DIEMONDS – The Bad Pack
Diemonds are fully, unabashedly old school hard rock. Anyone who was of age in the late 80’s will immediately feel the pull of nostalgia listening to The Bad Pack. (I spent many a night on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood way back then, and if I close my eyes listening to this album, I can almost smell the hairspray.) This band is big hair, tight jeans and loud guitars. To add to the mix, there is something both alluring and seductive about a woman fronting a hard rock band. Her name is Priya Panda, and sure, she fits the hard rock girl stereotype (impossible tight and skimpy stage wear), but she backs it up with a voice to prove that she’s both show AND go. You want attitude? Listen to her vocals in Get The Fuck Outta Here (yeah, that’s the title of the song — talk about attitude!).
Take On The Night and Left for Dead are two other standout tracks on the album. The way Panda strains ever so slightly while reaching for the highest notes injects drama and passion into her singing. Guitarists Daniel DeKay and C.C. Diemond (how’s that for an 80’s metal name?) do a great job of playing with enough force and energy to drive the songs, while not falling into the cliché of overplaying, a trap that’s easy to fall into for bands of this category. Drummer Aiden Tranquada and bass player Tommy Carvalho energetically round out the group.
This album is so much fun to listen to because, well, it’s so much fun to listen to — which sounds rather odd until you really stop and think about it. There are no pretensions, no big egos, no expectations of grandeur. No need to overanalyze the lyrics or decipher complex chord changes or solos. It’s recorded using the old hard rock trick of the bass doubling the rhythm guitars, which gives the album a very powerful feel. Just good, honest, loud, old-school style hard rock.
Click here to purchase The Bad Pack.
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I AGREE 100%. Liv of Sister Sin is amazing also.