‘Resurrection’ flows naturally into ‘Spitfire At Night’, which is rife with dual leads, snapmare rhythms, and the Turbin / early Belladonna delivery of vocalist Dee Wrathchild. Come to think, at the start this one shares a bit too much shade with ‘Deathrider’ for comfort; however, to the quintet’s credit, by the end we’re being fricasseed in the fiery blaze of SACRED LEATHER’s second go-round, and it’s getting hot in here.

‘Phantom Highway (Hell Is Comin’ Down)’ is divebomb after divebomb, dual lead after dual lead, and done well, Messrs. Owens & St. Michaels flying o’er the nightside streaker freeway, swooping down only to soar, while ‘Wake Me Up’ is a more burly DOKKEN with a gym membership, beefed up and wringing sweaty, sultry basslines courtesy Magnus Legrand, as Wrathchild expands his leathered lungs in a way he hasn’t previously. Man’s got some fuckin’ pipes, to be sure.

‘Fallen Angel’ is mid-paced hard rock/metal of the late ‘80s school, Defenders Of The Faith era JUDAS PRIEST coming to mind at times, with a sliver of pre-Eye To Eye 220 VOLT in the melody. After the honey-smooth interlude of ‘Flatline’, ‘Tear Out My Heart’ enters, a lumbering groove before tumbling gently into QUEENSRŸCHE ballad territory, but – though I positively adore this tune – we haven’t had a real ragebanger in now three songs, and I’m starting to feel it.

‘Malevolent Eyes’ cranks up the engines again, and ‘Keep The Fire Burning’ lives up to its name, calling forth the mighty MANOWAR in spirit and grandeur, a reelin’ speed demon if ever there was one on this record, layered BGV’s and if this ain’t the set closer during shows, somebody needs to c’rrect this. Drawing to a close with a dramatic ‘Mistress Of The Sun’, power-melodic metal approaching the vibrations given off by such classics as EUROPE’s first record and SAVATAGE circa Edge Of Thorns. The drumming of Don Diamond here stands out, tasteful yet thundering, hitting every mark, which ain’t as easy to do as one might think on slower numbers.

I’ve named a whole buncha other bands in this write-up as influences, but believe you me, SACRED LEATHER got its own thing goin’, and Keep The Fire Burning both takes those of us who were there then back to our happy place and gives us hope for the future of this music that runs through our veins.
Review By: Lord Randall

SACRED LEATHER
Keep The Fire Burning
King Volume Records / Wise Blood Records