I had the chance to see Diamond Head in 2019 in Romania. It was sad to see the younger generation ignoring their merch. (I am 30 so not that old). I got a Diamond Head-Diamond Head signed CD copy and Brian Tatler’s pick. Closer to the concert, I was telling my friend that I really hope they will play “Lighting to the nations”, “Helpless” and “In the heat of the night”. Some older guys heard us and were very happy to see younger dudes know this golden band. Had a good communication with Brian and he was happy to see me crying on his older songs. After the concert he offered me the setlist. What a night❤️! Later, I got “Borrowed time” on vinyl, 1982 press for 20€! What a jam! Hope I will get “Lightning to the nations” also! Thanks for your ranking! Big up!
BT was my first DH album, so it's always sounded perfect to me. The re-recordings of Am I Evil and Lightning To The Nations didn't seem redundant as a result.
Lars talking about selling out, that makes me laugh haha. Lightning to the nations is a hell of a great album, the only DH album I still listen to from time to time. Please, do Angelwitch or Blitzkrieg one day.
Lightning To The Nations is my favourite album of all time. The CD with the extra tracks like I don't Got and We Won't Be Back again makes it even better.
@@RuthlessMetalYT 🤫 They all borrow. Overkill has used so many Metallica and Megadeth riffs. Megadeth borrowed Metallica's Motorbreath riff on FFF. I mean the list goes on and on. Just saying Metallica really helped Diamond Head out. They generated a ton of money for them.
@@TheNothing6 Yea I don't think Brian Tatler's complaining about the borrowed riffs -- the publishing royalties of Metallica's covers made him enough $$ to buy himself a house
James and Lars took D.H’s best songs. When I heard “ Am I Evil “ - I said Metallica is great. What a song ! Then someone said it was a cover song. Like hearing your girl cheated on you.
Great video! And yes I do very much agree, All Will Be Revealed and What’s In Your Head are awful albums. May I suggest a Raven ranking next? Rank Until You Drop? ;)
Never clicked on a link so fast. Borrowed Time is one of my favorite albums of all time. I got that cassette in 1990 in Quebec and I hadn't seen it anywhere in the states. Understand why LTTN is ranked #1. Will have to go through these other albums now to see what the lack of buzz is about
Oh absolutely, Diamond Head are in now way Thrash (very firmly NWOBHM I'd say!) Thank you for all your work with the Thrash videos! Any plans to cover any newer thrash bands? (Evile, Bonded By Blood, Power Trip, Gama Bomb etc?)
Makes sense. I read an interview with one of the band members (I believe it was Brian) and he said Physical Graffiti is his favourite album of all time.
I can agree with the ranking, however, I think every album with Sean was absolutely great. I can appreciate the more melodic, AOR, progressive rock elements. Diamond Head are my favorite band and Lightning is my favorite record of all time.
I actually find Canterbury to be pretty underrated. A bit more mainstream in parts, but plenty of good rockers on there. Of songs you didn't mention from that album, I really dig Night of the Sword.
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Another band who recorded a groundbreaking debut then fell into obscurity was Satan...their "Court in the act" is full of riffs later heard on some well known thrash/speed metal albums.
@@RuthlessMetalYT bro it's just half hour away from the main city. It's almost a suburb of Birmingham. Even Glenn Hughes once told in a loudwire interview about how he knew diamond Head. They lived quite close to Birmingham
Lightning to the Nations wins by a longshot! But the last two albums are still pretty awesome too without reaching the same heights \m/ I like Canterbury too.
Awesome job on those rank'em all videos. Such a treat everytime, made me want to rediscover some forgotten/obscure albums. A few ideas for next videos : Judas Priest Deicide Cannibal Corpse Morbid Angel Pantera Type O Negative Marduk Impaled Nazarene also a top ten of 90's Norwegian black metal albums would be great. Cheers from France
Ok here is my ranking after re-listening to all albums. 1. Lightning to the Nations ( most definitely and always listen to this album more than all) 2. Borrowed Time (Decent sophomore, could have done w/o the re-recordings of two songs from Lightning) 3. Canterbury (sounds very Def Leppardish IMO) 4. Death and Progress (was a chore to listen to and too poppy for me) 5. The Coffin Train (alright for modern metal) 6. Diamond Head (ok modern Metal,better than the previous two albums before it) 7. What’s In Your Head (was hard to listen through a major chore and made my afternoon go slow) 8. All Will Be Revealed (was a hard listen period and couldn’t get into it) I really think you should do your fellow countrymen next… Mindless Sinner. I would like to hear your thoughts, I know I like them
I think there is more Led Zeppelin over Canterbury than Def Leppard but. :) I dig Mindless Sinner but I don't know if there is an interest for them since they don't have that much old material.
