Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

Fitness guru Don Lemmon has made a name for himself selling 75,000 copies of his dieting book. Back in the late '80s he was a member of the band White Diamond who signed to an Atlantic Records subsidiary and imploded in bitter musical rivalry fuelled by the LA rock'n'roll lifestyle. It's not a pretty story and there are plans for a documentary and a movie (the story is actually more outrageous than the Rock Star movie) but reading about the band on various websites leaves me with two questions. How much of all this is true? Don Lemmon weaves an enigmatic story, changing the names of band members into aliases, film characters and messing with your head. There seems to be a blurring of truth and fiction and no way to really know if this isn't some gigantic internet scam. Conspiracy theories aside, the second question is whether anything to do with the band is actually Christian. Certainly the lifestyle of various band members indulging in drugs, porn, drinking, womanising, etc makes for sad reading and although Lemmon owns a King James Bible website, it's hard to discern what the truth of Lemmon's core beliefs could be. But giving them the benefit of the doubt, let's finally explore what these demos are about. The music! If metal is your bag, White Diamond sound like your typical hair band from the '80s. There are pyrotechnic guitar parts, driving rhythms and stratospheric vocals. If you can get past the hype, it's actually good solid rock'n'roll from a band that failed to make it 10 years ago. In a new century, will they reform or just send a bunch of actors out on the road?

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

Interested in reviewing music? Find out more here.