SACRED LEATHER – Keep The Fire Burning

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8.0

• Bands:
  SACRED LEATHER
• Duration: 00:40:15
• Available from: 12/12/2025
• Label:

• King Volume Records

Streaming not yet available

Without beating around the bush too much, it's clear from the name that Sacred Leather are aimed at the most hardcore heavy metal fans. The second work – seven years after its debut – brings together all the elements that a traditional heavy metal album must possess nowadays: philological fidelity to the reference period, a good compositional personality and solid interpretative skills. “Keep The Fire Burning”, fortunately, has all three and seems to come out of the two-year period 1983-84, when overseas heavy metal traveled with its foot pressed on the accelerator, with a fury that exploded in masterpieces such as “Violence & Force” by Exciter or “Fistful Of Metal” by Anthrax, paving the way for a more complex but always aggressive, violent and energetic metal that never forgot, however, the importance of the atmospheres of keyboards and harmonized guitars.

Among the many bands to which we associate the 'nervous' power of the Indianapolis quartet, the first that come to mind – but not the only ones, as we will see – are Neil Turbin's Anthrax. The credit goes to singer Dee Wratchild (born Dustin Boltjes), a very active drummer in the Indianapolis scene (already with Skeletonwitch and Wretch), who here we find engaged only behind the microphone, for a champion performance. The timbre sometimes recalls the aforementioned Turbin, other times that of Udo, until moments in which a warmer and more controlled roundness emerges in the vocal lines, with the nasal setting and a restrained vibrato that closely recall Don Dokken.

The stylistic variety of the singing reflects the musical one: the heavy-speed metal that our band adopt as the basis of their formula is tempered by dark atmospheres, minor arpeggios and chord sequences that do not hide the fascination for various pillars of American heavy metal. The intro “Resurrection” and the subsequent “Spitfire At Night”, to begin with, trace the stylistic coordinates of the immediately following songs: carpets of harmonized solos, sustained rhythms and a voice incredibly devoted to stars and stripes speed metal, halfway between Turbin and the first Belladonna.

“Phantom Highway (Hell Is Comin' Down)”, features a succession of solos by Owens and St. Michaels, who manage to surpass themselves compared to the debut not only for ferocity, but also for the ability to build dark and oppressive atmospheres, while the splendid “Wake Me Up”, veers towards the sound of Dokken and Ratt of “Invasion Of Your Privacy”. “Fallen Angel” slows down the pace: hard and heavy with a medium pace, a late Eighties flavor, with references to the Judas Priest of “Defenders Of The Faith”, while “Flatline” perfectly reflects the style of the American heavy metal ballads of that decade. The song serves as the intro for “Tear Out My Heart”, a textbook power ballad, where post-apocalyptic and suburban atmospheres – almost cinematic – give Sacred Leather's second work what it needs to make it a small contemporary cult. “Malevolent Eyes” and “Keep The Fire Burning” restart the engines; the title track, in particular, recalls Manowar for its warlike spirit and pace, while the almost seven minutes of the final “Mistress Of The Sun” condenses all the atmospheres of the album for a heavy metal manifesto that recalls Savatage's “Edge Of Thorns”. Its refined and thunderous drumming, precise on the accents and the lashing guitars full of feeling make it a small masterpiece that further ennobles the entire work.

Despite the long list of influences borrowed from the encyclopedia of American heavy metal, Sacred Leather remain a band with a clear, lively, recognizable identity and “Keep The Fire Burning”, almost at the tail end of the year, ranks as one of the best heavy metal records of 2025, confirming that the underground is more alive than ever and its flame, if fueled well, still burns strongly.