Death & Progress

The 2001 edition of DEATH & PROGRESS includes in the liner notes an interview with Diamond Head guitarist Brian Tatler. Diamond Head: Sean Harris (vocals); Brian Tatler (guitar); Pete Vuckovic (bass, background vocals); Karl Wilcox (drums). Additional personnel: Tony Iommi, Dave Mustaine (guitar); Eddie Moohan (bass). Producers: Diamond Head, Dave Mustaine, Max Norman, Andrew Scarth. Engineers: Brad Davis, Mark Dearnley, Simon Efemey, Andrew Scarth. Recorded at Music Station, Birmingham, England. Despite showing great promise with their awesome debut Lightning to the Nations, New Wave of British Heavy Metal stars Diamond Head apparently "lost the plot", as they say in England, changing direction and churning out a couple of mediocre albums before fading into apparent obscurity. Luckily, their sound influenced many bands and their legend kept increasing after the band had broken up, eventually promting them into a reunion. 1993's Death & Progress seems to fulfill what Diamond Head failed to achieve ten years earlier: Combine their heavy metal roots and aggression with a more concise, if slightly commercial style of songwriting, resulting in what can be loosely defined as a melodic hard rock album. Nowhere is this new-found balance more apparent and effective than in "Starcrossed (Lovers of the Night)," which opens with a gorgeous melody before climaxing in a virtual thrash-out. Other stand-outs include "Damnation Street" and "Truckin'," while "Run" is simply a phenomenal hard rock single and serves as a great conclusion (?) to an interesting career. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia