LEATHÜRBITCH – Into The Night

Into The Night is the first full length record from Portland, Oregon’s self proclaimed Sleaze Speed Metal band Leathürbitch. Formed in 2015, Leathürbitch features a lineup of seasoned musicians, including guitarists Patrick Sandiford (Inebriator, Slutvomit) and Alex Ponder (Weresquatch, Headless Pez), Joel Starr (Children of Seraph, Voltanic) on vocals, drummer Rand Crusher (Bewitcher), and Andrew Sylvia (Alpha Viper, Magnabolt) on bass.

Into The Night is intended to be a melding of old school Thrash and Glam Metal, and the production value is very late 70s early 80s, very reminiscent of early Mötley Crüe production. The bass guitar is buried under very wet guitar sounds, and the drums are small and boxy sounding. Starr, as a vocalist, can hit hit high notes, and not much else. The album’s 7 songs (track one, “Into The Night”, the title track, is an uncredited keyboard instrumental), suffer from both the vocalist and lead guitarists inability to locate the key of the song. Perhaps that is stylistic choice within the genre, but it is a jarring listen most of the time, with few brief moments of respite where the music settles into listenability.

Overall, Into The Night is a demo quality release from a band that needs a producer, and a few more songs (8 songs, 32 minutes) to really reach their potential.

TUNE INTO METALEXPRESSRADIO.COM at NOON & MIDNIGHT (EST) / 6:00 & 18:00 (CET) TO HEAR THE BEST TRACKS FROM THIS UPCOMING RELEASE!!!