Release Date: November 27th 2020
Formats:
- CD Digipak
- Double Black Vinyl Album housed in Gatefold
- Digital Download
- Streaming
- Special D2C bundles
- Brian Tatler – Lead, Rhythm Guitars
- Rasmus Bom Andersen – Vocals, Orchestration, Additional Guitars
- Karl Wilcox – drums
- Andrew “Abbz" Abberley – Rhythm, Lead Guitars
- Dean Ashton – Bass, Organ
Lightning To The Nations 2020 is out now, via Silver Lining Music. Available in multiple formats, special D2C bundles, including a limited edition autographed ‘No Remorse’ poster. To listen and get your physical copy go to THIS LOCATION.
VITAL, venerated and vintage, when Diamond Head first released Lightning To The Nations 40 years ago in 1980, few could have predicted the importance it would carry -and establish- with regards to heavy metal’s new wave and sound. Stacked and packed with riffs, Lightning To The Nations would be one of the prime catalysts for a movement known as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM). It would also prove the premier template for a band who would become the biggest rock band on the planet, Metallica. But back then, in their humble Stourbridge UK home, Diamond Head had no real idea that the 7 songs they had recorded for that debut album would have such a reverberation.
As the 40th anniversary of Lightning To The Nations loomed, the album’s resonance and importance have long been established. A celebration was in order, thus in 2019 drummer Karl Wilcox devised an idea, pitched it to Adam Parsons (Siren Management), to re-record the whole album with this current line-up and bring the songs into the 21st Century. The result, Lightning To The Nations 2020, is quite simply, a scintillating shot of fresh metal vigour, with Diamond Head utilising all their skill, experience and revitalised energy to breathe so much new life into these freshly recorded takes, that it feels like experiencing the earth shaking all over again.
Recorded over several sessions between various locations -from France to band member home studios- Lightning To The Nations 2020 central hub was Andersen’s Raw Sound Studios in London. It’s where Brian and Abbz did the guitars in February and March of this year, and then with the COVID-19 chaos striking, Andersen worked on the album between April and July, with Tatler’s watchful ear inspecting final mixes and tweaks in early August before sending off to mastering at Metropolis Studios. It is, however, fair to say that the crunch, scream and crackle of the production is yet another feather in Andersen’s producer hat.
As if these carefully shaped recordings weren’t enough, there are four supreme cover versions rounding out the release, with Diamond Head spreading their wings and creating the heaviest of homages to Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Deep Purple and… Metallica. With Diamond Head having featured so heavily in Metallica’s early career, the cover of ‘No Remorse’ seems especially appropriate.
Lightning To The Nations 2020 Track Listing:
| 1. Lightning to the Nations |
| 2. The Prince |
| 3. Sucking My Love |
| 4. Am I Evil? |
| 5. Sweet and Innocent |
| 6. It’s Electric |
| 7. Helpless |
| 8. No Remorse |
| 9. Immigrant Song |
| 10. Sinner |
| 11. Rat Bat Blue |