Being a young male with no memories of what Diamond Head were and what happened to them this was an interesting CD to listen to, I won't lie, I bought it because I love Metallica and there are five songs from Diamond Head on Garage Inc. Four of which are on this CD with the exception of The Prince which is sadly missed.
There are a handfull of bands whose lead singers are naturally amazing singers, people who were, clearly, born to sing. Bruce Dickinson is one of these people. James Hetfield of Metallica is not one of these people, his vocal range has been tested and pushed so he can become the incredibly capable singer he is today. When you listen to Sean Harris you know that he is a born singer. I have seen him live, recently, and he seems to strut about the stage totally unaware of the amazing vocal performance that he is giving. I saw in a bar with a capacity of about three hundred people with his remaining member from this album Brian Tatler who is the lead guitarist. What a crying shame, Diamond Head had all the songs, they had the most unbelievable talent, great drumwork, blistering solos and rythm parts, and the most amazing singer, so what went wrong? This album is a clear indication of what did go wrong as it is like listening to two or even three completely different styles of music.
It's Electric sounds like it starts halfway through the intro but it is nonetheless a brilliant opener with slightly cheesy lyrics and, despite being a better singer, Harris's vocals are inferior to Hetfield's performance on Garage Inc. This is the only song be inferior to the Metallica cover.
Shoot Out The Lights, an obvious inspiration for Hit The Lights, is a fairly average song with an almost very good guitar riff and an average, pretty thoughtless chorus.
Helpless is a lengthy classic, clocking in at under seven minutes it has about a million different, brilliant parts which are all catchy and not boring, the drum intro is a particular highlight. The lyrics here are pretty similar to It's Electric, talking about how they want to be amazing rock stars, ironically enough.
Sucking My Love is just too long but features a brilliant guitar riff which is repeated about a million times. Without the repetition it would be a cracking song. This intro is an exact template for No Remorse.
Call Me, again, is catchy but with pretty silly lyrics, overall this song is alright with an excellent refrain.
Borrowed Time and In The Heat Of The Night are the first songs to show some lyrical prowess with brilliant vocals and excellent guitar solos. Borrowed Time is a better song with the most unbelievably catchy refrain and the most touching verse melody. I enjoy Saun Tatler's scream/singer over guitar riffs, seen for the first time here. I've heard an In The Heat Of The Night acoustic version which has a much better vocal line for the chorus but it is still a cracker of a song.
Lightning To The Nations is my favourite song on the album, probably tied with The Prince for my favourite Diamond Head song. Vocals are probably some of the best vocals I've ever heard here. Tatler showing off his unique voice and one word melodies over the chorus and intro. It feels like you are being lifted out of your seat when you hear this chorus. The verse is an obvious template for the chorus for Where Ever I May Roam by the way.
Am I Evil, Vocals wise isn't as strong, but in pure strength, head banging brilliance and outstanding lyrics, (My mother was a witch, she was burned alive, thankless little bitch, for the tears I cried) it outstrips Lightning... because of it's two extremely strong parts which could be two songs. When Diamond Head played this live it was the best song I've ever heard live, absloutly phenomenal. These two songs see Diamond Head at their best.
Makin' Music could be mistaken, Guitar wise, for an AC/DC song. It seems that the great lyrics has been forsaken for slightly cheesy rock and roll instead of hard rock. This is where Diamond Head clearly faulted, comitting suicide with their careers by changing their sound. This is still a brilliant song and it shows how diverse Diamond Head can be. I cannot imagine Metallica pulling off something like this, or Iron Maiden for that matter.
Out Of Phase provides half the chorus lyrics for Nothing Else Matters in the first line but this sounds like The Grateful Dead, Ok it's a great song but Diamond Head must have known they were investing in risky business.
Ishmael Dives into eastern philosophy and it's good to see some intelligent, meaningfull lyrics after the obvious feel good factor of the last two songs. I wonder how hard it is to guess where Metallica got the riff for Fade To Black from after listening to this. A slight let down in the chorus doesn't change the great atmosphere of this song.
To The Devil His Due is a melancholy song which is a great way to finish this album off. Think Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution with feeling and profound lyrics and you have a template for this song.
To compare Diamond Head to other bands is hard because they changed their sound so much so it cannot be said that they are better than certain bands. If you compare them to Iron Maiden then in some respects they kick their arses. Tatler may be an inferior singer to Dickinson, only just, but his melodies are much better. The solos are blistering form Tatler and Harris, Gerrs and Smith would be hard pressed to provide any solos as good as Am I Evil and Sucking My Love. The bass is clearly better with Iron Maiden being a bass driven band as are the drums in Maiden. I used to think that Metallica were phenomenal but after listening to this you realise that there sound is heavily plaugerised and that one of the best riffs ever, For Whom The Bell Tolls, is clearly almost the same as a song written ten years before it, Am I Evil? Metallica are still a great band with better lyrics but in some respects, vocal melodies, riffs writing capabilities are clearly much more original and just better.
It's a crying shame that Diamond Head are not the giants that they sould be, having spoken to the band I have seen that they are humbled people but what a kick in the shins playing in front of sixty thousand people with Metallica playing songs they wrote and then having a fifteen year old kid wishing them the knid of success they deserve in their careers. What an injustice, is there something wrong with the world? Obviously but this band are great and should be held in higher regard than Metallica, Guns n' Roses and Megadeth mainly because they were clearly an inspiration. Iron Maiden were the band to profit out of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, Diamond Head should be there with them. I was in two minds as to wether to buy this album but this is an absoloute must for any metal fan for two reasons.
The first is that this band are on the brink of poverty and they have contributed so much to the world of music that they deserve your support and respect and the second is that this is a blistering album with the best versions of these songs recorded, so in short Maiden rock and so do Metallica but Diamond Head rock just as hard so buy this and find out where Metallica come from, or just buy it and listen to the only British hard rock band (N.B. I consider Led Zeppelin rock and not hard rock or else they would be in this list as well, ditto Sabbath I'm afraid and Judas Priest are nowhere near as good as Iron Maiden in my opinion) to rival Iron Maiden, or just buy it because it's absoloutely classic and brilliant.

