'AM I EVIL?' is the second single from Lightning To The Nations 2020, set for release on November 27th 2020
Re-imagined, re-recorded and re-born, Diamond Head’s forthcoming 40-year celebration of their genre-defining debut album Lightning To The Nations is a scintillating shot of fresh metal energy. Taking the material which helped spawn the ground-breaking New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM), Diamond Head utilise all their skill, experience and revitalised energy to breathe so much new life into these freshly recorded takes that it feels like experiencing the earth shaking all over again.

The levels of fresh energy in these celebration sessions will blow doors and socks off all who hear them, and the potency of timeless riffage such as “It’s Electric” and “The Prince” literally scream at the listener. Founder member, lead guitarist/songsmith Brian Tatler and rhythm guitarist Andy Abberley give the guitars a new razor edge, Karl Wilcox on drums and Dean Ashton on bass are a buoyant bombastic platform, while vocalist Rasmus Bom Andersen brings a brilliant new take on the vocals.

Anderson also produced and mixed the album with a freshness and attack which will thrill fans old and new. As if that wasn’t enough, Diamond Head add four covers to the album, Judas Priest’s “Sinner”, Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song”, Deep Purple’s “Rat Bat Blue” and a stunning take of Metallica’s “No Remorse”, which is a tribute’s tribute to the band who openly formed under enormous influence from Diamond Head, and covered several of the songs on Lightning To The Nations, decades ago. Diamond Head’s debut was a classic once already; it is about to be a stone cold classic once more. Available as a CD Digipak, Double Black Vinyl Album housed in Gatefold and digital formats.

The official Diamond Head YouTube channel.
Diamond Head are an English heavy metal band formed in 1976 in Stourbridge, England. The band is recognised as one of the leading members of the new wave of British heavy metal movement and is acknowledged by thrash metal bands such as Metallica and Megadeth as an important early influence.

Diamond Head are: Brian Tatler (guitars), Rasmus Bom Andersen (vocals), Karl Wilcox (drums), Dean Ashton (bass), Abbz (guitars).

With Diamond Head having featured so heavily in Metallica’s early career, the cover of ‘No Remorse’ seems especially appropriate.

“I wanted to cover a song from Metallica’s debut album, Kill ‘Em All” explains founding member Brian Tatler. “Partly because Metallica covered songs from Diamond Head’s debut album Lightning To The Nations and it felt like things have come full-circle to me. None of the band members knew how to play any of the songs from Kill ‘Em All and I eventually decided we should all learn ‘No Remorse’. Then when we got into the rehearsal room, we played ‘No Remorse’ and immediately it just sounded great, it was very “Diamond Head” and it really suited us as a band. Of the four covers we ended up doing, ‘No Remorse’ sounded the best straight away. I’ve seen Metallica live over twenty times and they don’t play ‘No Remorse’ very often, but it’s always great when they do!”

“Of all the four covers, we almost didn’t have to work on ‘No Remorse’,” furthers singer and producer Rasmus Bom Andersen; “we all had to learn the parts, and it’s very difficult to play, but in rehearsal it did sound fantastic and we thought: “yeah, yeah, it’s gonna be mega”. It was almost surreal when we did it because it just felt incredibly familiar.”

When Diamond Head first released Lightning To The Nations 40 years ago in 1980, few could have predicted the importance it would carry with regards to heavy metal’s new wave and sound. Stacked and packed with riffs, Lightning To The Nations would be one of the prime catalysts for a movement known as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM).
 
Re-imagined, re-recorded and re-born in 2020, Diamond Head’s forthcoming 40-year celebration of their genre-defining debut album is a scintillating shot of fresh metal energy. With Lightning To The Nations 2020 listeners experience not only the rare phenomenon of crisp, fresh and new sounding songs with very little of the obvious original elements altered, they will also be treated to four supreme cover versions… And in prime position stands Metallica’s ‘No Remorse’.

Recorded over several sessions between various locations, from France to band members’ home studios, Lightning To The Nations 2020 central hub was Andersen’s Raw Sound Studios in London. It’s where Brian and Abbz did the guitars in February and March of this year, and then with the COVID-19 chaos striking, Andersen worked on the album between April and July, with Tatler’s watchful ear inspecting final mixes and tweaks in early August before sending off to mastering at Metropolis Studios in London.