Diamond Plate United States

"The guys may be very young, but they play thrash metal like veterans. The album draws exclusively on classic thrash metal from before the early 90s (with some influences from traditional metal and power metal, too), and the Diamond Plate boys really know their classic thrash metal.

All the tracks on the album are full of conventions from good old thrash metal, and the seasoned thrasher will recognize references to acts like Testament, Megadeth, Metallica, Artillery, Slayer and so on when listening through the album. The riffage is absolutely crushing on this album, falling under the rubric of classic thrash-style riffing and, had this album been released in the 80s, it would definitely have been a thrash metal classic now.

I quite like the guitar solos which are both shreddy and melodic and, it sounds like the band's two guitarists have been studying the style of Kirk Hammett, which results in some tasty and enjoyable, slightly retro, guitar solos.

While the music-side will probably appeal a lot to older thrasher, the vocals might be harder to swallow, as they sound a bit like Kreator-gone-metalcore. The screaming style obviously suits the aggressive music very well, and it might also appeal to younger metal fans, so perhaps it is not all that bad after all.

In any case, this album is a true thrash metal treasure and recommended to all fans of old school trash metal.

(review originally posted at metalmusicarchives.com)"