Of the Sun + Moon

I’ve touched on this in another review or two here that two terms people into underground metal tend to love are “Underrated” and “Underappreciated”. They’re lobbed around at bands of varying levels of exposure and popularity. Some people use knowing of these bands as a badge of honor or a token that makes their taste better than the drones out there that listen to pop (god forbid). I say this from experience; teenage me, who God bless the little bastard, thought that knowing the metal obscurities I did made him better. Hate to break it to you fella, just because you know about Shah’s debut album “Beware” doesn’t make you cool, it makes you annoying as shit. I bring this as a starting point for Sacred Blade, the obscurest of the obscure Canadian Power Metal. Yes, they are an incredibly overlooked band, their talent is immeasurable, and it’s quite a bit their fault that they fell through the cracks of metal history. Is my taste better than yours because I am Sacred Blade’s top listener of LastFM? Probably not, I’m just some idiot from Texas who listens to way too much Kate Bush when I’m not listening to metal no one has ever heard of.

Tangent aside; Sacred Blade! This record is an anomaly the more that you dissect it. It came out in the unholy year that was 1986, the year that many bands cemented themselves in the annals of musical history. If you’re using this site and reading this review you don’t need me to tell you what a massive year this was. In this year there’s only three contemporary releases that come to mind that are anywhere close to Sacred Blade’s lighting in a bottle that was “Of The Sun + Moon” and those are Fates Warning’s classic, “Awaken the Guardian”, Crimson Glory’s self titled and Heir Apparent’s “Graceful Inheritance”. Which both are good cultural touchstones for Sacred Blade but don’t quite catch what these Canadians were up to. It’s miles ahead of 1986, yet sits right at home in that time. For a power metal record of that era, it’s strangely laid back, yet forceful (dare I say, powerful?) when it needs to be. It’s technical and progressive but not overly flashy. The record knows how to cultivate an atmosphere and make tracks distinct from one another. I know very few other records that have the hooks and catchiness that “Of The Sun + Moon” has.

And this record sounds great. It has that nostalgic sound of 80’s power metal when the term meant POWERFUL METAL. Everything has the right amount of space to breath and be heard. Everything is crisp but has enough grit to it. The sound design is impeccable, from the stereo panning in “To Lunar Windz...” (which, this interlude is my favorite track on the record) to the wailing guitar tones in “Moon”. I think that this sounds leaps and bounds better than the 2005 re-imagining under the Othyrworld banner.

The more that you listen to the record the more it seems like a strange traveler in time. A track like “Salem” feels like a holdover from early eighties, post NWOBHM, with it being the outlier in the vocal performance. Jeff Ulmer lets out these little high yelps as punctuation here and there across the record but he fully dials in on this style on “Salem”. However the bridge on this track feels like something that was written in earlier. Tracks like “The Pressing” or the title track feel like something that Fates Warning would be churning out later in the decade. Then there is a track like “Moon” that on paper could’ve only been conceived of in the eighties, until you hear the metaphysical chants mumbled before Ulmer goes Slash in “November Rain” with the most soulful solos you’ll hear in Progressive Metal. I cannot hear “In Light of the Moon” without getting both the riff and chorus earwormed for hours on end. I mentioned this earlier, one of the interludes on this, “To Lunar Windz...” is my favorite track. A beautiful acoustic piece to catch a quick breath in the middle.

Circling back to the point of calling bands like this Underrated; yes you can call Sacred Blade that and so much more but the real applicable term here is “a shame”. It is a shame, a criminal one at that, that this record isn’t a widely heralded classic from ‘86 or just the genre. It feels like a missing link. While Savatage was farting out an album about rock, Jeff “the Pilot” Ulmer was singing about the majesties of space while ripping the most soulful and heart-wrenching guitar playing this side of Steve Vai. The problem with this record’s obscurity lies within their own hubris. According to sources online this record was originally to be released by Roadracer, but disagreements led to this being released by Cult French Label, Black Dragon. Would have Jeff straying from his belief in Auteur Theory and releasing this with Roadracer saved this band from obscurity? Would they have been another band heralded among the names like Fates Warning, Savatage and Queensryche? Would we have gotten more than this (I mean...we did, the “Seven Moonz of Xercez” demo from ‘88 rules too, but it’s a demo and I digress)? There’s no real saying to all of these. I’m happy that we got at least this amazing record, and I hope that my ramblings convince you to look into this record. It’s really and truly a shame that “Of The Sun + Moon” was forgotten to time over a gatefold. Check it out.

