They began recording "Of the Sun + Moon" in the fall of 1984 with the intention of releasing early the following year. After an extensive amount of the album had been recorded, Ulmer became increasingly dissatisfied with the production, which necessitated scrapping much of the work already done, and rerecording the majority of the guitar parts. By then they decided not to pursue the multi-year offer they had received from Roadrunner. "It also came with a lot of compromises I wasn't willing to accept", Ulmer explains. "From the very beginning, I had a clear vision of the type of record I was going to produce; the kind of album that I, as a fan, would want to buy." It had to have great production and great packaging, which meant it was very expensive to produce.

Roadrunner wanted a long-term commitment whose budget structure would not allow the quality or scope of recordings Ulmer was developing. They also had creative differences over the artwork and image, as the band had already developed the basic concept they wanted for the covers, where Roadrunner were looking for a more traditional design that the band did not feel was representative of the music. SACRED BLADE was also insistent on producing a gatefold sleeve for the record, something unheard of on a debut album due to the exponentially higher cost- even for the majors. "In the end it made sense to set aside the deal", Ulmer told us, "and I have no regrets about doing so." They found a new label by way of Rock Hard editor Holger Stratmann. "Black Dragon had a vastly different approach", Ulmer says , "leaving all of the creative decisions to me, including agreeing to the gatefold cover." Their deal also left the possibility of licensing outside of Europe open, and being a single album deal wasn't tying Ulmer's hands with regards to future projects. "However", Ulmer continues, " by the time our album was released they had become unable/unwilling to provide tour support, so their help with the promotional efforts was limited."

Despite being two years late and even without the level of promotion it could have seen, "Of the Sun + Moon" still became one of Black Dragon's top sellers, going on to cult fame in the realm of heavy metal maniacs who got it at the time but later generations mostly forgot about the album, possibly because of being too contemplative for the thrash trend and on the other hand, full of pure NWOBHM-riffing that wasn't enough high brow for prog hippies. "If anything was a hindrance", muses Ulmer, "it is the diversity of our music, which makes us difficult to categorize. " Next the band went into more progressive epic vistas under the working title "The Seven Moons of Xercez" but the only things to arise from these sessions were a few demos later circulated on bootleg, developed and atmospheric metal full of captivating melodies with personal, spiritual vocals by Ulmer. Ulmer went on to rename the project into OTHYRWORLD and reunited with the drummer Ted Zawadzki who had completed the SACRED BLADE lineup since '87 and because he felt that "Of the Sun + Moon" had become compromised and fell far short of what he had hoped to achieve with it, he re-recorded most of it as "Beyond Into The Night Of Day" CD with updated production standards and more perfect playing in 2005, subtly shifting the emphasis from NWOBHM and speed metal territories into the realms of virtuoso progressive rock. "I am thankful that our audience was able to see past the shortcomings I found in the production", says Ulmer, "and appreciate the music as presented."

THE BAND: Jeff "The Pilot" Ulmer (vocals & guitar), Will "Nacsar" Rascan (guitar), James "Zed" Channing (bass), Paul "Pol" Davis (drums).

THE GUITARS: As if calling from Earth to galactic space, the lead guitars explore yearning romantic melodies of varied technique in the classic style of JUDAS PRIEST while the rhythm guitar at times pounds with the compact intensity of 80's BLACK SABBATH or SAVATAGE. The bass guitar is also able to keep up with the elastic structure of these pieces which at first listen sound simple but they keep mutating with the atmosphere of the lyrics and the story concept of the album, making better prog metal than DREAM THEATER who dragged the genre down into artificial randomness.

THE VOCALS: It would have been a trendy choice to have high shrieks fronting this kind of complex and evocative heavy metal but Jeff Ulmer keeps mostly to a mid-range reminiscent of Halford. His notes are accurate and deep listening reveals his unique manner of varying his style according the mood of the piece, from the raw and rough grunts in "Salem" to the cinematic trailer voice in "Moon" and softer rock voice in "The Pressing".

