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DIAMOND CHAZER
Starriders

Fighter (2022)
Rating: 8/10

Fighting out of the corner of Colombia, this five-piece serves up a delicious slice of metal wrapped in an equally engaging slap of cover art.

Diamond Chazer is the sort of 80s metal worship you want in your life, and while there is always that air of predictability Starriders remains fun and communicative throughout and doesn’t pretend to be something it is not.

A few questions could be raised over the vocals of Stiven Giraldo. He’s not the strongest out there when it comes to pipe delivery, although there’s a certain charm to his tone as he leads us through the stark wasteland of the choppy ‘Highway To Our Dreams’ and the bristling design of ‘The Pact’. But if anything, it’s Giraldo’s keyboards which provide the most colour.

By such implants the album is at times given an obscure cosmic vibe and even an air of the grandiose, particularly on ‘Cosmic Samurai’. But there’s a degree of nostalgic murkiness too as evidenced on the extravagant instrumental ‘A.R.C.A.D.E’ and the more Gothic trends of ‘Alucarda’ which gallops with ghoulish pride.

I wouldn’t go as far to say that Diamond Chazer are original but they have a strange, unorthodox zest about their play; effortlessly dazzling us with the majestic trundle of ‘The Void’ while harking back to speedier 80s fire with another instrumental ‘Into The Vortex’.

There’s always room for improvement here, but if you want a riveting slice of metal that’s littered with odd little variations and charm then I’d suggest spending your hard earned cash on this.

Neil Arnold

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