Black Diamond, East Vilage Arts Centre, Liverpool. May 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The one to watch in 2015 has delivered to the point of fanaticism, dispensed with the thought of possibility and served up the righteous at room temperature an allowed to boil well into the night. For Black Diamond this particular gig at the East Village Arts Centre was astonishing, a tour de force of explosive beauty coupled with the heat of derision and the portrayal of band who cannot surely be stopped.
When they stormed the 02 and Parr Street in 2014, there was just the small element of doubt lurking in the back of the mind that they surely could not get any more impressive, or as devastatingly loud as a satellite crashing into a mountain side whilst beaming out pictures of Metallica’s turbo enforced gig at the Seattle Coliseum, as the foursome managed on those two nights last year.
Thankfully being wrong is a habit that is relished by many fans when it comes to the young, as yet uncrowned princes of Liverpool’s Metal/Heavy Rock scene and whilst the personnel has changed slightly, the same driving roar of discontent and gathered bruising vocals that echoes in the back alleys of Liverpool’s music culture, is louder and as badly needed as it was when the band first shook their fist in anger.
With Daniel Byrne standing somewhere between the lyrical beauty that Cat Stevens/Yusef Islam brought to the stage, the stance and posture of Paul Kossoff and the vocal delivery of a man with a demon and an angel battling it over ten rounds for supremacy inside his genial being, this is a band who truly deserve the attention. Like coming up against a Warrant Officer in a bad mood, you have to listen.
With the superb additions of Seb Gibney and Adam Fairclough joining Paddy Cummins and Daniel Byrne in the band, there is so much to try and keep up with, the steam on the heels as the pounding marches with unstoppable precision driving home each entangled beat and the dedication to showing why it’s almost been a crime to have the genre so ignored over the years.
With tracks such as Down In Flames, Aeromancy, Elena, Cocky and the incredible set finisher of Stranglehold all being performed with diligence and more power found being siphoned off the electricity grid, Black Diamond are not just the band to watch out for in 2015, they are the group to bust the door apart, the splinters shearing off with attitude and meanness, they are the foursome to love.
A typically excellent set by Black Diamond!
Black Diamond support Dana Fuchs at the Robin 2 in Bilston on May 19th.
Ian D. Hall