Voodoo Diamond is a Portuguese/New Zealandese/Japanese trio formed in London in 2013. Their influences go from alternative rock and metal (Metallica, Trivium, Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying, Parkway Drive), to hard rock and grunge (Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Linkin Park and even Portuguese folk such as Madredeus and Resistencia, which deeply influenced Filipe Martins (lead/rhythm guitar and vocals).
While thinking about the name of the band, Alex Dias (lead vocals) mentioned: “Guys, we all love Hendrix so what about Voodoo something?” The name ‘Voodoo’ comes from the iconic song ‘Voodoo Child (Slight Return)’ by Jimi Hendrix and ‘Diamond’ simply because it is the hardest kind of rock!
In 2015 Voodoo Diamond released their first EP entitled ‘Blindfolded’, mixed and mastered by ex-Sikth lead singer Justin Hill and produced by Filipe Martins. At the time the band was still experimenting with a lot of different genres, trying to find themselves musically and hence the title Blindfolded. It is comprised of 5 tracks, all very different, denoting the band’s pursuit for ‘their sound’.
In late 2015 Doug Rimington assumed bass duties. Doug is originally from New Zealand, multi-instrumentalist and can actually speak Japanese!
Voodoo Diamond then self-released a self-titled EP consisting of 3 songs, 2 of them available on YouTube as videos. The video for ‘G.I.A.’ in particular, caught the label Musicarchy Media’s attention, who decided to sign them.
The result of this cooperation is Voodoo Diamond’s first full-length ‘Darkness Becomes It’, produced by Scott Atkins (Cradle Of Filth, Amon Amarth), mixed and mastered by Fredrik Nordstrom (Bring Me The Horizon, Arch Enemy, Architects, In Flames, Soilwork, Opeth). ‘Darkness Becomes It’ shall be released on June 22nd 2018 via Musicarchy Media and distributed by H’Art Musik and Plastichead.