by Ed Rivadavia
Despite showing great promise with their awesome debut Lightning to the Nations, New Wave of British Heavy Metal stars Diamond Head apparently &lost the plot&, as they say in England, changing direction and churning out a couple of mediocre albums before fading into apparent obscurity. Luckily, their sound influenced many bands and their legend kept increasing after the band had broken up, eventually promting them into a reunion. 1993's Death and Progress seems to fulfill what Diamond Head failed to achieve ten years earlier: Combine their heavy metal roots and aggression with a more concise, if slightly commercial style of songwriting, resulting in what can be loosely defined as a melodic hard rock album. Nowhere is this new-found balance more apparent and effective than in &Starcrossed (Lovers of the Night),& which opens with a gorgeous melody before climaxing in a virtual thrash-out. Other stand-outs include &Damnation Street& and &Truckin',& while &Run& is simply a phenomenal hard rock single and serves as a great conclusion (?) to an interesting career.