@@RuthlessMetalYT that’s very true about Mindless Sinner not having many old material, and that’s a shame. They were such a great band, and having their first full length shelved for a couple of years because of their label having money issues didn’t help either. Their second album was pretty good too. About Canterbury having some Zeppelin vibes… I can hear some of that as well as Deep Purple vibes too. I guess I forgot about that. But I think I meant the vocals were sort of Def Leppardish of that makes sense
Honestly, after going through all their albums a while ago, nothing I heard was bad. I had heard bad things about All Will Be Revealed and Whats in Your Head? but when I first heard them they were fucking great. Some of my favorite tracks from those two are Reign Supreme, Dead or Living, Broken Peices, Victim, Alimony, and Killing Me; Though both of them have nothing but solid tracks. Death and Progress also has some great hits like Paradise, Starcrossed (Lovers of the Night), Calling Your Name (The Light), and Damnation Street. Hands down two of my favorites are The Coffin Train and their self-titled Diamond Head. Both of them are always give me a pleasant, and thrilling time. Diamond Head never make bad albums, and I personally don't see the hate for All Will Be Revealed and Whats in Your Head?.
I've never heard anyone who liked those two albums, until today. :) I think they are horrible those two. death and progress is like a 2/5 record for me.
@@RuthlessMetalYT A look at a bands whole discography from a modern point of view from someone taking in all their work at once, leads some new fans to enjoy what's considered the black sheep or sheep's in this case. It's how younger people like me approach older albums and it leads to more appreciation for the runts and their unique qualities. Older albums don't always have to be compared to their predecessors and should be taken as their own; When people try to compare it to what come before and say it doesn't have the same sound or isn't as what they'd expect, of course they'll dislike it. I don't have personal connections to older albums so I might be in the wrong to others in the community, but albums should be taken as they are and not compared with what came before (unless of course what came after is a sudden shift in genre or style like with what happened in the 90s.) Sorry for the long essay, but this is just my opinion and no one should take it as fact. You can hate what I love or love what I hate; Difference of opinions is what makes for good discussion and appreciation.
I think you should do an album ranked for Judas Priest. Can't say it would be very easy, there's a ton of stuff that is really good (and some that's a bit polarizing...). I think the only ones that I don't own are Rocka Rolla, Sin after Sin and Turbo. I'd probably put screaming for vengeance, stained class, british steel, hell bent for leather and painkiller in my top 5... but... ugh, that leaves out a bunch of classics like SWOD. I don't think Jugulator or Demolition will ever be popular enough to compete with the rest, but they're still fantastic in my book. :)
I think maybe they put a couple of re-recorded tracks on Borrowed Time because MCA probably wanted something resembling a "hit" to be included to help with sales. The first album never had a major release at the time, being available only on their own Happy Face label and was hard to get, in my experience. I did manage to get the single Shoot Out The Lights b/w Helpless, which I still have and treasure to this day.
Sure, but they had some softer 'hit like' songs that could perhaps have worked better than a rather aggressive song like Am I Evil, but hey. :) Cheers!
Can't think of any band with more depressive discography than Diamond Head. Killer, groundbreaking debut that brought metal on a whole new level and inspired countless followers, and then... they lost it. ☹️
I had To Heaven From Hell when I was a kid, which is apparently just demos for Borrowed Time. I wasn't too stoked on it, but I listened to it a bit. I had a CD called the Metallic-Era that had all the songs Metallica covered like The Prince and Am I Evil? and that stuff is amazing, especially The Prince; I tried to find old Diamond Head albums everywhere because of those songs, but all I could find was To Heaven From Hell on CD. Wish I'd understood mail order as a thirteen-year-old. I was kinda bummed on Metallica's cover of the Prince, too; I heard the original before their version, and they left out the best part, and the solo. Their versions of Am I Evil are pretty good, though.
Can't argue with your placement of Death & Progress, Canterbury, Borrowed Time and Lightning To The Nations. I've never listened to any of the sans Sean Harris albums as I can't imagine Diamond Head without his vocals. I think Diamond Head were victims of their own desire to be progressive in their songwriting. Not that they wanted to be like ELP or Yes per se, but that they didn't want to do the same thing twice and each album saw them getting further and further from the simple and clean formula that in retrospect made them great in the first place and cemented their position as NWOBHM legends.
yeah musicwise, the last two albums are probably the best thing since Canterbury but due to the production value and the Soundgarden-sounding vocals it becomes something else.
