Leatherwolf

Kill The Hunted

N.I.L.8 Old-school veterans revamped and reborn.

Primed for greatness after the release of their self-titled Island Records debut in 1987, Leatherwolf never quite hit the commercial heights that their thunderous sound deserved. They initially split in 1991, but drummer Dean Roberts took the reins with a new line-up in 1999 and has kept the show on the road ever since.

Kill The Hunted arrives 15 years after the last Leatherwolf record, New World Asylum, and feels like a significant reboot. New vocalist Keith Adamiak is a snarling, shrieking powerhouse, and the songs here are as catchy and explosive as anything on the band’s early classics. This is unapologetic old-school melodic metal, but sonically pristine and brimming with swagger and snot. From short, sharp headbangers like Nobody and Madhouse, to the epic, progmetal clangour of Hit The Dirt and The Henchman, Roberts’s crew still sound too good to be languishing in obscurity.