Am I Evil - Diamond Head > Reviews > Diamond Head

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Great music, great energy
Disadvantages:	Experimented .  .  .  the experiment didn't work

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This is the story of a band that should by rights have been as big as Iron Maiden...

Diamond Head are forgotten by most people now, but for a brief while in the very late 70s / very early 80s they were being touted as the saviours of rock and metal and one of the finest exponents of what was called NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) along with bands such as Iron Maiden, Saxon and (though you might not believe it these days) Def Leppard.

Their music was energetic, tuneful, and strangely for a band of this type, more than slightly reminiscent of Led Zeppelin. This album, "Am I Evil" recorded in 1979, pretty much at the birth of NWOBHM, is by far the best example of what Diamond Head could do when they were on top form.

The album starts with the epic title track itself, which for the time was not only astonishingly heavy but also astonishingly original (that said, it starts with a brutal version of the intro to Holst's "Mars" from "The Planets"). The song was also covered in later years by Metallica, who were big fans of Diamond Head. Track 2, "In the Heat of the Night" is slower-paced and quite laid back, with a smouldering twin guitar and bass sheen to it. Every song has much to commend it, my own favourite being "Don't You Ever Leave Me" which could have been an early Led Zep song- a combination of soulful crooning and bluesy, show-off guitar work which really tops off the album.

The lyrics occasionally tend towards the naff end of the scale, particularly on the final track "Sucking My Love" (I'll let you figure out what that one's about!) which has something of Whitesnake about it, lyrically (that's not necessarily a compliment!), although the music is perfectly good.

This is probably the only album of theirs that anyone really needs in order to "get to know" the band that should have been huge but instead somehow didn't quite make it. They produced a clutch of albums and EPs over the next few years, culminating in 1983's "Canterbury" which was a flop. They then disappeared only to briefly regroup for a concert with Metallica and Megadeth at the Milton Keynes bowl in 1993. They regrouped again a few more times more recently an produced some more albums, but "Am I Evil" remains their greatest hour.

The track listing is as follows: (with times)

Am I Evil 7:48
Heat of the Night 5:57
Don't You Ever Leave Me 5:43
Borrowed Time 6:53
To Heaven From Hell 6:37
Dead Reckoning 6:30
Lightning to the Nations 4:17
Sucking My Love 9:32

And even if you don't fancy the music, you should still get a poster of the cover artwork, which is absolutely amazing. It appears to be something along the lines of a giant demonic steam train complete with horns, spikes and all sorts of other bits and pieces. Great art. Great album.

Thanks for reading...