I literally don’t know a whole bunch about Diamond other than the fact that they are from Long Island in New York. Built around the talents of guitarist Mitch Diamond they released this, their only self titled album back in ’86.
Melodic hard rock with big crunchy guitars is what dragged me in, having heard only the track Lonely In Love. Great song with the appropriate heavy riff and vocalist Matt La’Mour hitting all the notes. They are all decent enough songs but there is that special something missing that makes them great songs.
There are three stand out tracks: the already mentioned Lonely In Love, Rock The Nation (a very familiar kick ass riff with a groove that powers along, and a hands in the air chorus), and my favourite The Inatome. An instrumental track that is a sort of a hybrid Michael Schenker/Iron Maiden blast with a very metal groove.
There were tons of these bands that released records on obscure labels back in the day, just like a million bands on bandcamp today. It’s. a fun listen.
7/10 from The Grooveman.
