Metallica have covered Diamond Head’s Am I Evil? with help from the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal favourites’ founding guitarist Brian Tatler.
The team-up took place yesterday (June 26) during Metallica’s headline spot at the Tons Of Rock festival in Oslo, Norway.
Watch footage of the performance below.
Metallica co-founders James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich are longtime Diamond Head fans, and the band recorded a cover of Am I Evil? for the b-side of their 1984 single Creeping Death.
They’ve since performed the Diamond Head track live 791 times, according to setlist wiki setlist.fm.
Tatler has since said that the royalties and notice that came from Metallica covering Am I Evil? helped to keep Diamond Head afloat.
“I think if Metallica hadn't covered Diamond Head […] I may have looked elsewhere for employment,” the guitarist told Metal Pilgrim in 2022 (via Blabbermouth).
“I think it would have been harder to keep Diamond Head going without that introduction to their fanbase. ’Cause that record sold millions of copies – versions of Am I Evil? have sold millions of copies through Metallica – and so, so many more people know Diamond Head thanks to Lars and co.
“And it may be that a lot of the opportunities that we get now would not be there without that Metallica connection. So I’m eternally grateful.”
Metallica famously covered Am I Evil? with the other bands in thrash metal’s Big Four – Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax – in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 2010.
The band are still playing across Europe as part of their 2024 tour and will headline Hellfest in Clisson, France, on Saturday (June 29).
For Metallica’s full live schedule this year, see below.
Diamond Head released their latest album, Lightning To The Nations 2020, four years ago. The album is a re-recording of the band’s 1980 debut, including Am I Evil?, and features a cover of Metallica’s No Remorse as a bonus track.
Metallica 2024 live dates:
Jun 29: Clisson Hellfest, France
Jul 05: Warsaw PGE Narodowy, Poland
Jul 07: Warsaw PGE Narodowy, Poland
Jul 12: Madrid Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano, Spain
Jul 14: Madrid Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano, Spain
Aug 02: Foxborough Gillette Stadium, MA, USA
Aug 04: Foxborough Gillette Stadium, MA, USA
Aug 09: Chicago Soldier Field, IL, USA
Aug 11: Chicago Soldier Field, IL, USA
Aug 16: Minneapolis US Bank Stadium, MN, USA
Aug 18: Minneapolis US Bank Stadium, MN, USA
Aug 23: Edmonton Commonwealth Stadium, Canada
Aug 25: Edmonton Commonwealth Stadium, Canada
Aug 30: Seattle Lumen Field, WA, USA
Sep 01: Seattle Lumen Field, WA, USA
Sep 20: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
Sep 22: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
Sep 27: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
Sep 29: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
