Leatherwolf - Street Ready (Island) 1989
1. "Wicked Ways"
(6:03)
2. "Street Ready" (3:05)
3. "Hideaway" (3:56)
4. "Take A Chance" (3:10)
5. "Black Knight" (2:58)
6. "Thunder" (3:47)
7. "The Way I Feel" (4:54)
8. "Too Much" (3:34)
9. "Lonely Road" (3:44)
10. "Spirits In The Wind" (5:05)
Leatherwolf were heavy metal. Forget all the sub-genres and labels. Leatherwolf cranked ou high quality, straight forward heavy metal. "Street Ready" is a tad more commercial than the band's two preceeding albums, but radio rock this is not. "Street Ready" features strong vocals, fantastic guitar work and catchy, memorable tuned. This is especially true of the song "Thunder". Having three excellent guitar players in the same band is an interesting concept as each of the guitarist seem to try to outdo the next. Gotta love some healthy competition to bring out the best in a musician. It's a shame that this quality has disappeared in modern hard music.
Leatherwolf - World Asylum (Massacre Records) 2006
1. I Am The Law (3:34)
2. King Of The Ward (4:11)
3. Behind The Gun (4:56)
4. Live Or Die (4:17)
5. Disconnect (4:21)
6. Dr. Wicked (Rx O.D.) (5:12)
7. Institutions (4:20)
8. Derailed (3:12)
9. The Grail (6:38)
10. Never Again (5:29)
"World Asylum" marked the return of classic heavy metal legends Leatherwolf, only this time with a new singer in Wade Black (Crimson Glory, Seven Witches). The band's last album "Street Ready" (1989) was a mostly melodic heavy metal album. The triple guitar attack was the band's characteristic sound and helped give them their epic sound, together with some pomp melodies. With "World Asylum" the band adopts a heavier, classic power metal sound. Songs like "I Am the Law" and "Live or Die" are straight forward, heavy, in-your-face, power metal. (Think Eidolon, Metal Church, Meliah Rage, etc.) Other tracks like the melodic "Behind The Gun" and "Dr. Wicked" fall closer to the classic Leatherwolf sound. However, the overall recording and production has a definite 90's sound. Basically what they have succeeded in doing is taking a more contemporary sound and marrying it to the classic Leatherwolf style.
Guitarists Geoff Gayer and Eric Haltern (Helstar, Destiny's End) lay down some choice chops, but it's heavier and more raw sounding than the classic Leatherwolf sound. The songs are heavy as a steamroller, mostly well structured and somewhat catchy. New vocalist Wade Black does a fantastic job replacing Michael Oliveri, though his style and tone is quite different. I personally don't think that is a bad thing, though I suppose the band thought different. "World Asylum" was later re-released under the name "New World Asylum" with Oliveri back at the helm, re-recording all the vocals.