I think that nowadays it’s impossible for a band, or artist to hide his, or her face. Still, Diamonds Hadder’s singer is doing a great job. Note that the band doesn’t have a Facebook account.
What draws you in immediately is their epic element and the majestic way their compositions develop. On the first spin old Queensryche, Warlord, and Dio came to mind, actually your only chance to get a glimpse of Diamond Hadder band members is the video of “Stargazer”.
Singer and leader, John Evermore, is gifted with the ultimate classic heavy metal voice. He’s got volume, a range that allows him to go from high to low register and the way he sings is just so evocative. Every word that’s coming out of his mouth sounds magical. Think about a cross between Dio, Geoff Tate and Bob Catley. From the sparse info I managed to find most of the band members are session players with a rich CV on the other side of the Atlantic, like for example guitarist Doug Weiand.
Long durations don’t seem to bother them, since all the songs in the album are long and don’t follow the recipe of chorus-bridge-chorus. Guided by their affection to melody they take us on a journey to imaginary places where darkness prevails. Chilling choirs and atmospheric intros create a nightmare kind of mood, while the guitar riffs are gigantic and the solos devastating. Most importantly it sounds like everything in “Beyond The Breakers” makes sense and have a reason. For example, “Evermore” is a masterpiece, which runs for more that 14 minutes and it couldn’t have been not even a second shorter. The tempo changes, the choir parts are amazing, there’s some narration, a mix of styles… just epic!
