Saxon to be 5th band on the 2nd stage at Wacken!
Saxon
- Thread starter Yax
- Start date
Black Wizard
Pleb Hunter
Metal band to play at Metal festival!
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
Thunderbolt (2018)
1.Olympus Rising (Instrumental) - not so good intro starts the album. Although, it's a perfect prequel to the title track and sets the atmosphere of the album well. 5/10
2.Thunderbolt - unmistakable pure Saxon! The riff is brutal, awesome verses and the chorus is great. The part ''Unleash the gods of war'' is epic. Crazy solos and powerful drums. The twin-guitar harmony at the end is just perfect. This track is a essential old school heavy metal. Best song on the album! 10/10
3.The Secret Of Flight - killer melodic riff opens this track. Then the second riff is a meltdown! Mystic song. I find a modern vibe to this song. Great verses, but the pre-chours and the actual chorus is kinda weak. Very good solos though. Overall a good song. 7/10
4.Nosferatu (The Vampire's Waltz) - what a bloody title for a song! It starts creepy, very heavy riff and the verses are ok. Weak chorus. The solos are epic (Egyptian feel to them). 6/10
5.They Played Rock And Roll - straightforward rocker! The little solo at the start is crazy. I like the verses and the chorus. Good riff, great solos and lyrics. Wild end to the song. 8/10
6.Predator - very heavy riff. The vocals of Johan Hegg are totally unnecessary. Otherwise, ok verses and chorus. Melodic solos. A big filler! 4/10
7.Sons Of Odin - mid-tempo song. Again, (great) heavy riff. Very good verses and the chorus is cool. Very melodic solos and harmonies. This song feels like a semi-ballad. 8/10
8.Sniper - awesome short rocker! The heavy riffs continues. Typical verses and chorus for the band. Killer solos. 8/10
9.A Wizard's Tale - the opening melodic riff is like the one in ''The Secret Of Flight''. The pre-chorus is good. Strange chorus. The riff after the first solo is brutal ! 7/10
10.Speed Merchants - second best song on the album. This song screams Saxon all the way. Brutal opening. Amazing verses and chorus. Great solos and the twin-lead guitar harmony after that is pure gold. 10/10
11.Roadie's Song - great start of the song. Classic heavy metal riff, great verses, the chorus is not that good. The solos are awesome. Great song to close the album. 7/10
Album rating - 7.2/10
A good album, but nothing special. I think Saxon should take more time between albums - otherwise, some of theirs songs starts to sound very similar. Biff still has an amazing vocals, great drums, riffs and solos on this album too. Classic Saxon album cover!
1.Olympus Rising (Instrumental) - not so good intro starts the album. Although, it's a perfect prequel to the title track and sets the atmosphere of the album well. 5/10
2.Thunderbolt - unmistakable pure Saxon! The riff is brutal, awesome verses and the chorus is great. The part ''Unleash the gods of war'' is epic. Crazy solos and powerful drums. The twin-guitar harmony at the end is just perfect. This track is a essential old school heavy metal. Best song on the album! 10/10
3.The Secret Of Flight - killer melodic riff opens this track. Then the second riff is a meltdown! Mystic song. I find a modern vibe to this song. Great verses, but the pre-chours and the actual chorus is kinda weak. Very good solos though. Overall a good song. 7/10
4.Nosferatu (The Vampire's Waltz) - what a bloody title for a song! It starts creepy, very heavy riff and the verses are ok. Weak chorus. The solos are epic (Egyptian feel to them). 6/10
5.They Played Rock And Roll - straightforward rocker! The little solo at the start is crazy. I like the verses and the chorus. Good riff, great solos and lyrics. Wild end to the song. 8/10
6.Predator - very heavy riff. The vocals of Johan Hegg are totally unnecessary. Otherwise, ok verses and chorus. Melodic solos. A big filler! 4/10
7.Sons Of Odin - mid-tempo song. Again, (great) heavy riff. Very good verses and the chorus is cool. Very melodic solos and harmonies. This song feels like a semi-ballad. 8/10
8.Sniper - awesome short rocker! The heavy riffs continues. Typical verses and chorus for the band. Killer solos. 8/10
9.A Wizard's Tale - the opening melodic riff is like the one in ''The Secret Of Flight''. The pre-chorus is good. Strange chorus. The riff after the first solo is brutal ! 7/10
10.Speed Merchants - second best song on the album. This song screams Saxon all the way. Brutal opening. Amazing verses and chorus. Great solos and the twin-lead guitar harmony after that is pure gold. 10/10
11.Roadie's Song - great start of the song. Classic heavy metal riff, great verses, the chorus is not that good. The solos are awesome. Great song to close the album. 7/10
Album rating - 7.2/10
A good album, but nothing special. I think Saxon should take more time between albums - otherwise, some of theirs songs starts to sound very similar. Biff still has an amazing vocals, great drums, riffs and solos on this album too. Classic Saxon album cover!
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Black Wizard
Pleb Hunter
Any heavy riffs?
GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
I really like early Saxon but must say that their recent stuff (well, in reality everything since Crusader) leaves me cold.
You must listen to Unleash the Beast
GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
I have done that. Not impressed.
