With a start in 2005, guitarists Igor Manasijevic and Nejc Vidmar set about the arduous task of finding like-minded musicians in their native Slovenia to complete their heavy metal band Black Diamond. Taking quite a few years, the quintet (filled out with bassist Urban Medic, drummer Robert Kovacic, and vocalist Zanil Tataj Zak) finally entered a studio to record this debut 10 song album, the 65 minute “Last Man Standing”.
Much of Black Diamond’s sound is rich with classic, traditional influences, along with a slightly longer arrangement propensity, as 6 of the 10 tracks eclipse the 6 minute mark. You’ll get some of their cultural texture in the clean sections of “Hold Me Tonight”- a pure power ballad where Zanil stretches out some of the verses with dramatic pauses or in key note fluttering. Their name sake “Black Diamond” contains a few progressive textures, especially in the time signature juggling from Urban and Robert- while the guitar fluidity and riffing reminds me of classic Iron Maiden and self-titled album era Metallica. When the band go for a more compact arrangement like “The Edge of Sanity”- you get the feeling that the quintet dig for the balance between impressive guitar leads and this darker, mysterious texture to their chord choices- evoking feelings of Savatage meets Annihilator.
I do believe in the long run Black Diamond need to cut off some of the excessive instrumental sections to their songs- less is more in the traditional, classic metal world. Zanil will remind a lot of people of Bruce Dickinson in many parts, and overall this band really takes their influences and uses them as a springboard to create their own fresh sound. I’m going to be watching this act’s progress over the coming years.
01. Opus 91-96 (06:51)
02. The Edge Of Sanity (05:15)
03. Power Of Mind (06:00)
04. Dreams Of Tomorrow (07:35)
05. Hold Me Tonight (04:59)
06. Black Diamond (06:50)
07. The Thing That Couldn’t Die (06:26)
08. Lazne Zvezde (08:53)
09. Mastermind (05:37)
10. Tears In Eyes (05:23)
Igor Manasijevic: guitars/bass
Nejc Vidmar: guitars/bass
GUEST MUSICIANS
Zanil Tataj: vocals
Simon Jovanovic: vocals
Samo Urbancic: vocals
Sandra Tomovic: vocals
Mirko Jokic: bass
Robert Kovacic: drums
Sejla Usenik: violin
Password: Plotn08