DIAMOND HEAD released their debut album, "Lightning to the Nations," on October 3rd, 1980 through Happy Face Records, recorded that March at the Old Smithy in Worcester and produced by Reg Fellows. Happy Face belonged to Old Smithy owner Muff Murfin, and the band went with it because no major label would fully commit, while contemporaries like IRON MAIDEN and DEF LEPPARD were already becoming household names. It was issued in a plain white sleeve with no title or track listing, which is why it is still known as The White Album, and only later named after its opening song. Seven tracks, forty-one minutes, and among them "Am I Evil?," "The Prince" and "Helpless" — three songs METALLICA would later cover and effectively carry into the mainstream. Few debut albums in metal have been so quietly influential.
