I think it was near the year 2008 when I first heard of this American Thrash Metal trio of made of kids from the states. I remember watching their debut studio video version of one of their hit songs, "At The Mountains Of Madness". Right from that moment I became their fan. These boys were playing hard and tremendously while showing off their Metal wits just like the big boys of Thrash. They didn't even give a slight hint, beside their appearance, that they were kids of the new age. This is where the promo ends and this is where DIAMOND PLATE begins.

After getting tons of attention from various of Metal icons, including some of the famous artists of the 80s US Metal scene, and after an EP and a split, DIAMOND PLATE headed down to work on their debut album. Later on, following the release of their 2009's EP, "Relativity", DIAMOND PLATE were signed to US branch of Earache Records. Subsequent to their linked deal, the now foursome crew released their awaited debut, "Generation Why?" that merely spewed upon the world with tons of well know Thrash aggression along with zero tolerance towards social issues.

Although I consider early EXODUS and TESTAMENT as the top notch of 80s Thrash Metal and Bay Area Thrash in particular, DIAMOND PLATE conquered the older gods, especially when I am taking to notice the two giants' current releases and approaches. Not that "Generation Why?" is on the same notes as my favourite "The Legacy" or the onslaught of "Bonded By Blood", nevertheless, these boys has seemed to posses that same vigour and youthful spunk of an attitude as once the mentioned icons had. Might it be one of the advantages of being young? Not so accurate. There are tons of youthful Thrash bands out there, but only a chosen few truly proved themselves to become the next generation of Thrash stars of the Bay Area movement. When it came down to DIAMOND PLATE, I believe that with their playing talents, their position is very close to be secure.

As for "Generation Why?", I reflect that this is a good breaking point whereas organizing this band's additional chances to augment their status. Its production, in general, sounded tight, hefty, rough, mixed with both modern and with an old school touches. Nonetheless, I didn't like the fact that the vocal section sounded as if it battled hard against the loud bass and guitars' lines. Here and there, the drum line also faded a bit but not in a way that it interfered.

Material wise, DIAMOND PLATE showed their strong old school approach on making the best out of Thrash Metal. On more than enough areas, they sounded as if they were larger than life with hard to the core classic oriented riffages that will crack open every riff admirer, smashing wild solos, vintage familiarized harmonies and cool melodies followed by the drums of war. While not forgetting the vocal section, I didn't expect such a raspy, even towards the growl, pattern from Jon Macak. He definitely sounded different than back in 2008. "Waste Of Life", "Casualty Of War" and the new outstanding version of "At The Mountains Of Madness" took me back to the late 80s with their musical aspirations. Such divine class is hard to come by nowadays. Of course that DIAMOND PLATE had several alterations that radiated their material with shards of modernism. The new implants can be found on other worthy hits such as "Relativity", "Generation Why?" and "Pull The Trigger".

DIAMOND PLATEis a highly talented group that has the potential to rise up fast to become one of the leaders of the next generation of Thrash. "Generation Why?", while being drenched in the mud of society, is an all out attacking Thrash Metal barrage. It has almost everything true Thrashers would want and mosh to. Although this album is a little far from being the best there is, it is only the beginning of a very bumpy journey.