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Trollheart · 07-04-2011, 05:17 PM

Borrowed time --- Diamond Head --- 1982 (MCA)

I know, I know! Again with the eighties albums! What can I say? They were my formative years, so I'm always going to look back kindly on the music of that period. Around the early 80s I was into my heavy metal period --- Iron Maiden, Saxon, Black Sabbath, Motorhead --- a real headbanger, I was! I was also into progressive rock, and this, the fourth album from Diamond Head, comfortably straddled both genres while never seeming out of place in either.

Known more for their out-and-out metal work on albums like “Lightning to the nations”, Diamond Head released “Borrowed time” in 1982, just as I was also at the height of my Michael Moorcock phase, reading all about the Eternal Champion, one facet of whom, Elric of Melnibone, forms the concept of this album. I couldn't have been happier! Sold!

Indeed, the sleeve for “Borrowed time” features a magnificent Rodney Matthews painting of Elric, Matthews having worked on the Moorcock book covers, and also well known in the rock world, having worked with the likes of Thin Lizzy, Tygers of Pan-Tang and Magnum to name but a few. The album cover, again a lavish gatefold sleeve, was reportedly the most expensive MCA had shelled out for up to that point. It's certainly eye-catching, and I'm sure it helped sell more than a few albums.

It starts as it means to go on, with a mid-paced cruncher, introduced by the powerful guitar work of Brian Tatler, until Sean Harris belts out the opening lines to “In the heat of the night”. There is a fantastic guitar solo at the end, and we crash into “To Heaven from Hell”, more of the same basic rhythm, with churning guitar and tortured vocals from Harris. Although this is a great album, I think it really suffers from a lack of keyboards. It's quite hard to make prog-rock without keys, and “Borrowed time”, great though it is, ends up coming across as an album that wants to be prog but is afraid to make the full conversion. The lyrics are cetainly worthy of any prog track though: ”On we go, up to the castle/ Death waits for our call/ Left unkempt, but quietly praying/ Remembers when to call .” The track speeds up halfway through and becomes a real metal workout, and as before, therein lies the problem with “Borrowed time”: it teeters on an edge between heavy metal and progressive rock/metal, never quite landing on one side or the other.

“Call me” is far more polished. It KNOWS it's a commercial song, a single, and has the hooks, the melody, the vocals that all bespeak airplay. It's also much shorter than those which have gone before. “Lightning to the nations” is actually a reissue of the title track of a previous album. It's heavy, fast and powerful, with a great boogie vibe and excellent vocals by Sean Harris. But as usual it's Brian Tatler's mesmeric guitar licks that carry the track. He, and Diamond Head, really deserved to do much better and be more successful than they turned out to be.

I recall Sean Harris talking in “Kerrang!” about how annoyed he was that people didn't know his band. As he tells it, the conversation would go thus:
“So, you're in a band then are you? What's it called?”
“Diamond Head.”
“Never heard of yer!”
It seems that the fans didn't like the new progressive direction Diamond Head were going in with this album and the follow-up, “Canterbury”, though I recall them both being excellent albums. I guess that explains, at least in part, why they aren't masters of the metal world.

To my mind, the album finishes on a trio of the best songs on the disc. The boys have, to coin a phrase, kept the best till last. The title track is a seven-minute epic telling the tale of Elric the Kinslayer, with urgent bass runs, dramatic guitar and as ever the passionate voice of Sean Harris weaving the tale. ”I have loved, I have lost/ I have killed those who have loved me so/ I have loved, at what cost/ Lord, I don't know!/ I'm living on borrowed time.” Great song, though again keyboards would really have embellished it and made it a true classic, I believe. It's followed by “Don't you ever leave me”, almost eight minutes long. To be honest, when it starts off it's nothing special, but halfway through Tatler ups the ante and delivers a truly soulful blues section, taking the song from the realm of the mundane into totally different territory. I'm actually really annoyed to find, playing the downloaded CD now, that it has a much shorter version of the track which doesn't include the blues part! Damn!

The closer is a blistering seven-minute-plus again, kicking in with a fantastic version of Holst's “Mars, the Bringer of War” from the “Planets” suite before it metamorphoses into a deft little riff and then takes off as “Am I evil?” gets going. More Black Sabbath than Black Sabbath, this is the song you've been waiting for. A tremendous closer and an example of what Diamond Head could do when they really tried.. ”As I watched my mother die I lost my head/ Revenge now I sought/ To break with my bread/ Taking no chances you'll come with me/ I'll split you to the bone/ I'll set you free.” As it progresses the song speeds up, till it's almost into thrash metal country. It's a great closer, and a final reminder, if one were needed, of the talent of Brian Tatler.

The NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) brought a lot of new bands to the public ear. Some went on and did really well (Iron Maiden, Def Leppard etc), some faded out and died (Quartz, Vardis, Trespass, Fist and hundreds more), and some, taking perhaps bad advice, tried to change at a time when metal was king, and their fans only wanted metal. Prog was, at that time, played by prog bands like Marillion and IQ, and although it would later branch out and reinvent itself as prog metal, this was not the time. Sadly, Diamond Head tried to be all things to all men, and it was their undoing. For all that, I still think “Borrowed time” stands as one of their greatest albums, and certainly showed, if nothing else, what they were capable of.

TRACKLISTING

1. In the heat of the night
2. To Heaven from Hell
3. Call me
4. Lightning to the nations
5. Borrowed time
6. Don't you ever leave me
7. Am I evil?

