ANOTHER EXCELLENT UNSIGNED BAND: DIAMOND PLATE

The reader known as “culturevulture” e-mailed us to tell us he just this band Diamond Plate open for Behemoth – and apparently they killed.

I believe it. Bassist/singer Jon Macak’s choked vocals take some getting used to, but the music won me over right away. This is thrash that never sacrifices complexity for simple speed; it’s bludgeoning without being dumb. I’d wager that Justice-era Metallica has been a big influence on this band, and that they love Machine Head’s The Blackening; I think they’d seem perfectly at home on a tour with Revocation, even if they’re not quite yet at that band’s level of kick-assery.

Check out Diamond Plate on MySpace; I was especially impressed with the song “Relativity.”

-AR