Iron Maiden started life as a bit of a freak show in the east end and went from relative obscurity to conquering the world with this breakthrough album along with Number Of The Beast. Frankly, Di'annio sucks compared to Dickinson, who is, possibly the best singer ever put down on any musical format. You look at these reality T.V. shows where the country is combed for the best singers imaginable but Dickson could take them all outside, metaphorically, and kick their arses. This album proves it.

Aces High is a splendid opener with a refrain that is as catchy as it is relavant to the song title, with some brilliant harmonics at the vital point. The main riff is high, so high, in fact, that the guy from Sepultura couldn't play it as it is on the top two strings of the guitar. A wierd structure though, intro, verse, chorus, solo, verse, chorus, something like Billion Dollar Babies but a brilliant song.
Two Minutes To Midnight is a fantastic affair with the best lyrics of any Maiden song ever and a main riff that is simple but nonetheless brilliant and the best ever dynamic changes (after the solo) that I've ever heard in metal. Dickinson soars above the roar with an amazing chorus, painting the picture of a nuclear holocaust which seems frighteningly real.
Losfer Words (Big 'Orra) is a terrible name which could've been quite good without those terrible brackets. Sometimes the brackets work (Sanitarium, for instance) but not when they are filled with stupid meaningless abbreviations, what's an 'Orra anyway? Is it some kind of cockney way of saying horror? Apart from that this is a class instrumental beaten only by Call Of The Ktulu and the Megadeth Duke Nukem theme tune which are both brilliant.
Flash of the Blade is a great song, though with cheesy lyrics and a verse which leaves a lot to be desired, the chorus is brilliant and gives Dickinson a chance to show off his vibrato. A great riff is also present which is countered by another one at the end which sounds awesome.
The Duellists is basically the archetype sound for this album with a riff that sound like everything that came before and afterwards, a great verse is ruined by a cheesy chorus with awful lyrics. Maybe The Duellist's verse should be combined with Flash Of The Blade's chorus and the idiocy of two swordfighting songs could be avoided. Seriously, you have Aces High which is about dogfighting and then 2 Minutes....... which is about genocide and nuclear war and then you have two songs about swordfighting, the gradiose of this album sinks down.
Luckily, though, Back in the Village is a cool song though still slightly riddled with some silly lyrics. Dickinson sounds brilliant on this and the line 'Shellshock in the kitchen' is a stroke of genius.
The title track, apparently is semi-autobiographical by Dickinson which makes you question his slight vanity, 'I don't want to die, I'm a God, why can't I live on?'........subtle. It a very good song though and in true Maiden fashion Dickinson puts on his most evil voice box and tears through the verse. The main riff is poor though, alright for a verse riff but couldn't a better one have been written also the pre-chorus sounds very familiar.......
The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner sounds like a terrible idea, a fourteen minute song based on the poem by Samuel Coleridge. On the contrary the riffs and vocal melodies are strong and varied enough to keep this song afloat and a particular highlight is the quote 'Day after Day, dad after day we're stuck with breath nor motion, as Idle as a painted ship upona painted ocean. Water, Water everywhere and all the boards did shrink, Water, Water everywhere nor any drop to drink.' The best quote possible from the poem. This is my favourite song on the album with Dickinson on top form and the grandiose of Maiden shining through. A song fit to cross blades with Hallowed Be Thy Name and a song that, in it's adaptation, beats the hell out of The Thing That Sould Not Be.
After this album Maiden went on the brilliantly titles 'World Slavery Tour' and secreted their reputation as the biggest metal outfit in the world and rightly so. This and the album before are essential for any fan of metal or rock in general. You can listen to all the Foo Fighters, Korn or System Of A Down albums for days on end and not fond the catchiness of Aces High, the terror of Two Minutes to Midnight and the sheer spectacle of The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner. Take your nu-metal records and sell them and buy this, Number Of The Beast, Paranoid, Rust In Peace, Led Zeppelin 4, Back In Black, Master Of Puppets and any Hendrix album and see what true rock is. Three months ago I hated this saying but since Brave New World and now this it means more than ever. Up The Irons.

