| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
Death and Progress is the fourth studio album released by the British heavy metal band Diamond Head in 1993, through Castle Music Ltd.
This was Diamond Head's first album since Canterbury, released 10 years earlier. It was co-produced, engineered and mixed by Andrew Scarth, who had previously worked for bands such as Bad Company and Foreigner. The album had a much cleaner and more polished sound than their previous three albums and featured two special guests, Tony Iommi, of Black Sabbath, and Dave Mustaine, of Megadeth, the latter also enlisting the help of his own producer Max Norman.[2]
Some of the tracks off this album were released on an EP in 1992 entitled Rising Up, although this EP was only sold in specialist music stores.
National Bowl Incident
The reunion of Diamond Head did not last. One major contributor to the second fall of the band was during the Death and Progress tour, when Diamond Head opened for Metallica and Megadeth at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes on 5 June 1993, The Almighty was also on the bill. During the show Sean Harris came out dressed as the Grim Reaper, which Brian Tatler reported in the British rock magazine Classic Rock, was Harris' way of saying that NWOBHM was over. They opened with their flagship song, "Am I Evil" and ended with "Helpless"; both off their debut Lightning to the Nations, as they thought this would go down well with the Metallica fan base. However, as Diamond Head had not been around for the majority of the previous decade and Metallica had covered both of these songs ("Am I Evil" was the B-side to "Creeping Death" and "Helpless" appeared on The $5.98 E.P. - Garage Days Re-Revisited), much of the crowd thought that Diamond Head were covering Metallica songs. On top of this, their performance was very under par, which was due to the pressure of playing live on MTV, the fact Tatler was suffering from shingles at the time[3] and Diamond Head had had very little rehearsal time prior to the gig. The band split up again and would not reform again until 2000.
Track listing
All tracks are written by Sean Harris and Brian Tatler, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Starcrossed (Lovers of the Night)" (Harris, Tony Iommi, Tatler) | 4:27 |
| 2. | "Truckin'" | 3:05 |
| 3. | "Calling Your Name (The Light)" | 4:06 |
| 4. | "I Can't Help Myself" | 3:37 |
| 5. | "Paradise" | 3:36 |
| 6. | "Dust" | 4:18 |
| 7. | "Run" | 4:43 |
| 8. | "Wild on the Streets" | 3:46 |
| 9. | "Damnation Street" | 3:17 |
| 10. | "Home" | 4:42 |
Personnel
Diamond Head
- Sean Harris - vocals
- Brian Tatler- guitar
- Pete Vuckovic- bass, backing vocals
- Karl Wilcox - drums
Guest musicians
- Tony Iommi- guitar on track 1
- Dave Mustaine- guitar, producer and mixing on track 2
- Eddie Moohan - bass on tracks 4 and 8
Production
- Andrew Scarth - producer, engineer, mixing
- Brad Davis - engineer on tracks 1 and 9
- Max Norman - producer and engineer on track 2
- Mark Dearnley, Simon Efemey - engineers on tracks 4 and 8
- Rafe McKenna - mixing on tracks 1 and 5
References
- ^ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Diamond Head - Death and Progress review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 2016-01-13.
- ^ "Diamond Geezeers!". Metal Hammer. Vol. 8 no. 6. June 1993. p. 17. Archived from the original on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 2016-01-13.
- ^ Hackett, Hugh. "Diamond Head's Festival Diary". Archived from the original on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 2016-01-13.