Also, what the hell is with 80’s bands themed around space swapping the “S” for “Z”? Probably coke.

Sacred Blade were a very unique and incredibly ahead-of-their-time band, when you think about it. Even for 1986, Of the Sun + Moon was a pretty unusual and progressive album; a lot of the riffs are pretty much USPM, but it combines elements of prog rock and frequent acoustic passages with a very "cosmic" tinge to them, as should be evident from the album name. It's basically blue collar USPM with mid-70s Hawkwind thrown in here and there, at least in the guitars. The vocals are pretty much pure PM, with frontman Jeff Ulmer (RIP) - who did everything but the drums (!) - switching between a rougher midrange that explodes into crazy shrieks sometimes (Salem), sounding sort of akin to Jon Oliva, and a softer clean voice for acoustic sections and such, sounding a bit like a more powerful Kevin Nugent of Legend's From the Fjords.

The fact that some of the songs here were written and recorded even earlier than 1986 is pretty incredible. "Salem", while one of the less progressive songs on the album, was written in 1982, although that's not terribly strange considering it sounds a lot like Savatage, who had a lot of their early material written in '79 or '80 and were playing the songs live already at this point. However, early version of "The Enlightenment/Master of the Sun" and "Moon" were released in 1983, which is pretty fucking cool. They were also Canadian, which is interesting, given that the few Canadian bands that played in the USPM style were typically white collar (Zions Abyss, False Witness, Solar Eagle). The only other blue collar USPM band from Canada that comes to mind are Hanker, who are also weird as hell and wrote their best material in the mid-90s, which is even weirder. Considering these guys are Canadian, though, I guess they took more influence from Rush than from any other prog rock band - not just because they're Canadian, but also because of their sci-fi leanings, some musical similarities to Rush (although I'm not terribly familiar with the band), and of course Rush's prevalence during the late 70s and early 80s. Still, nobody else was really doing Rush/USPM at the time, or even Rush/metal (maybe Chasar a little, but they're equally obscure) - few people were even doing USPM at all in '83, really. 1984 was the landmark year for the genre, with only a few releases such as Griffin's first demo and Apostle's debut hitting the scene, which just makes Sacred Blade's early arrival that much more impressive.

The riffs and solos here are incredibly good for the most part, with often haunting acoustic intros ("Legacy", "The Pressing"), with frantic, galloping riffs that show some similarities to NWOBHM but don't really have the same emotional impact at all. Solos are a bit scarce here, when they come they're really fucking sweet ("Salem", "In Light of the Moon"). The bass also has a pretty nice presence, playing its own lines that are usually fairly complex in and often themselves, which is even more impressive when you consider that Ulmer is doing lead and rhythm guitar, bass, and vocals for the entirety of the album. The production is also really good for what I assume was a fairly low-budget 1986 album, with sometimes layered riffs and an audible bass that fully support the astral feeling of the album. Why this album isn't more well known, I'm really not sure at all, it's got all the earmarks of a classic.

As I mentioned earlier, "Salem" is a bit more straightforward than most of the album, as is "In Light of the Moon", but there really are no weak tracks here. I've never been a fan of instrumental metal, but here the instrumentals are pretty tasteful, and even if the four-and-a-half minute one doesn't do a whole lot for me, it doesn't really detract from the experience, either. All of the other tracks are very good to excellent, most of them falling into the latter category. The closing epic "Moon" is especially of note, with proggy, galactic lead harmonies that create an amazing atmosphere. Ulmer released a handful of other demos under the Sacred Blade name, with enough material for at least another full-length, and while I've yet to hear it, it's probably worth checking out as it seemed this guy could do no wrong. His Othyrworld project was basically a revamp of this album 20 years later, and while I wouldn't say it's better, it's pretty much on par and has a slightly different tone and a few track changes, so it's definitely worth checking out as well. His recent death is a major tragedy, but he certainly made some very worthwhile contributions to the metal scene. If you're a fan of Rush or USPM or space-oriented music in general, this work is an absolute must.

