Venue: The Metropolitan Lounge,        Date: September 19th, 2002
           Peterborough

Diamond Head are a band best known for inspiring Metallica, who covered four of their songs on their 'Garage Inc' covers album.  After mild success in the early eighties as part of the new wave of British heavy metal, Diamond Head split.  They reconvened for 1993's 'Death And Progress' album and some live dates (including a support slot on a bill headed by Metallica!) before splitting again amongst general disinterest. Now the band have decided to have another crack at it - they must be gluttons for punishment!

Personnel-wise, only singer Sean Harris and guitarist Brian Tatler remain from the original line-up, although the rest of the band playing tonight were apparently part of the 'Death And Progress' line-up.

On taking the stage, it did seem to me that here were a band who had emerged from an early 80's time warp - long hair, denim waistcoats and leather trousers being de rigeur.  Musically the first few tracks were spot on, the likes of 'Sucking My Love' pounding out of the speakers and mixing melody and heaviness in perfect proportions, helped by the excellent, almost soulful delivery of Harris - his voice isn't that dissimilar to that of Thunder's Danny Bowes, and he certainly appears to be an underrated talent.  He also gives his all on stage, jumping around like a man possessed, and he endears himself to the crowd with some easy going, self-depreciating between song banter.  In fact, the whole band seem very much at ease in each others' company and to be enjoying the gig - which all adds to the enjoyment of the crowd.

Set-wise, the songs seemed to be a good mixture of material from the early days, songs from 'D&P' and some newer material from a forthcoming album due for release next year. The newer songs sounded noticeably less heavy and with an emphasis on soul-flavoured hard rock - again, comparisons with Thunder leap to mind.

The main problem with the gig was the midsection, when the band played three acoustic tracks. The problem wasn't the material, which sounded fine and was skillfully played (Harris and Tatler have done a number of acoustic Diamond Head gigs in the past), but more that the crowd seemed disinterested and started chattering over the music, and the early momentum was lost.  Of course, this is no excuse for the chattering - people should have the courtesy to listen to a band - but in this case, as Harris himself had the decency to admit later, the band somewhat misjudged their audience, many of whom were young and fairly partisan, and had come to hear the songs Metallica had made famous.

Thankfully the band managed to pull things firmly back on track - and the crowd with them - for an excellent finish to the show, ending with the unstoppable double whammy of 'The Prince' and a blistering 'Am I Evil' which had everyone in the place shaking their fists and singing along. The fantastic solo that Tatler rattled off in this song was worth the price of admission alone.

Overall an excellent gig, and its good to see this legendary band back on the scene.

Tom