Leatherwolf

Never-quites who roared out of Orange County in the early 80s, Leatherwolf offered the novel gimmick of three guitarists (an arrangement Iron Maiden would also assume in the next millennium). You can’t necessarily tell who’s doing what, but the layered instruments certainly give their Dokken/Queensryche-esque quasi-glam melodic metal a fullness only otherwise achievable through studio trickery. While the live version of “The Hook” usually attached to CD reissues gives their string slingers a chance to shine, “The Calling” and the unfortunately-titled fantasy yarn “Gypsies and Thieves” show off something even more important: their actual hooks.