UMUR
"Of The Sun + Moon" is the debut full-length studio album by Canadian, British Columbia based power/heavy/progressive metal act Sacred Blade. The album was released through the French Black Dragon Records label in October 1986. "Of The Sun + Moon" would be Sacred Blade´s sole album release during their original run as they disbanded in 2003 with no further album releases under their belts. A couple of members reunited under the Othyrworld monicker in 2004 and released the "Beyond into the Night of Day" in 2005 (an album featuring a substantial amount of Sacred Blade material). Othyrworld wouldn´t last either though and disbanded in 2013. In 2024 it was announced that the surviving members of the band had reunited and were again working under the Sacred Blade monicker.
So Sacred Blade probably didn´t have the career they dreamed of, but they were actually off to a good start as their "The Alien" song (from their 1983 demo II) was included on the now legendary Metal Blade Records various artists compilation album "Metal Massacre IV" (1983), which among others also featured early material by Metallica and Slayer.
stylistically Sacred Blade play a power/heavy metal style with progressive rock/metal leanings. The songwriting is solid and at times even excellent during the instrumental parts (including the many well played guitar solos), and the musicianship is overall on a high level too. The vocals though are a bit questionable. The are predominantly pretty unremarkable and performed in mid-range, but lead vocalist/guitarist Jeff Ulmer occasionally also performs higher pitched screaming vocals, and they are honestly a bit ouf of tune and Ulmer sounds a little strained when performing those parts. When he performs his "regular" vocals the music is deprived of power and becomes a little boring. A top class vocalist could have lifted this otherwise great power/heavy metal album to a higher level...of that there is no doubt.
While the overall music style is power/heavy metal, Sacred Blade are an interesting band and maybe a bit old fashioned too, when they sometimes include 70s progressive rock leaning parts to their music. To my ears those moments are pretty great though and arguably provide variation to the band´s music. "Of The Sun + Moon" is relatively well produced, although the vocals are placed a little low in the mix (which makes sense as they are the weakest link of Sacred Blade). So upon conclusion "Of The Sun + Moon" is an interesting but not perfect debut album from Sacred Blade. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.
