UDR Music
2013
1. Procession
2. Sacrifice
3. Made In Belfast
4. Warriors Of The Road
5. Guardians Of The Tomb
6. Stand Up And Fight
7. Walking The Steel
8. Night Of The Wolf
9. Wheels Of Terror
10. Standing In A Queue
Saxon are a band I really enjoy and whose legacy is unquestionable, but the last album makes me just a little skeptical going into this one. Call To Arms wasn't Bad, but I don't find myself going back and playing it very often either. It really hasn't aged that well for me due to a lack of particularly memorable highlights. Anytime a band puts out an album that just fails to grab hold you've gotta approach the next wondering if it'll be a rebound or the beginning of a trend.
The first mark against this album comes from just putting the review together. A sure way to not wow me right out of the gate would be an album that doesn't quite manage to hit 40 minutes with an intro. I'm sorry, but I do like a little more bang for my buck. Not to say I want filler, but an album length like that gets me wondering immediately if the song ideas just weren't exactly flowing during this session. Saxon have rarely made super long albums and there are some just over 40 minutes, but I think it's worth noting that the last album to Not quite hit 40 minutes was Crusader. People kinda expect more of a modern metal album as they have become just typically longer.
Well, all my suspicions regarding the last album and the length of this one are confirmed. This album just isn't that inspired and there's no real way around it for me. If there was an idea during the writing of this album it must have been "Just make some stuff that sounds like it did before". I'm not saying Saxon should reinvent themselves, but Guardians of the Tomb = Valley of the Kings, Warriors of the Road = Wheels Of Steel/Motorcycle Man, and Standing In A Queue = We're British and we've totally run out of song names. Those are just the more obvious ones too. Sacrifice pretty much sounds like B grade stuff from around the era of Killing Ground/Metalhead mixed with some more typical NWOBHM rockers that aren't catchy or different enough to be that interesting.
Highlights are few, but I do think the title track is a decent one that sounds like it could have been from Killing Ground. Fairly epic, if not completely mind blowing. Warriors of the Road, while already mentioned as a fairly cliche one, does have some good energy and I like the speed of the track. My least favorite tracks include Made In Belfast which gets a bit too chuggy with it's Metalhead era sound. Also, Standing In A Queue which is probably the silliest proto-metal/rock thing here and pretty much just unnecessary.
Overall, Sacrifice doesn't really deliver what I was looking for. This sounds a little too much like a band going through the motions and putting out another album for the sake of it. This isn't the worst thing I've ever heard by any means. It still sounds like Saxon and Biff has a pretty decent vocal performance, but there's nothing very inspired on this release. This is probably worth it for fans and has at least a couple songs to toss into the live performances next to the classics, but this doesn't measure up to modern Saxon albums like Into The Labyrinth or The Inner Sanctum.
Highlights: Sacrifice, Warriors Of The Road
Rating - 3.0/5
2. Sacrifice
3. Made In Belfast
4. Warriors Of The Road
5. Guardians Of The Tomb
6. Stand Up And Fight
7. Walking The Steel
8. Night Of The Wolf
9. Wheels Of Terror
10. Standing In A Queue
Saxon are a band I really enjoy and whose legacy is unquestionable, but the last album makes me just a little skeptical going into this one. Call To Arms wasn't Bad, but I don't find myself going back and playing it very often either. It really hasn't aged that well for me due to a lack of particularly memorable highlights. Anytime a band puts out an album that just fails to grab hold you've gotta approach the next wondering if it'll be a rebound or the beginning of a trend.
The first mark against this album comes from just putting the review together. A sure way to not wow me right out of the gate would be an album that doesn't quite manage to hit 40 minutes with an intro. I'm sorry, but I do like a little more bang for my buck. Not to say I want filler, but an album length like that gets me wondering immediately if the song ideas just weren't exactly flowing during this session. Saxon have rarely made super long albums and there are some just over 40 minutes, but I think it's worth noting that the last album to Not quite hit 40 minutes was Crusader. People kinda expect more of a modern metal album as they have become just typically longer.
Well, all my suspicions regarding the last album and the length of this one are confirmed. This album just isn't that inspired and there's no real way around it for me. If there was an idea during the writing of this album it must have been "Just make some stuff that sounds like it did before". I'm not saying Saxon should reinvent themselves, but Guardians of the Tomb = Valley of the Kings, Warriors of the Road = Wheels Of Steel/Motorcycle Man, and Standing In A Queue = We're British and we've totally run out of song names. Those are just the more obvious ones too. Sacrifice pretty much sounds like B grade stuff from around the era of Killing Ground/Metalhead mixed with some more typical NWOBHM rockers that aren't catchy or different enough to be that interesting.
Highlights are few, but I do think the title track is a decent one that sounds like it could have been from Killing Ground. Fairly epic, if not completely mind blowing. Warriors of the Road, while already mentioned as a fairly cliche one, does have some good energy and I like the speed of the track. My least favorite tracks include Made In Belfast which gets a bit too chuggy with it's Metalhead era sound. Also, Standing In A Queue which is probably the silliest proto-metal/rock thing here and pretty much just unnecessary.
Overall, Sacrifice doesn't really deliver what I was looking for. This sounds a little too much like a band going through the motions and putting out another album for the sake of it. This isn't the worst thing I've ever heard by any means. It still sounds like Saxon and Biff has a pretty decent vocal performance, but there's nothing very inspired on this release. This is probably worth it for fans and has at least a couple songs to toss into the live performances next to the classics, but this doesn't measure up to modern Saxon albums like Into The Labyrinth or The Inner Sanctum.
Highlights: Sacrifice, Warriors Of The Road
Rating - 3.0/5
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