Lightning To The Nations - Album Information

Album Information

Diamond Head's unique sound and quality of song writing gained enough attention to tour as support with AC/DC and Iron Maiden. Lightning to the Nations is probably the best Diamond Head album ever. Although a clutch of record companies fought to sign the band, none were willing to fully commit. The fact that the band was at the time managed by Sean Harris' mother (Linda Harris) did not help the band's commercial momentum. So, while other New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands were signed to major labels and were headlining their own tours, Diamond Head were growing increasingly impatient and decided that they would release their material through their own label, Happy Face Records.

The album was recorded within seven days at The Old Smythy Studio in Worcester, which the band described as 'dead'. This album came in a plain sleeve with no title, having on it only a signature of one of the band members and no track listings. The reason for this was that the band's manager, Reg Fellows, owned a cardboard factory and could produce blank sleeves at a low cost. Also, the reason for recording this album was an attempt to lay down some tracks so they could send it to a record company who would be more willing to release it, as the recording costs had already been covered; this idea came from Fellows and Linda Harris (Sean's mother and tour manager). There were originally only 1000 copies pressed of the album, which were only available at their concerts or through mail-order at a price of £3.50. In fact the only mail-order advertisement appeared in British music magazine 'Sounds' and ran for four weeks. However, the band did not pay for the ad and ended up being sued.

This album has become one of the most sought-after items from the time for record collectors. Later, 1000 more copies were pressed, which contained the track listings. Unfortunately, the only original one-and-a-quarter-inch master tapes were lost after the band sent them to the German record company Woolfe Records, and they were never returned. Although Woolfe Records did release the album, which is the version with a picture of the world burning on the front cover. However, in 2001 Sanctuary Records released the album along with bonus tracks containing all the B-sides of the early Diamond Head singles.