Lars Ulrich regularly admits the almost incalculable debt owed to what he terms, “the two Heads” – Motörhead and Diamond Head.
Many have wrongly assumed that Am I Evil?, one of several DH tunes covered by their US counterparts, is a Metallica original, though it first appeared in 1980 on a hugely influential untitled debut by the Stourbridge-based veterans. Having never got the breaks, Diamond Head drifted in and out of existence ever since. However, the arrival of London-based, Danish-born frontman Rasmus Bom Andersen has sufficiently reinvigorated Diamond Head to overturn a promise from guitarist Brian Tatler – their sole remaining original member – that no further new music would be made.
Brian’s nimble yet emphatic riffing style remains the forefront of all that the band do, though the addition of Rasmus, who sounds more than a little like original frontman Sean Harris, is every bit as significant.
Bones, Wizard Sleeve and Shout At The Devil (no relation to Crüe’s gem of the same name) all represent firm nods to the past but the heavily orchestrated All The Reasons You Live and Silence also delve into hitherto untapped areas. This is rather excellent.