Eric Arthur Blair I believe is Orwell's real name but Blairian does not have the same ring as "Orwellian". The towering figure of Big Brother staring at you all the time is an all to present fear as you are reading this book. Mainly this book does not leave you feeling afraid or even angry or even more possibly sad, it leaves you absoloutely hopeless, destroyed by the love that this man once had and the way that the party made them not love each other any more, the empty shells that they had become when they met again after the ministry of love. The synopsis of this book is Winston Smith is a thought criminal in an autocratic society but run by an autocrat who is never seen but only heard of. In this crazy world where he is being watched all the time he starts an affair with a significantly younger comrade called Julia and they are subsequently caught and tortured and made to love big brother the oppressor. The book is so discriptive it make you feel like you are alongside Winston as he falls in love and as he is tortured physically and mentally in the prison and when he doesn't trust his thoughts anymore because every sense in his body is in pain and the pain tells him to admit that 2+2 does really equal five. Something that makes this book even better is the collection of supported characters, some like Syme who is destined to die but still is an avid fan of the party, O' Brian is a brilliant character he is like Winston's alter-ego, the only difference is that he loves the party and Winston hates it. This is absoloutely amazing, hands down the best book that I have ever read and infinently superior to the classic Brave New World, to which this book is fairly derivetive. The main thing about this book is the feeling you get after reading it, utter hopelessness, a void that can only (as far as I know) be obtained by reading this book. Orwell's other books are worth reading as well, particularly Animal Farm, but this is the best. It will obliterate you.....in a good way.

I am not a fan of nu-metal, Limp Bizkit: losers, Linkin Park:...But finally, here is a convincing nu-metal act. Slipknot has to be broken in, this is true, you can't sit there and listen to sic and instantly be amazed. But once broken in the immidiate impact is amazing if shortlived. Sic is fantastic and here we witness the best lyrics on the album. Slipknot are not, however, famous for their lyrics, they are famous for their death metal attack on humankind and everything the like. This is perveyed in Eyeless which is in my view the best song on the album. Wait and Bleed is very good as well, seeing the first hint of a melody here. Surfacing has an amazing build up but the amazingly offensive chorus is incredibly general and will only delight the most easily pleased child. Spit it Out is the closest thing to a signature tune this band has. But then it all goes horribly wrong. Tattered and Torn, promising title? Sorry it's a noise, it doesn't fail to give me a headache every time. The album, like many similar to it, notably Metallica, does not recover and the only highlight from later in the album is Me Inside. Still it's a lot better than Iowa.

Johnny Depp is this film. Terry Gilliam directs competantly as always and Benidicio Del Toro is aptly convincing as Depp's attourney. Depp is no Brad Pitt, he does what he wants to do, not what's good for his image ...
The film is a laugh riot from the starting screams of "We can't stop here, this is bat country!" to the ending of Raoul's doped up face as he leaves Las Vegas. The film itself has basically no plot. Duke Raoul is sent on a journalistic assignment to Las Vegas and has his Samoan attourney accompany him. The thing that adds the icing on the cake to this film is Depp's narrative which is the funniest thing about this. Some of the trips are genuinly scary as Depp imagines himself and his attourney in a cell being sentenced to, "Castration,.....Double castration!" There is a genuinly touching moment as Raoul talks about the great acid wave of the sixties and stares out of the window and says: "And with the right kind of eyes you can see the place where the wave broke and finally rolled back." But this film is a comedy, a dark one maybe, but still a comedy, insanely funny, darkly brilliand and what's more totally and utterly convincing.

Firstly, this gets five stars because of the first video and the song. The second video is included, probably to make this long enough for people to pay any money for it at all. Lars introduces it, (why not Hetfield?) and explains it very well and makes it clear how this idea came about and why they did it. The video then kicks off and we see not a debeut you might expect from an already successfull thrash metal band. This is not that, gloomy and sinister as Joe is trapped in himself, his thoughts creep into your head and are perfectly complemented by the lyrics particularly in one part. "What does it mean?"
"S.O.S. help."
"LANDMINE!" This is awesome and the film must be brilliant , I have not seen it, however, but would expect brilliance. The second video is just the first without the film and with less music. Go out and get this, it will be a rareity in years to come.

