Chicago’s Diamond Plate have recently signed with Earache for their first full-length, Generation Why? Opening with a collage of news headlines from around the world, ‘Entertainment Today’ paints a vivid picture of the west’s media-saturated environment. Thus, Generation Why? is the depiction of modern man’s weltschmertz, or, rather, an attempt at it. Across the tracks can be heard the occasional Metallica and Pantera influence, as are hints “-core”, but in comparison with, say, Lazarus A.D. or Warbringer (who they will be touring the USA with soon), musically – more so vocally – Diamond Plate still have a way to go.

 

Jon Macak is the Achilles’ heel of the group, doing little to variegate from his one-dimensional vocal sound. On the upside – and indeed the saving grace of the album – is Konrad Kupiec, a guitarist with a feel for depth who does much to colour the tracks.

 

Together, the band writes music that more than occasionally but not quite enough shines. Take ‘Pull the Trigger’ and ‘At the Mountains of Madness’ for examples of how Diamond Plate can extract the best from the tried-and-tested and create something truly impressive.

 

Also worthy of mention is closing track, ‘Empire Tomorrow’, which at almost nine minutes long, allows Diamond Plate to exhibit their combined creativity and musicianship (and to provide the epic tune that seems to be obligatory for thrash bands, maybe in an attempt to prove themselves as “musicians”). But the notable instrumental ‘More Than Words’ confirms that Diamond Plate would be better off with a less, shall we say, “dynamically-challenged” vocalist.

 

With many of the tricks of the metal trade in place, such as shifts in time signatures, grooves aplenty, multi-layered and gang vocals, Generation Why? begs that very question: why? Why isn’t this a great album? The reason is that there is little new here. There are a myriad of “thrash revivalists” out there and only a few – Evile and the aforementioned Warbringer, for instance – who are doing it justice and Diamond Plate are doing little to differentiate themselves from the horde. This should and could be better. A better than average debut.