Diamond Head may not be the same sort of household name that their contemporaries such as Judas Priest and Iron Maiden became during the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, but their influence is every bit as strong, if not more so. Diamond Head were among the first bands to experiment with marrying the raw power and speed of punk to heavy metal. The resulting sound would provide the building blocks of the thrash movement that lay just a few years away with Mercyful Fate, Metallica, and Slayer. Such was the influence of Diamond Head on this fledgling scene that Metallica would cover Diamond Head’s classic “Am I Evil?” on their very first album.

Check out this promo clip for Diamond Head’s original version of “Am I Evil?” from their landmark 1980 debut album Lightning to the Nations.