Forgotten Gems: Leather Nunn-Take the Night

Key Records
1986


Very few bands ever come up with a name that is all their own. It might be a hair easier now that you can just do a quick Google search. Even so usually what happens is that once a band settles on a name (even something off the wall or truly one of a kind) they find that some other band has beat them to the point. Here we have Leather Nunn. This band's one lone album, "Take The Night" is a strong melodic heavy metal album that was limited to just 500 LP copies. Nowadays it is quite rare and has sold for over $900.00 on Ebay. This album is one of the rarest and most sought after heavy metal LPs out there and for good reason since "Take The Night" is almost a perfect heavy metal album. Too bad though that they were just one of several bands to adopt the name as Leather Nunn deserve to stand alone with the moniker. But, we have a San Diego doom metal band going by the same name as well as a "Swedish goth/garage/punky band" (per BNR Metal) who ran with the title as well. The one true one though will always be Jacksonville, Florida's Leather Nunn who formed in 1983 and released this killer record three years later. The band had a great following and for good reason. "Take The Night" is filled with prime heavy metal done right. For those who love eighties metal this band are sure to please. I've heard them called a poor man's Judas Priest but that wouldn't be at all a fair title. This cult band had more in common with bands like Phantom, Leatherwolf and Malice than with Judas Priest. They were eighties heavy metal with enough of a melodic edge that they could have really made an impact. "Take The Night" is packed full of kick ass metal like the title cut, "Another Bite" and "Mental Asylum" while cuts like "Take Me Back" showed off a more lighter side. This album had it all. Sadly though a car accident ended what could have been a promising career. The album was re-released in 2003 by Metal Reunion Records with 4 bonus tracks tacked on. The CD though was limited to just 1000 copies and sold out. Copies now fetch up around $30-$50 dollars on Ebay so your best bet if you want this cult classic is to just search the web for a quality download. It sucks it has to be like that as Leather Nunn deserve to be heard by more people. This band was loaded with talent and had just enough attitude to take them fare. In the eighties it was all about anthems and this was a band that could compete and then some. I just love tracks like "Take The Night", "You’re the One" and "Leather Nunn". Such a shame it ended too soon and that this album isn't more well known. I just can't stress enough how much of a lost classic this is and how Leather Nunn should have been huge. They could have been as big as Armored Saint or even been the next Lizzy Borden. Instead it seems like only a small handful of fans out there have heard this gem.