 | Tracklist:
01. Starcrossed (Lovers of the Night)
02. Truckin'
03. Calling Your Name
04. I Can't Help Myself
05. Paradise
06. Dust
07. Run
08. Wild on the Streets
09. Damnation Street
10. Home
Release Date: 1993 | |
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On 1 Lists
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| Summary: Although Death and Progress is unable to truly recapture the band’s past glories, it’s still an important part of Diamond Head’s discography and is considerably better than anything the band has released since. |
1 of 1 thought this review was well written
Diamond Head are perhaps the best NWOBHM band never to have made it and following their split in 1985, their status as heavy metal legends of the past would have probably been all but cemented were it not for Metallica, who by covering several DH classics helped introduce the band to a younger generation and therefore inspired 1991’s reformation. For a while the band went by the name of Dead Reckoning before deciding to revert back to their original moniker for a new album, Death and Progress.
The line-up for Death and Progress was:
Sean Harris – Vocals
Brain Tatler – Guitars
Pete Vuckovic – Bass
Karl Wilcox – Drums
Tony Iommi – Additional guitars on Starcrossed (Lovers of the Night)
Dave Mustaine – Additional guitars on Truckin’
The album title alone suggested the band were going to make a real go of it, and “progress” they did as Death… saw the band in great form, all be it sporting a much cleaner and altogether more polished sound than shown on the bands earlier material. The album gets underway with the brilliant Starcrossed (Lovers of the Night), which with the aid of a guest appearance from Tony Iommi, is a great way to open the album. Starcrossed… starts off fairly slow before picking up the pace about one and a half minutes in and then reverting back to the much slower intro before climaxing with an almost thrash-metal-like final verse. Sean Harris’ Robert Plant-esque vocals sound just as strong as they did back in the early 80’s and Brian Tatler’s guitar doesn’t disappoint either despite the band’s decision to include another guest guitarist on the album’s second track, Truckin’, this time opting for Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine. The slow burning Calling Your Name is one of the album’s more forgettable tracks, which is made more obvious due to it being sandwiched between two of the album’s highlights, the aforementioned Truckin’ and the superb I Can’t Help Myself, both of which are catchy hard rockers reminiscent of previous Diamond Head songs like Shoot Out the Lights and Makin’ Music.
One thing that is slightly disappointing is the lack of Heavy Metal epics (a la Am I Evil?), instead the album tends to rely more on Hard Rock songs like Dust or the incredibly catchy Paradise, which despite some rather bizarre lyrics is another album highlight. Wild On The Streets is also an excellent anthemic rocker, featuring a fine vocal performance from Harris and a great guitar solo from Tatler.
Overall Death and Progress is an excellent comeback and is arguably stronger than the band’s previous album, Canterbury, released a decade earlier and although the reunion rather fizzled out in the end (this being the only album to come out of it), we can be thankful that we were given this reminder of the band’s talents for which they never really got the recognition they deserved.
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