LEATHÜRBITCH – Shattered Vanity

Portland, Oregon based band Leathürbitch, who proclaim themselves as emulating bands from the now classic Metal Massacre compilations of the early 80s have released their second studio effort Shattered Vanity on Shadow Kingdom Records. The follow up to 2019’s Into The Night, the new album takes the band down a different musical path with less glam influences, and more thrash.

Album Or Demo

The band states about the new album that ” The ‘Bitch is back”, branding themselves their own new genre of “Portland Sleaze Speed”. The 9 new songs have several things in common: One, the first 6 of 9 songs have almost the identical tempo, making if a fatiguing experience to sit through. Second: The bass guitar is mostly non-existent as it’s buried, giving the album a very thin, midrange sound throughout. Third: The production values are scraping the bottom of the barrel, with glaring problems like the intro of the track “Betrayal” where it sounds like the drums are clipped as they come in, with part of the recording perhaps missing. The overall effect of these is that the album feels more like a first time demo, made on a shoestring budget. With the affordability of high quality home recording gear today, this is completely unnecessary.

Final Notes

If the goal of Leathürbitch was truly to emulate sounds off of Metal Massacre recordings, then in one sense they have: The whole album sounds like a cheaply made demo. The record offers nothing new, nothing you haven’t heard before, and certainly nothing to excite and warrant multiple plays. This reviewer wonders if this could have been a better album with better production, and the answer is a resounding yes. Fans aren’t looking to relive the early days of bad recordings of their favorite bands from the 80s, and hopefully Leathürbitch can learn this, and come back with something metal fans do want: well made, well written, and well produced Heavy Metal.

Leathürbitch Lineup

• Joel Starr – Vocals
• Pat Sandiford – Guitar
• Alex Ponder – Guitar
• Courtland Murphy – Bass
• Charlie Koryn – Drums

Shattered Vanity – Tracklist

1. The Dark Mirror
2. Shattered Vanity
3. Betrayal
4. Shadow Mistress
5. Graveyard Eyes
6. The Invitation
7. Nasty Reputation
8. Morphina
9. Horror’s Unseen