DIEMONDS – Never Wanna Die (2015)

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Toronto’s Sunset Strip-influenced hard rock outfit DIEMONDS will unleash worldwide their third album, “Never Wanna Die“, next September 4th.
The Canadian hard hitting, heavy rockin’ dudes and dudette in Diemonds had worked with an outside producer for the first time, the Juno award winning Eric Ratz, and believe me, this has paid its dividends.

“Never Wanna Die” holds 10 immense rockin’ songs. Each and every track has its own recognizable hook/riff, so there’s not one single song that applies to the condescending term ‘filler’. Nay, this album is like the child of Appetite for Destruction – an album with one fantastic track after another.
I make this comparison based on the quality material, not musically. Some songs just has that thing – that thing that makes you wonder if you’ve heard a song before, but it actually just has that winning formula that tells you ‘this is a hit’. Every song on “Never Wanna Die” is like that. And every song on Appetite for Destruction is like that.

“Never Wanna Die” opens up its gates with the title track, a fast and furious number which sets the standard for this album. The band seems more mature, more experienced, and the sound of it all is massive. The perfect guitar tone paired with Priya Panda’s genuine bad girl attitude vocals is what Diemonds is all about. And the foocking tasty riffs – don’t forget that.
Next up on the agenda is ‘Hell Is Full’, which is one of my favorites on this album. The haunting backing vocals on the pre-chorus makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, while the chorus and riff is majorly headbang-inducing.
‘Over It’ keeps kickin’ you, and before you know it, you’ll be belting it out alone in your living room, while respectfully jumping around on your couch pretending to shred the guitar like guitarists Daniel Dekay and C.C. Diemond does.

The melodious ‘Ain’t That Kinda Girl’ is obviously tailored for lead singer Priya Panda, showing her girl power in the form of being a bad ass rock and roll chick. ‘Secret’ is the closest they come to a ballad on this album. More like a dark power-ballad with guts.
‘Better Off Dead’, ‘Forever Untamed’, ‘Wild At Heart’, ‘Meet Your Maker’ and ‘Save Your Life’ follow like a freight train of amazing riffs, choruses and breakdowns. ‘Forever Untamed’ has a really cool, groovy riff that rockets into a fast paced verse with yet another chorus that sends shivers down your spine – the good way.
‘Wild At Heart’ is a particular favorite – quite possibly the favorite track for me. It has a chorus that is built for the whole crowd to sing along to. So does final track ‘Save Your Life’ which has that gang vocals and a vicious groove to be played live.

First of all, let me tell you “Never Wanna Die” is one of the best albums I heard this year. We already presented here on the blog the previous work from Diemonds, but this new one blows out of the water anything they released before.
What I don’t get is why the A&R / management made such bad move to release this CD with this artwork. I know, ‘do not judge an album by its cover’, but this horrid front doesn’t reflects the music packed inside.

Well, we are here to inform you… forget the silly “Never Wanna Die” artwork and grab this album immediately.
It’s a killer, punchy collection of hard rock tunes driven by biting guitars and catchy melodies, some kind of Skid Row with a girl at front plenty of attitude.
Highly Recommended.

01 – Never Wanna Die
02 – Hell Is Full
03 – Over It
04 – Ain’t That Kinda Girl
05 – Secret
06 – Better Off Dead
07 – Forever Untamed
08 – Wild At Heart
09 – Meet Your Maker
10 – Save Your Life

Priya Panda – vocals
C.C. Diemond & Daniel Dekay – guitars
Adam Zlotnik – bass
Aiden Tranquada – drums

Pre-Order:
shop.napalmrecords.com/diemonds-never-wanna-die-cd.html
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