Review: Diemonds – ‘The Bad Pack’

 

Diemonds have a great sound and even on this studio album, you can feel that they must pack a lot of heat as a live band: there’s so much raw power and energy contained here, just bursting out of the speakers.

By Maria Haskins   Toronto-band Diemonds’ album The Bad Pack speeds out of the gate like a bike out of hell, trailing fire and smoke, and doesn’t stop to catch its breath until it’s all over with the final track. From start to finish, Diemonds plays it fast, hard, dirty, and rough. Sleaze rock, heavy metal, punk-twisted rock – whatever you want to call it, this is rock with a raunchy, jagged edge. The band has a rip-roaring, guitar-driven sound with C.C. Diemond and Tommy Carvalho on guitar, backed up by Aiden Tranquada on drums, and Tommy Carvalho on bass. All of this musical mayhem is glitzed up by Priya Panda’s strong voice, honing the sound of this band just a little sharper, and adding an extra rocket boost of energy and attitude. The first track “Take on the night” is my favorite track. It shows off the best of Diemonds, all revved-up energy and edginess, with a great guitar-riffy entrance skidding and sliding off the start-line, and an old-school, almost 80s-flavored, hooky chorus. The same energy carries on right into the raw and rough “Lil’ Miss” and “Loud n’ nasty”, with Panda putting a good sneer into the vocals. There are no ballads on this album – just full-on, full-bore rocking out with the guitars screaming and the drums and bass coming on heavy and hard behind. Highlights for me, apart from “Take On The Night” are the hard and heavy “Get The Fuck Outta Here”, with Panda’s vocals adding a bold brashness that makes it taste just right. “Overboard” is another keeper, and “Left For Dead” has a heavy swinging beat to it that is addictively rocking. Power-rocking track “Livin’ Tonight” is just over 2 minutes long but it packs a lot of punch in that short space. Final track “Mystery” starts off slower than any of the other tracks on the album, but there’s a heavy bass in the slowness, putting some weight into the tune before the guitars rip through. Then it speeds with some burning hot riffs and this is a terrific get-me-ready-to-party track. Diemonds have a great sound and even on this studio album, you can feel that they must pack a lot of heat as a live band: there’s so much raw power and energy contained here, just bursting out of the speakers. The Bad Pack is this Toronto band’s second album, after an EP released in 2008 titled “In The Rough”. They’ve been touring quite extensively in the US and Canada in 2012, and even opened for Steel Panther in August. Verdict: If you like it dirty, fast, and hard, you should check this album out ASAP.   Diemonds: official web-page / Twitter / Facebook Maria Haskins’ Real Rock And Roll: Website / Twitter

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