After two killer album releases, German act Knife decided to capture themselves on stage from a recent 2023 tour with Sodom across Europe for this Live Leather Hounds EP. Incorporating a style that is speed metal to the core with black and punk influences as well, you’ll get five original tracks as well as a Desaster cover recorded in primitive fashion that features a couple of special vocal guests.
Let’s get to the cover first. Many readers outside of Europe probably know the name Desaster, but haven’t heard much of their discography before being on Metal Blade in the mid 2000’s. So to check out “Metalized Blood” from 1998’s Hellfire’s Dominion album will be a treat – beyond the extra vocal support from Desaster’s own Guido Wissmann and Sacred Steel’s Gerrit P. Mutz. It’s an energetic frenzied track, full of vigorous guitars, savage vocals, and thunderous drumming that revels in blackened thrash excess. As far as the live cuts, “White Witch – Black Death” rips out of the gate, Vince Nihil’s Kreator-ish raspy vocals sure to set the stage ablaze, the lead break heroic and wild at the same time. “Black Leather Hounds” contains the right mix of Venom-esque horror next to Black Sabbath or Van Halen-oriented chord combinations, while “Heaven Into Dust” steamrolls in speed metal glory, its bullet train main tempo and supplemental rhythm guitar work designed to almost feel like it’s going to fall off the cliff, only to be channeled back into a Slayer-esque pit moving transition at the key moment.
Many would question why a band may put out a live EP this early into the band’s career. It seemed to work out well for artists like Iron Maiden and Slayer, so who is this scribe to question Knife if they wanted to engage their fans with Live Leather Hounds six years in? Stop gap or personal treasure – the choice will be dependent on where you stand for these Germans.