So what comes to mind when thinking of progressive metal? Although the word itself generally means “ahead of its time” and is commonly used to describe innovative concepts and ideas, how does this represent in music or more specifically heavy metal? Often when defining the genre structure is always brought up as a defining characteristic with artists testing their playing abilities and if they can keep time in controlled chaos. Although sometimes it’s really impressive to sit back and admire the time musicians have put into crafting really complex songs I generally prefer my progressive metal only being as progressive enough as necessary to convey interesting and innovative ideas.

Now opinions differ on who the originators of progressive metal were, Main contenders often mentioned being Fates Warning and Queensrÿche. Though a lesser known group that predates both bands had already been playing unique otherworldly music north of the border for several years. Sacred Blade were formed in 1979 by main visionary/singer/song writer/guitarist Jeff Ulmer and co-founder guitarist Will Rascan. After several demos in 1984 the band began recording for the opus Of the Sun + Moon under contract with Roadrunner Records but due to label problems and only one record label being willing to release the record in a deluxe gatefold LP sleeve (An almost unheard-of thing for any band’s debut release at the time) the record was delayed another two years released in 1986 on French “Black Dragon” label.

Conceptionally Ulmer’s vision is a hard one to define, But one free of clichés and with little to no comparisons (Ultimately the goal of any prog musician right?). Quite a bit of thought has obviously been put into every aspect of release starting with packaging and artwork to music and lyrical themes. This album flows exceptionally well and although the individual songs are quite noticeable if you analyse the album it is constructed in such a way that songs connect in an effortless almost conceptional fashion. Even trying to pick standout tracks is hard because it’s like removing crucial compartments to an engine, It’s not going to work without them. I suppose it all comes down to mood, Songs like Salem and Master of the Sun make for great high octane headbangers while Of the Sun and Moon and The Pressing offer a more dream like cruise experience through alien landscapes. Musically Sacred Blade paints a picture akin to Roger Dean’s other-worldly paintings, A very beautiful surreal experience. Most of the non-lyrical tracks on the album work at enforcing the general atmosphere with nice acoustic passages, bells, amazing harmonies and psychedelic solos. With a huge nod going out to Moon where all the musicians seem to set amazingly high standards for instrumentation and song writing in general, What a beautiful way to end a great album.

Musically all entities are pretty much on par, superb bass work by James "Zed" Channing always making interesting riffs that shape the songs and never overpower the other instruments. That’s the great thing about this album everything seems so evenly thought out and recorded, It’s all about the bigger picture. Some of the older material like Salem does tend to be slightly more guitar focused with amazing, majestic guitar harmonies and fluent melodic solos by Ulmer and Rascan. Paul Davis’ drum work is also very solid and effortlessly changes time signatures while not giving off that proggy controlled chaos sound that seems overused in progressive metal. But as I said this album is only as progressive as it needs to be to achieve vision. Last but not least Ulmer’s voice, it’s hard of comparisons even to date. On the slow to mid-paced numbers it stays in an almost trance-like mid-range slightly reminiscent of Hawkwind’s David Brock. But with the faster numbers like Salem and Master of the Sun Ulmer bursts into a different style altogether that seemed more inspired by the N.W.O.B.H.M., early proto acts and the up-and-coming U.S. Power metal scene. A shrieky, aggressive, youthful voice that would go nicely on any Epic U.S. power metal album. In any case the guy has a lot of versatility and not just in high and low as the usual metal vocalist but in being able to change elements in the colour of his voice.

This album was Black Dragon’s second highest selling item at the time of release, Seems kind of surprising if you take into consideration their self produced re-master of the CD (The only official CD version available) was released in 1999 in quantities of “2000” copies yet is still readily available from that band’s website (How many copies left I am not sure). It’s really sad to see such a visionary outfit fall into obscurity like this when they produced such great music that’s easily available to the public. So let me say this; If you want to listen to a band un-bound by clichés making amazing otherworldly music, Please go to their website and buy a re-mastered copy of this 1986 classic, Or like I did yesterday (Currently only owning their original Black Dragon vinyl) get a discount and buy their second reworked “Othyrworld” album too. Although it’s not my favourite album of all time, I respect it more on several levels for what it has set out to achieve and the legacy it leaves behind. It’s a product of a visionary and has great production and timeless songwriting. This truly is an album from “an othyrworld”.