Wow, where do I start with an album like this? Lightning to the Nations (a.k.a. the White Album) is Diamond Head's 1981 debut album. It's also a quintessential New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) album and a hugely influential one at that. It definitely made an impression on Metallica back in the day, as they've since covered multiple songs off of this album. I'd put it up there with Iron Maiden, Wheels of Steel, Angel Witch and maybe Loose 'n' Lethal.
Diamond Head essentially built on a foundation of Deep Purple and Black Sabbath and added their own crazy sense of speed, energy and drama. If you subtracted all of the blues elements from Led Zeppelin's sound and crystallized the metal elements left over, you'd probably come close to Diamond Head's unique sound. Listen to Sean Harris' soaring, dramatic vocals over Brian Tatler's wild riffing and you can totally understand how Diamond Head and the rest of the early 80's British metal acts completely re-wrote the heavy metal playbook. "Lightning to the Nations", "Am I Evil?", "It's Electric", "Helpless" - nearly every song on this album is a classic.
Naturally it was Castle - who has totally set the standard for high quality NWOBHM reissues - that issued the definitive version of Lightning to the Nations. Housed in an all white embossed slipcase, the reissued album features brilliant digitally remastered sound and a host of bonus tracks. The seven bonus tracks - some classics in their own right - are mostly b-sides from the album's various singles. The inlay is actually a big foldout with the lyrics on one side and a band history/biography/critical analysis by Classic Rock Magazine's Dave Ling on the other. It also includes some rare photos and early press clippings.
If you're a fan of the NWOBHM scene in particular, British metal in general, or just a student of metal history, you really need to have Lighting to the Nations in your collection, and this deluxe reissue is the best way to get it.
