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DIAMOND DUST
Ten Years In Dust

Self-released (2022)
Rating: 4/10

Diamond Dust is a Croatian act that has apparently been in existence since 2007, although they are a new name on my radar. To be honest, I haven’t missed much… Ten Years In Dust has that generic thrash metal sound with tinny drums, standard axe work and muscular vocal shouts that lack personality.

The grandiose moments, as showcased in opening track ‘Martyr’, typify everything I despise about modern metal; cold, clinical patterns and a chorus bordering on mid-90s groove-cum-nu metal dreariness.

I certainly won’t knock Diamond Rust for trying as they are clearly five accomplished musicians who’ve been around the block, but there’s just no identity to this overlong offering that spans 55 minutes.

‘Eastern Sin’, just like the rest, lacks weight and feels too clinical. Vocally there’s a struggle going on, and it’s often tuneless and this is just on repeat throughout. But if I had to dredge the lake to look for favourite songs then maybe the racing ‘Other Side’, maybe ‘Final Walk’ with its catchy chugs, or maybe ‘Echoes Of My Name’ which offers a Metallica-styled assault and finally brings out the best in the percussionist. However, wherever I go with this I just feel empty and unfulfilled.

Elsewhere, the title track provides some solid tempo shifts, ‘Death In Our Sight’ again flirts with Metallica and Megadeth stylings of catchiness, and ‘Castaway Shadow’ follows suite with similar structures. And that’s the problem, it’s just regurgitative modern thrash metal lacking conviction; it’s not organic enough, it’s not fiery, merely tepid from top to bottom and by the halfway stage I’m bored of it.

Diamond Rust have left it too long to go back to the drawing board and seem stuck in a rut whereby they’ve resorted to pale thrash metal dynamics.

Neil Arnold

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