SACRED BLADE: "Of The Sun + Moon"

March 1997 - Eternal Flame #3 - Germany - Review by Jan Puhlmann

In 18 (!!) years of existence Sacred Blade from Vancouver have granted us only this single work (except their demos), but to get hold of this .. it's well worth listening to Vogon poetry for three days, drinking a whole barrel of Pangalactic Gargle Blaster or even wading through the squelching marshes of Terra's second-hand LP shops: The grandiose, imaginative music by Jeff Ulmer, Will Rascan, James Channing and Paul Davis brought to us on the album 'Of The Sun + Moon' from 1986 forms the greatest that has ever emerged from the genre of Heavy Metal - together with Warlord and Fates Warning! It reaches the fascination of 70ies Art Rock and, at the same time, Sacred Blade's delicate titans of sound rest on the iron foundation of Heavy Metal in its heyday in the 80ies.

When listening to musical jewellery like '' you'll feel like Richard Dreyfuss in 'Close Encounter Of The Third Kind' standing at the shining hatch of the alien spacecraft, imminent to leave this world behind and pass through the dream-gate of his yearning. You will be driven into ecstasy by the fiery lead-guitars of 'Salem' and 'Master Of The Sun' and finally, accompanied by the eight minute state of trance called 'Moon', the hypnotic finale of the record, you will emerge into the infinite twilight of the galaxy, weightless, relieved from time and space ... Up to 30 Marks are acceptable for the LP, for a little more you can get a remastered copy on CD from Jeff Ulmer himself. ( Eternal Flame Fanzine, Germany)