Suggested further listening: “Canterbury”

07-04-2011, 05:17 PM	#62 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,971	Borrowed time --- Diamond Head --- 1982 (MCA) I know, I know! Again with the eighties albums! What can I say? They were my formative years, so I'm always going to look back kindly on the music of that period. Around the early 80s I was into my heavy metal period --- Iron Maiden, Saxon, Black Sabbath, Motorhead --- a real headbanger, I was! I was also into progressive rock, and this, the fourth album from Diamond Head, comfortably straddled both genres while never seeming out of place in either. Known more for their out-and-out metal work on albums like “Lightning to the nations”, Diamond Head released “Borrowed time” in 1982, just as I was also at the height of my Michael Moorcock phase, reading all about the Eternal Champion, one facet of whom, Elric of Melnibone, forms the concept of this album. I couldn't have been happier! Sold! Indeed, the sleeve for “Borrowed time” features a magnificent Rodney Matthews painting of Elric, Matthews having worked on the Moorcock book covers, and also well known in the rock world, having worked with the likes of Thin Lizzy, Tygers of Pan-Tang and Magnum to name but a few. The album cover, again a lavish gatefold sleeve, was reportedly the most expensive MCA had shelled out for up to that point. It's certainly eye-catching, and I'm sure it helped sell more than a few albums. It starts as it means to go on, with a mid-paced cruncher, introduced by the powerful guitar work of Brian Tatler, until Sean Harris belts out the opening lines to “In the heat of the night”. There is a fantastic guitar solo at the end, and we crash into “To Heaven from Hell”, more of the same basic rhythm, with churning guitar and tortured vocals from Harris. Although this is a great album, I think it really suffers from a lack of keyboards. It's quite hard to make prog-rock without keys, and “Borrowed time”, great though it is, ends up coming across as an album that wants to be prog but is afraid to make the full conversion. The lyrics are cetainly worthy of any prog track though: ”On we go, up to the castle/ Death waits for our call/ Left unkempt, but quietly praying/ Remembers when to call .” The track speeds up halfway through and becomes a real metal workout, and as before, therein lies the problem with “Borrowed time”: it teeters on an edge between heavy metal and progressive rock/metal, never quite landing on one side or the other. “Call me” is far more polished. It KNOWS it's a commercial song, a single, and has the hooks, the melody, the vocals that all bespeak airplay. It's also much shorter than those which have gone before. “Lightning to the nations” is actually a reissue of the title track of a previous album. It's heavy, fast and powerful, with a great boogie vibe and excellent vocals by Sean Harris. But as usual it's Brian Tatler's mesmeric guitar licks that carry the track. He, and Diamond Head, really deserved to do much better and be more successful than they turned out to be. I recall Sean Harris talking in “Kerrang!” about how annoyed he was that people didn't know his band. As he tells it, the conversation would go thus: “So, you're in a band then are you? What's it called?” “Diamond Head.” “Never heard of yer!” It seems that the fans didn't like the new progressive direction Diamond Head were going in with this album and the follow-up, “Canterbury”, though I recall them both being excellent albums. I guess that explains, at least in part, why they aren't masters of the metal world. To my mind, the album finishes on a trio of the best songs on the disc. The boys have, to coin a phrase, kept the best till last. The title track is a seven-minute epic telling the tale of Elric the Kinslayer, with urgent bass runs, dramatic guitar and as ever the passionate voice of Sean Harris weaving the tale. ”I have loved, I have lost/ I have killed those who have loved me so/ I have loved, at what cost/ Lord, I don't know!/ I'm living on borrowed time.” Great song, though again keyboards would really have embellished it and made it a true classic, I believe. It's followed by “Don't you ever leave me”, almost eight minutes long. To be honest, when it starts off it's nothing special, but halfway through Tatler ups the ante and delivers a truly soulful blues section, taking the song from the realm of the mundane into totally different territory. I'm actually really annoyed to find, playing the downloaded CD now, that it has a much shorter version of the track which doesn't include the blues part! Damn! The closer is a blistering seven-minute-plus again, kicking in with a fantastic version of Holst's “Mars, the Bringer of War” from the “Planets” suite before it metamorphoses into a deft little riff and then takes off as “Am I evil?” gets going. More Black Sabbath than Black Sabbath, this is the song you've been waiting for. A tremendous closer and an example of what Diamond Head could do when they really tried.. ”As I watched my mother die I lost my head/ Revenge now I sought/ To break with my bread/ Taking no chances you'll come with me/ I'll split you to the bone/ I'll set you free.” As it progresses the song speeds up, till it's almost into thrash metal country. It's a great closer, and a final reminder, if one were needed, of the talent of Brian Tatler. The NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) brought a lot of new bands to the public ear. Some went on and did really well (Iron Maiden, Def Leppard etc), some faded out and died (Quartz, Vardis, Trespass, Fist and hundreds more), and some, taking perhaps bad advice, tried to change at a time when metal was king, and their fans only wanted metal. Prog was, at that time, played by prog bands like Marillion and IQ, and although it would later branch out and reinvent itself as prog metal, this was not the time. Sadly, Diamond Head tried to be all things to all men, and it was their undoing. For all that, I still think “Borrowed time” stands as one of their greatest albums, and certainly showed, if nothing else, what they were capable of. TRACKLISTING 1. In the heat of the night 2. To Heaven from Hell 3. Call me 4. Lightning to the nations 5. Borrowed time 6. Don't you ever leave me 7. Am I evil? Suggested further listening: “Canterbury” __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 11-04-2011 at 11:52 AM.