom metal song and that expected snails pace kills an otherwise decent effort and composition. It does pick up for the final minute and a half but it is the one tempo change that does not feel organically sutured. The second is Serrated Love. Once again driven by a memorable effort from new bassist Dean Ashton, it has the weakest chorus and the interlude breakdown kills any potential. Its solo offers a slight spot of brightness but it is not enough to lift the song out of the spot for the weakest moment. The Phoenix is the third track and this is only due to being slightly less memorable. It works for what it is and the ultra bright tone to the guitars, especially during its engaging minute plus lead break, is very unique on such a dark song and record.
None of those three songs are terrible, or even bad, by any means. Serrated Love might be a cement block to the overall flow and The Phoenix is the best of the three, but all three songs slightly drag down the albums overall score. The other six songs (and one prelude) are all top-notch metal that it makes this album one of the very best in all of trad metal during the latter half of the 2010’s.
rafazardly 