THE PRODUCTION: Sort of thin soundscape is usual for '86 heavy metal but Ulmer's digital witchery has given the remastered CD a very stylized and clean edge which amplifies the torture nicely. The vocal reverb is massive, drums are a bit flat but the guitars sound classy, amplified, perfect and nearby.

HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO JELLO BIAFRA?: The controversy and trial over the "Penis Landscape" poster included in DK's "Frankenchrist" album! It was actually an art piece by the Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger. Besides contributing for example the stupendous cover to his friends CELTIC FROST's 2nd album, he is known to the crowds for his design work in the extragalactic horror movie "Alien". Now, what was SACRED BLADE's breakthrough track on the "Metal Massacre" compilation called again?

SOME KEY TRACKS:

"Fieldz the Sunshrine" - "Fieldz..." is the simplest song of the whole LP and it's headbanging from the beginning to the end. This is not really trying to be progressive metal, it's just early METALLICA in space - epic, infernal US speed metal. Well, it does have the dreamy journeyman middle part and interlude before the solos kick in but even this quiet section is just something like from "Sad Wings of Destiny". The psychedelic lyrics ("a parametric solstice sea / beneath a subchromatic lie / an alternated empire crumblez / vanishing from sky") are a definite bonus, wracking your mind. Vocals are cleverly midrange so that the higher shrieks "sunSHRINE!" a couple of times towards the end are climactic.

"Master of the Sun" - Starts out all doomy and foreboding, bridged from the intro track "The Enlightenment" and then develops into a fast crushing NWOBHM number, almost like RAVEN! Vocals are some of the roughest speed metal ones on the album and the song is full of light speed licks and powerful guitar wielding. This is probably the song to use for introducing MAIDEN fans to the album. At five minutes we get a progressive thrash part (!) and then it's back to twin guitar euphonics.

"The Pressing": Acoustic guitars introduce a downbeat track which could sound like a moment of relaxation amidst the space war if it wasn't so powerful and catchy. Not super tough, but sensitive and with an understated energy. Lyrics mentioning "a landscape new to see" and "pressing into another time", even this one makes you shout along. It's a beautiful heavy rock piece at half speed, sadly ending right as you expect it to go into a barrage of solos, interludes and opera. For the depressed heavy metal moments, this is the one.

"Moon": The most beautiful and developed work on the album hands down, this mostly instrumental 8 minute closer exemplifies the craft and ambition of Ulmer and the band, taking us through spatial locations and spiritual landscapes into forgotten dimensions of pure amazing progressive metal. Simple, conclusive but viral themes build a mood not unlike the synthetic and medieval explorations of TANGERINE DREAM, but this one does it the early metal way. Nowhere is a trace of pseudo-technical showing off and the track remains 100% heartfelt metal melodrama, while some of the stargazing solos are even reminiscent of David Gilmour.

AND IN CLOSING: Vancouver's "astral alloy" SACRED BLADE belong to the mighty but forgotten hordes of 80's metal that created albums that would blow away just about everything from today in skill and catchiness but never really gained fame and attention except in collectors' shelves. There is a dramatic beauty to a well-conceived concept album - like watching a movie or reading a story through the metal expression of the mysteries of space. The album has been forgotten by all but a bunch of 80's metal collectors but it's easy to hear why most people who have it like to find a place for it in their top ten lists. It has stood the test of time and while you could say that the over-the-top vocal performances in WATCHTOWER and FATES WARNING date them to their eras (no matter how much I love them), SACRED BLADE's sound non-forced, non-planned and universal, fitting for material they had worked and continued to work with over several decades! While it will really grab you at first listen, it continues to expose various new sides of itself through repeated listens. So, both the SACRED BLADE and the OTHYRWORLD re-recordings are recommended, unless you believe too much of this alien technology will cause the humanoids and/or the men in black to come after you.

Very special thanks to Jeff Ulmer for answering our interrogations regarding the albums. Both the remastered SACRED BLADE CD and the OTHYRWORLD CD are available directly from him at www.othyrworld.com.

- Devamitra

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