How about Def Leppard for an album ranking? As there were a part of the NWOBHM movement. They were also my gateway to hard rock/metal. I am pretty sure that our ranking lists might be similar. lol
That will probably never happen since I've only heard their first 3-4 albums I guess. I don't like that commercial stuff, they were so much better early on and then they lost it completely from what I've heard and read.
Shout at the Devil (Diamondhead) > Shout at the Devil (Mötley Crüe) 1. Lightning to the Nations 2. Diamond Head 3. The Coffin Train 4. Borrowed Time 5. Canterbury 6. Death and Progress 7. What's In Your Head? 8. All Will Be Revealed
I remember reading somewhere that Lightning to the Nations wasn't intended as an album (but was pushed as one by management or whatever). This kind of explains the re-recordings on Borrowed Time (which remains my favorite DH record). Anyhow, I think they tried and somewhat succeeded to be a bit too eclectic, at the expense of success. They tried to fashion themselves as the heirs to Led Zeppelin, what with the softer songs, more complex compositions and Sean Harris' soulful vocals.
yeah they went in a too mainstream direction, if they would have continued or gone in a more aggressive direction they would have been bigger today. Cheers!
It would probably take about a month to go through the Motörhead discography. Then the painful task of ranking them. The video probably take about three months of work.
Sean Harris is the weakest link. Here is a video of him and Robin George being a soft rock INXS with Sean doing his best Michael Hutchence impression (trigger warning: this video may hurt your eyes, ears and brain): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-maFhAgA_d-U.html And here is Sean's stab at recording a footballing anthem for an England World Cup squad, as a solo 'singer/songwriter', about 7 years ago: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bbjNVYqPMo4.html Enjoy.
All the albums with Sean Harris are good, and everything else is crud. Harris's best vocal performance is actually on Death & Progress but the music drags it down a bit.
Yeah I would expect some fans to think so, since those albums are heavier than death and progress and canterbury. But for me those are so different sounding so it's like it's another band.
Borrowed Time is worth getting for the cover art, something to look at while you play Lightning to the Nations. Canterbury is awful , but not as bad as Jaguar - This Time. Some of the NWOBHM bands decided to go all out New Wave as in Duran Duran not New Wave of British Heavy Metal. In all honesty Canterbury was on skill and creative level a big success, but on a Metal perspective it was a complete failure. It was mainly acoustic guitar and crooning vocals, not in the cool early Led Zeppelin style, but kind of like a U2 unplugged vibe. Almost ahead of it's time, Dinosaur JR , and REM fans would love Canterbury. It was KISS the Elder but a 100 times less hip . Diamond Head went from Proto Thrash to Alternative College Yacht Rock for the Trenchcoat mouse haired trendy 1980s Dance Club David Bowie worshippers . Unfortunately for Diamond Head, the audience that Canterbury catered to wouldn't have even dreamed of even looking at a Diamond Head album in a Record Store. That is if they were even lucky enough to find a copy
The NWOBHM was not kind to many bands. Iron Maiden ignored the mainstream and focused on technicality and pushing boundaries, and the fans followed. Def Leppard went commercial, but also had the image and quality pop hooks to pull it off. Saxon (next ranking video?) went through patches, but survived through sheer longevity and latter-period consistency. Every other band from that scene it seems either were too edgy or imageless to garner widespread attention, had frequent lineup changes and therefore had no identifiable classic full lineups to idolize, or attempted to go commercial without understanding the first thing about how to go about it. In many cases, after one or two promising albums, it's all three, mixed with terrible management and business decisions. Such is the case with Diamond Head.
Yeah, it was practically dead just a few years after it took off. Mainly because traditional metal as a whole almost disappeared in the mid eighties and a lot of bands flirted with more melodic sounds inspired by everyone from Def Leppard to Europe.
Will you do any album rankings on any modern metal bands from the 2000’s? Like Trivium, Disturbed or Bullet For My Valentine for example? I like to see you do one on any of those bands.
@@RuthlessMetalYT I'd say way more than half. A LOT more. Metallica made not only Diamond Head a 'known' act but they also did the same to Misfits/Danzig and also Faith No More just by wearing their t-shirts in almost every promo pic mid-80's.