This is the ultimate DVD music experience. The raw power of Cunning Stunts feel like a brush with a twig compared to the sheer awesomeness of this fantastic blend of the two classiest kinds of music. Starting with the fantastic ecstacy of Gold you can smell history being made. During Ktulu, Newtead, Hammet and Hetfield walk out onto the stage for the first time and the look on Hetfield's face says it all, he's ready and this is his night. The music doesn't stop at the end of Ktulu either a build up of pressure soars of into Master of Puppets, surely the best version ever, Hetfield pulls a fantastic face during the intro, and when the first words come out of his mouth you realize that he is no longer a mediocre or sub-par singer but one of the greats. He then first greets the croud. "D'ya hear the one about the rock band who wanted to play with the symphony?" He chuckles. But this is the only low point of the concert. His talking is boring after you first watch it, the profanity is almost non-existence and instead he fills the gaps with silly, non-whimsical statements, "Our parents our proud." And so on. This is besides the point because it is quite short in comparison to Cunning Stunts. The two monster songs come next, Of Wolf and Man and The Thing That Should Not Be, in neither of these songs does Michael Kamen's symphony or Hetfield's Metallica let up at all. No break again when revving up the car engine at the start of Fuel, Hetfield changing the way he sings the start is an improvement I think as he projects it better and the intro of that song is amazing with the symphony filling that gaps that were so visible before. No Leaf Clover the first new song comes next and this is the best on here, this is Hetfield's best singing ever and that's what it is, proper singing, changing from a heavy verse where his growl is nearer that of a pitbull terrier than a human being, then shifting gear to a melancholic brilliantly written chorus and back and forth and building up at one point to a fantastic solo. Some would say the Climax has come too early, but no there are several climaxes here. Hero of the Day sees Hetfield proving his vocals yet again with the Symphony following his vocals with the utmost brilliance. Devil's Dance is peformed well with the brass section handling the intro with class. To finish the superior first half off Bleeding Me which goes from a mellow riff of Hetfield's building up to the chorus which knocks you back with brilliance, Hammet puts in yet another fantastic solo and the orchestra knows exactly it's place here and lets the quartet do what it does best.
The second half as I said earlier is inferior but does offer a brilliant ending. Nothing Else Matters is certainly a brilliant choice to start it off but Hetfield gets lazy and doesn't hold matters on long enough and the whole end is missing as well. Until it Sleeps is where you realy notice Newstead for the first time banging his head and growling his way through the backing vocals. For Whom The Bell Tolls is a worthy song for any orchestra but a little short for such a good song, Hetfield's use of profanity here for the first time provides a burst of adrenaline as it's supposed to do. Next comes the rocking brilliance of Minus Human, with the orchestra starting off and Metallica storming in with a brilliant and effective riff. Hetfield once again sings very well here, this new song though is not a patch on Clover. Wherever I May Roam is competantly handled but the orchestra does not add much to this. Outlaw Torn for the first seven minutes is brilliant with Newstead performing very well with the backing vocals, but it withers away into a dull jam which the orchestra cannot pull it out of. Sad But True, the heaviest song comes next and as you might think the orchestra does not do well with this. The same is not true of the next song, highlight of the second half 'One' not because of the symphony or Hammet grueling solo, Newstead's much missed bass or Ulrich's awesome double-bass drum but Hetfield's vocals. They bring the point of this song across so well I was almost move to tears. Then the double fisted finale of Enter Sandman and the encore of Battery. Sandman is perfectly complemented by the orchestra and Battery's intro of the orchestra and yet another perfect pick up from the 'Tallica boys. Out of all of this you realize that the symphony would not have made this great by itself, Hetfield is the man here, this was his night and he shone through, he is the only unreplacable member of Metallica.
The extras come next, the doctumentary is very good and it seems as if Lars is extremely stoned during his last five interviews, however, he and Kamen made stupid, irrevelant and obvious points during it, "Some would say this is none other than a true blend of Metallica and Symphony." Well done Michael, work that out bu yourself did you? Hetfield and Newstead, as usual, are helpfull and insightfull into the whole symphony thing. The multi-camera angles are well picked songs but the real reason to buy this is the optional sound. The symphony on it's own is fantastic as is 'tallica on their own, but it's after you've watched these two seperately that you appreciate the splendour of the two together. In summation, don't but the CD that is madly mixed and suffers from the lack of picture, don't buy Cunning Stunts instead of this, there is no substitute, S&M is the best concert I have ever viewed and it will live in infamy long after Metallica are dead.