Sacred Blade - Of The Sun and Moon - Reviews - Diabolical Conquest Webzine

Jeff Ulmer- Guitars, Vocals
Will Rascan- Guitars
James Shanning- Bass
Paul Davis- Drums

Can you say “Top 10 Power Metal Album Of All Bloody Time”? It is not, in any way, an exaggeration on my part when I hold this aloft as one of the foremost hallmarks of forward-thinking, stunningly intelligent, seizingly lush heavy fucking metal, for though it's not often placed in the esteemed company of Fates Warning, Savatage, Manilla Road, Jag Panzer and other such en vogue contemporaries, this very much holds its own against any of its more popular competition. 'Of The Sun & Moon''s continued longevity amongst ‘80s metal mavens only affirms its assured immortality in the annals of prog-soaked, timeless heavy rock.

Stylistically, one could perhaps suggest parallels to Mercyful Fate and Tyrus, though Sacred Blade were always FAR more polished and consistent than the latter. The similarities to Mercyful Fate surface in their unabashed, unashamed worship of Captain Beyond, and the regularity with which this affinity surfaces in their inventive, challenging brand of mercurial metal. What this all means, of course, is unorthodox, active and shifting song structures, coupling daring musicianship with clever rhythms and a seamless continuity that melds all these elements into one cohesive, homogenous whole. From Captain Beyond, Sacred Blade has inherited the interstellar fixations of “Thousand Days Of Yesterdays”, “As The Moon Speaks (To The Waves Of The Sea” and the like, as well as the zero-gravity weightlessness and liquid amorphousness of their music, the entire album resembling an exploratory journey through the infinite cosmos. Indeed, much like the REVOLUTIONARY Captain Beyond debut did (one of the best albums ever, make no mistake, and a huge influence on me), the songs bleed into each other here, the entire album constituting one organic BODY of work, as opposed to a bunch of individually separable songs that merely share a common thematic focus. Everything FLOWS beautifully here, and the album MUST be ingested in one complete sitting, without omissions.

Part of the album's unmistakable atmosphere hinges on the production- lots of reverb on everything, particularly the drums, which gives everything a distinct, outerspace feel, as though these sounds are being thrust like asteroids from a cosmic vacuum. Witness, too, the sheer HEFT of some of the riffing here- “Fieldz The Sunshrine” really does open with one of the most MASSIVE riffs I've had the pleasure to hear in all my years…it's all remarkably simple and somewhat obvious, but it all works beautifully. The shooting star surge that propels “Of The Sun+Moon” is also particularly noteworthy, starting off our intergalactic expedition at warpspeed hyperdrive, stopping at odd moments for us to gander at the craterous forms that hover beside us (and, of course, for Jeff to deliver the hook). “Salem” introduces itself with an ominous spell of lead guitar, before swelling into what is certainly the most traditionally-minded and most typically “metal” offering here, sprinting away at a commendable pace and exhibiting more single-mindedness than any of the other numbers here. The name of the game here is rumble'n'tumble Euro-flavored speed metal, peppered with Jeff's audacious shrieks (if you've heard the band's turn on 'Metal Massacre', you bloody well know what I'm talking about!). Jeff and the lads steering us through a spot of turbulence before the more mid-paced churn of “Legacy”, a quasi-doom, riff-centered piece.

The rich acoustic interlude of “Tis Lunar Windz” provides an eloquent segue into the “Raging River Of Fear”- on-serious-amphetamines -and-a-'Stained-Class'-binge of “The Enlightenment”, a leftfield, accelerated blues-soaked main riff catapulted through the stars, gathering momentum until it assumes the guise of a flaming comet, blazing through the night sky with a radiant, double-bass-fuelled thrash ferocity. “In Light Of The Moon” merely serves to buttress and confirm what has already been asserted with undeniable insistence from the beginning- that this is attention-deficient wizardry, as defiantly and vastly unpredictable as the infinity of space. Rollicking, furious riffing announces itself at the beginning, paving the way for numerous out-of-bloody-nowhere sections that bring parallels to the similarly-unhinged Mercyful Fate to the fore.

All this, of course, could not hope to suggest the grandiose, spacey-bordering-on-psychedelic 8 minute instrumental “Moon”, a musical observation of the moon in orbit, and an astounding distillation of all the elements that have distinguished Sacred Blade as architects of transcendental art- outstanding musicianship, sincere delivery, imaginative conception/execution and an attention to detail and shade that eludes so many lesser bands. The repetitiousness of the groove here, driven and consolidated by the rhythm section serves as perfect foil for the two guitars to veer into otherworldly dimensions, sketching unimaginably brilliant shapes in spiraling vortex of space. Solos are GORGEOUS here, and really cap the whole affair off with style.

For those of you not in the know, Sacred Blade are now Othyrworld, and have released an album that is largely composed of re-recorded material from this very monument. The fact that they could easily present the re-recordings as new material attests to the sheer timelessness of this record. Like their idols Captain Beyond, the band strove to sculpt a work that defied expectations and such superficial whims as time and gravity. 'Of The Sun And Moon' has a metaphysical aura that exists outside such constraints, and is a magical journey you will revisit over and over again. Necessary.

Sacred Blade - Of The Sun and Moon (Reissued in 1999 with 24 bit Remastering)