DIAMOND HEAD – Death And Progress [2017 / 2018 Digipak reissue]

After the DIAMOND HEAD post from days ago we couldn’t resist to feature here as well the band’s album “Death And Progress”, recently reissued on CD digipak. Often associated with early ’80s metal, this 1993 record sees the band playing traditional hard rock, with clean and potent production sound of the era. So you better check out this highly underrated album.

As part of the late 70s / early 80s New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, Diamond Head influenced many bands from both sides of the Atlantic ocean. The band went on hiatus in the mid-Eighties, but their legend kept increasing and luckily the spark for a reunion started around 1990.
The aim was to modernize the sound & style according to time, and they called Andrew Scarth (who had previously worked for bands such as Bad Company and Foreigner) to produce, engineer and mix Diamond Head’s comeback album.
Legendary Max Norman was also involved behind the desk, and a couple a stars came in as guests.

“Death And Progress” has a much cleaner and more polished sound than Diamond Head previous works, a true ‘early ’90s American Hard Rock’ production. The record combine their classic metal roots via sharp guitar riffs 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 groovy rocker. Black Sabbath’s mastermind Tony Iommi appears with a guest guitar solo.

Other stand-outs include “Damnation Street” and “Truckin’”, the latter featuring Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine on guitar who also co-produced the song with Max Norman.
“Run” is another favorite, simply a phenomenal hard rock tune plenty of catchy guitar riffs, a punchy rhythm section and powerful vocals.

On the bluesy “I Can’t Help Myself” they even sound like Damn Yankees, on “Damnation Street” there’s some Bad Company circa 1990 on it, and believe it or not, “Dust” could have been recorded by Foreigner.
Closer “Home” is a winner too, a dynamic hooky track that I always found similar to a Night Ranger song.

As you read above, this is a different Diamond Head, and you didn’t liked their classic metal origins, but embrace the polished early ’90s American Melodic Hard Rock you need to check out this terrific album, rarely mentioned among fans of the genre and criminally underrated. Sadly the original release resulted delayed, appearing in 1993 when the Rock musical climate already changed.
This reissue is not remastered, but sounds million bucks thanks to modern equipment, and blows out of the water the original CD.
Highly Recommended

Only at 0dayrox

01 – Starcrossed (Lovers of the Night) [with Tony Iommi]
02 – Truckin’ [with Dave Mustaine]
03 – Calling Your Name (The Light)
04 – I Can’t Help Myself
05 – Paradise
06 – Dust
07 – Run
08 – Wild on the Streets
09 – Damnation Street
10 – Home

Sean Harris – vocals
Brian Tatler – guitars
Pete Vuckovic – bass, backing vocals
Karl Wilcox – drums

guest musicians:
Tony Iommi – guitar on track 1
Dave Mustaine – guitar, producer and mixing on track 2
Eddie Moohan – bass on tracks 4 and 8

BUY IT !
www.amazon.com/Death-Progress-Diamond-Head/dp/B07116WTRN
www.plastichead.com/item.aspx?ex=fitem&target=DISS020CDD
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