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Sunday Old School: New Wave Of British Heavy Metal Champions Diamond Head

Following on from last weeks article where we looked at Venom, a hugely influential band from the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal movement, we're continuing the trend this week by looking at one of their fellow N.W.O.B.H.M. acts, Diamond Head. Diamond Head is considered in this day and age one of the most influential acts of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal and have been championed by numerous big name bands such as Exodus, Megadeth and Metallica to name a few. Diamond Head was the hot tip at the time to follow Iron Maiden in becoming not just another band from the movement, but a major act themselves. Unfortunately, although signed to a major label, the band never got the success and fame many expected they would achieve. In some cases today they are a band heard in name only, many knowing of their existence but less are aware of the actual music with the exception of cover versions bigger acts have done.

The band was formed in 1976 in the town of Stourbridge in England's Midlands region and continued for several years to hunt for success. The group took their name from an album by Phil Manzanera, the former lead guitarist of Roxy Music. The band would often refuse to perform cover songs, eventually making the exception for the Black Sabbath classic, "Paranoid." Though they self-financed many demos and released them independently, they struggled to find record label interest, though they were able to attract the attention of popular rock and metal artists of the time and secure support slots with the likes of AC/DC and Iron Maiden.

The band released their first album, which is often reffered to as "Lightning To The Nations" (though it never officially had a title) in 1980 through their own record label, Happy Face Records and received much critical acclaim for the record. This led to the band signing to MCA Records the following year and releasing their next album, "Borrowed Time." The album hit the number 24 mark in the British album charts and enabled the band to venture on their own headlining tour of the United Kingdom.

Diamond Head suffered from several line up changes and break-ups over the years and today guitarist Brian Tatler remains the sole original member of the band. Since their most recent reformation in 2000, the band has released two studio albums with the new line-up entitled "All Will Be Revealed" and "What's In Your Head?" with plans to record another album well underway.

Diamond Head - "Am I Evil?"

Diamond Head - "Helpless"

Diamond Head - "In The Heat Of The Night"

Diamond Head - "Call Me"