As the fortieth anniversary of DIAMOND HEAD‘s 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 and pitched it to Adam Parsons (Siren Management): to re-record the whole album with the band’s current lineup and bring the songs into the twenty-first century.

The result — Lightning To The Nations 2020 — is quite simply, a scintillating shot of fresh metal vigor, with DIAMOND HEAD utilizing all their skill, experience, and revitalized energy and breathing so much new life into these freshly recorded takes, it feels like experiencing the earth shaking all over again. Lightning To The Nations 2020 is set for release via Silver Lining Music on November 27th.

“Am I Evil?” is the second single to be released from the album. Founding member Brian Tatler reminisces: “‘Am I Evil?’ is one of the songs that Metallica covered. I got a call from Lars Ulrich on September 20th,1986 to say that Metallica were playing that evening as part of the Master Of Puppets tour, at the Birmingham Odeon which was the best venue in the Midlands to see bands. Lars invited me along, so I caught the number nine bus, picked up my backstage pass, and was shown into Metallica’s dressing room. I was then introduced to James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, and Cliff Burton. Lars suggested that I get up and play ‘Am I Evil?’ on stage with them in the encore. I, of course, agreed and, after watching their amazing set for an hour, I went backstage again where the guitar techs strapped James’ white Flying V onto me. Then Lars ran to the center-vocal mic and introduced me as, ‘the guy who wrote this next song!’ The five of us played ‘Am I Evil?’ up to the fast section then Metallica went into ‘Damage, Inc.’ and I scarpered off stage. It was a brilliant experience!”

Recorded over several sessions between various locations from France to band member home studios, Lightning To The Nations 2020‘s central hub was vocalist and producer Rasmus Bom Andersen’s Raw Sound Studios in London. It’s where Tatler and Andrew “Abbz” Abberley did the guitars in February and March of this year. 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.

“How I hear music when I produce is that I look for a certain density and weight, because that’s what I want;” says Andersen. “I want it to be like a brick house that literally lands on your face when you listen to it. And there are techniques and methods to do that. To me, that’s a lot of layers. It’s about emphasizing certain parts and making a dynamic shift. In 1980 you had very different recording capabilities.”

Lightning To The Nations 2020 will unite fans worldwide with a genuine genesis point for modern heavy metal music, and DIAMOND HEAD is delighted to have the chance to celebrate in such a powerful, potent, and present way. As if these carefully shaped recordings weren’t enough, there are four supreme cover versions rounding out the release. This edition sees 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