Lightning to the nations 2020

Description

Vital, revered and age-appropriate: when Diamond Head released Lightning To The Nations exactly 40 years ago in 1980, only a few could have predicted the importance of the new wave of heavy metal and its sound. Packed with riffs, Lightning To The Nations became one of the main catalysts of the movement known as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM). At the same time, this debut album served as a model for one of the biggest bands on the planet: Metallica. But at the time, back home in Stourbridge, UK, Diamond Head had absolutely no idea of this, nor of how strongly the seven songs would resonate. The Lightning To The Nations 2020 re-recordings are a brilliant burst of fresh metallic energy. Diamond Head uses its experience and skills and channels the energy to breathe new life into the album, hopefully with the same success as back then. The recordings were made in several sessions in France but also in the band members’ home studios; however, the focus was on Andersen’s Raw Sound Studios in London. Brian and Abbz recorded the guitars there in February and March 2020, then came the chaos of COVID-19. Andersen then worked on the album from April to July, Tatler optimized it in August, and then it was handed over to Metropolis Studios. The album also delights us with four superb covers in tribute to Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Deep Purple and Metallica. Since Diamond Head influenced Metallica’s career early on, the cover of No Remorse is perfectly appropriate.