Diamond Head
In the early 80s when DiamondHead wrote their classic tracks no one really cared or took any notice. the band split after the luke-warm reception of their first few albums. Then in the mid 90s DiamondHead became almost legendary and it was really fashionable to name check them. Why? The answer Metallica. They basically started out doing covers of obscure UK metal and their own (actually in those days much weaker) material. Now of course everyone knows Metallica write really good songs in their own right, but they still do covers for fun. The most frequently covered band is DiamondHead and this is how I and most of their fans have heard of them.

I'm not a big Metallica fan, some stuffs OK, and when I compared their version of 'Am I Evil?' to the original I got in a secondhand shop there was no contest, the original was much much better, properly large and epic.

But what makes DiamondHead one of my greatest ever bands? Three things: song construction, killer riffs and effective soloing. Any band or songwriter, not just rock or metal, could look to DiamondHead for some pointers, and I mean that in all seriousness, there are many lessons to be learnt from them.

My fave DiamondHead track is 'Sucking My Love' but lets instead obsess about my second favourite 'Am I Evil?'. The start blatantly rips off 'Mars' from Gustav Holst's planet suite. But its a good thing to rip off and it sets the atmosphere perfectly. Then theres the introductory guitar solo - its musically simple, but you try playing it at the speed they do on the record! The guitar is distorted big style, but the speed and tone make it sound ethereally pure. Then the band hit you with a dirty riff and it all kicks off through verses, bridges, pre-choruses and the catchy main chorus, all containing interesting variations on the original riff. The guitar solo is the best I have ever heard. You can tell it's been painstakingly constructed, yet due to the brilliance of the musicians it still sounds improvised. By the end of the solo (if the volume on your stereo is caned) you hardly know the songs going on at all because your in metal ecstasy as each note lifts you further and further away. Even though the song is over 7 minutes long I challenge you not to listen to it at least twice in succession.

If you want to get some DiamondHead I can recommend their 'Best of' collection. However the version of 'Am I Evil?' is only 80% of what it can be with the proper version which you can get on the first 'Metallic-Era' compilation. Or get old-school vinyls from 2nd hand shops and check out the cheesy rock cover art.

The two founding members of DiamondHead are doing unplugged gigs at the moment so I may drop in on one.

gwem 2001
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