hypersongs

Diamond Head

A heavy metal band from Stourbridge in the English Midlands, formed in 1976, whose self-released 1980 debut Lightning to the Nations and its riff-built song "Am I Evil?" were taken up by Metallica and became a founding text of the genre.

Stourbridge

Diamond Head were formed in 1976 by the schoolfriends Brian Tatler and Duncan Scott, and the singer Sean Harris joined that June. The bassist Colin Kimberley came in February 1978, after three earlier bassists. The band's influences were Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, UFO, Black Sabbath and Judas Priest; Tatler's first purchases were Led Zeppelin II and Machine Head, and he cites Ritchie Blackmore and Michael Schenker as guitar influences. The first gig was in February 1977 at their old school in Wollaston.

In 1979 they paid for two demo tapes, one of which reached Geoff Barton at Sounds, and they made a first television appearance at West Bromwich College, playing "Am I Evil?". They were managed by Reg Fellows and Linda Harris, Sean Harris's mother, supported AC/DC on two dates and Iron Maiden at the Lyceum in London, and stayed independent while their peers signed to major labels.

Lightning to the Nations

With the labels reluctant to commit, the band released their own album. Lightning to the Nations came out on October 3, 1980 on Happy Face, the label of Muff Murfin of Old Smithy studio in Worcester, where it was recorded within seven days in March 1980. It had a plain white sleeve with no title or track listing, the manager Reg Fellows, who owned a cardboard factory, supplying the blank covers, which became known as the White Album; the first pressing was 1,000 copies, sold at gigs and by mail order for 3.50 pounds, with a second pressing of 1,000 that added a track listing.

Tatler said nearly every song was recorded in one take, that "Am I Evil?" took three, and that the album took seven days to record and mix with the engineer Paul Robbins; he thought it wasn't well produced although it sounded great in the studio. AllMusic gave it four and a half stars, Rolling Stone placed it 42nd on a 2017 list of the 100 greatest metal albums, Uncut ranked it 55th in its 200 greatest heavy rock albums and Burrn! put it third among the best riff albums.

MCA and after

In 1982 they signed to MCA. Borrowed Time (1982) reached number 24 in the UK and Canterbury (1983) number 32; the band played the 1982 Reading Festival and toured Europe with Black Sabbath in 1983, but Scott was fired after six drum tracks on Canterbury, Kimberley then quit and MCA dropped the option in 1984. They split in early 1985. Reunions followed from 1990, with Death and Progress (1993, guests including Tony Iommi and Dave Mustaine), and from 2000, with an acoustic duo of Harris and Tatler that grew into a full band.

Later records are All Will Be Revealed (2005), What's in Your Head? (2007), Diamond Head (2016), The Coffin Train (2019) and Lightning to the Nations 2020 (November 20, 2020), a re-recording with the singer Rasmus Bom Andersen. Tatler joined Saxon in 2023, and announced a hiatus for Diamond Head on June 16, 2025. Metallica and Megadeth have said the band influenced their early sound; Mustaine called it the most overlooked aspect of Diamond Head.

Albums

  • Lightning to the Nations 1980 · Happy Face

    The 1980 self-released debut, known as the White Album for its blank sleeve: seven songs written by Sean Harris and Brian Tatler.

Songs

  • Am I Evil? Lightning to the Nations · 1980

    The song that made Diamond Head: a seven-minute, riff-first track from 1980 that Metallica covered from 1982 on.

Sources

  1. Diamond Head (British band), Wikipedia
  2. Lightning to the Nations, Wikipedia
  3. Am I Evil?, Wikipedia
  4. Brian Tatler and Dave Mustaine on Metallica, Loudwire (2018-05-24)