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The latest in a long line of wannabes set to join the flavor-of-the-month bandwagon, US thrashers Diamond Plate (despite the stupid name) have come up with the goods here for their rusty, mechanical debut, Generation Why?, which, surprisingly, kicks a fair amount of ass. Not as visceral or as modern as some of their revivalist peers, Diamond Plate thrash up a storm with riffs straight out of the Exodus textbook, changes from the Destruction school, and a shot or two of raw punk attitude. The guitar work is loose and carefree, hidden beneath a shaggy tone that gives songs such as "Pull The Trigger" and "Tomb With A View" a feral primitiveness. Though produced by Neil Kernon, this has a self-recorded quality that benefits the material; it makes you think Diamond Plate mean it, and that's good. So many of these bands don't, and it's refreshing to see the flipside of the coin.

Problems lie in the lack of originality and the vocals of bassist Jon Macak, who does a decent job, but goes for a dry, throaty rasp, not unlike the style used by Dew-Scented, and considering I hate that band, it doesn't go in Diamond Plate's favor. In spite of this, the level of musicianship is enough to redeem tracks like "Waste Of Life", which opens with great nod towards mid-period Testament. Fans of old school Thrash might find something a little deeper here. To the rest of us, this is a solid debut that hints at a fruitful future.