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
Yeah, Per! Lots of them, really heavy ones.
DJ James
A coma stole my name.
I know the feeling. I use to listen to a fair bit of Saxon about 2 to 3 years ago. But revisiting them now feels pretty cheesy. And I get thats their thing you know. I can get behind the cheesiness in their earlier stuff (I eat stuff like Play it Loud up). But the last recent Saxon outing that I thought was great was Lionheart. The following Inner Sanctum was alright, but there was only 2 or 3 good tracks on there. Rest was forgettable. I truly don't get why they keep on releasing new stuff. Thunderbolt was forgettable at best. I did like parts of Battering Ram and Call to Arms now that I think about it. But really, whats 2 good tracks in a sea of filler? Not much.
GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
I know the feeling. Some of their earlier stuff was cheesy but had charm. In recent years it seems they are trying to sound as heavy as possible without any of the charm from their olden days...
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
It's not that bad album, but not that good either. The title track is good (great riff), Bloodletter is a awesome speed rocker, but the real (hidden?) gem is The Thin Red Line - one of the best songs of Saxon IMO... epic stuff! And that's all, really. Well, Circle Of Light is not bad and Ministry Of Fools has a 80's vibe in it. The intro Gothic Dreams suits the album and the title track perfectly. The album contains a nice ballad too.
The next album from 1999, Metalhead is even weaker. Weak title track, only Conquistador and the epic closing track Sea Of Life are good songs.
Very heavy albums with two great album covers. Actually, I think it would have been better if these two album were merged at one with a total of 8-10 songs. And one of the album covers to be the main cover and the other to be the back cover of the CD. Not a bad idea...
Welsh Phantom
Ancient Mariner
The Thin Red Line is indeed ace. I mentioned before that I would love to hear Maiden cover it as b-side. Great atmosphere!
The_7th_one
Ancient Mariner
this is how they jumped on stage…After all Maiden were good looking with weird clothing
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
Saxon's album from 1988 Destiny is one of my favorite albums from the band. From 1985 to 1988 they went on to a more commercial style/music, but I liked (and still like) this period of the band. The so called commercial albums are only 3, so the fans should not complain so much when the band has 22 albums released so far... 
/ Seriously, these are great albums. Innocence Is No Excuse is a fantastic album - only 2/3 fillers from 10 songs (the others are classics). Rock The Nations is also a solid album - Side one of that album is top-notch and only 2 fillers from 9 songs!
But Destiny is a special album. Glam metal and I love it. The culmination of the two albums before it and that direction of the band at that time. So many amazing songs and classics for the band. Maybe only the song ''Jericho Siren'' is not so good, but 1 song from 10 is almost nothing... / Again, typical album cover for the band. Even the cover song ''Ride Like The Wind'' is awesome and better than the original. ''Where The Lightning Strikes'' has a strong KISS vibe. This album signals the end of the 80's (best decade for the heavy metal music) in a fantastic way - all of the melodies, riffs, choruses, keyboards, solos that were trade mark in the 80's are in this album. This decade definitely has a special unique vibe in the music (riffs, solos, singers etc)... and no one can replicate ever again the sound of this decade/ After that, in the 90's they went for a way more heavy direction.
Actually, Destiny might be my all time favorite album from Saxon.
/ Seriously, these are great albums. Innocence Is No Excuse is a fantastic album - only 2/3 fillers from 10 songs (the others are classics). Rock The Nations is also a solid album - Side one of that album is top-notch and only 2 fillers from 9 songs!But Destiny is a special album. Glam metal and I love it. The culmination of the two albums before it and that direction of the band at that time. So many amazing songs and classics for the band. Maybe only the song ''Jericho Siren'' is not so good, but 1 song from 10 is almost nothing... / Again, typical album cover for the band. Even the cover song ''Ride Like The Wind'' is awesome and better than the original. ''Where The Lightning Strikes'' has a strong KISS vibe. This album signals the end of the 80's (best decade for the heavy metal music) in a fantastic way - all of the melodies, riffs, choruses, keyboards, solos that were trade mark in the 80's are in this album. This decade definitely has a special unique vibe in the music (riffs, solos, singers etc)... and no one can replicate ever again the sound of this decade/ After that, in the 90's they went for a way more heavy direction.
Actually, Destiny might be my all time favorite album from Saxon.
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Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
Biff Byford will release his debut solo album later this year. He said that the album with contain songs with a lot of different styles (which he likes) - it will have a couple of prog songs (they're ridiculously heavy), a sloppy ballad (about his marriage anniversary) and one song called ''Hearts Of Steel'' (song about the Knights Templar) that is pure Saxon according to him. There is gonna be a couple of songs on the album that could be in a Saxon album. He likes all type of stuff as long as it has a strong melody... Actually, the songs ''They Played Rock And Roll'' and ''Roadie's Song'' from Thunderbolt album were ideas for his solo album. He wrote a couple of songs with Nibbs Carter and the prog songs he wrote with Fredrik Åkesson./ He is a big Journey fan.
The solo album will feature guest appearances by drummer Nicholas Barker (Cradle Of Filth) and guitarist Fredrik Åkesson (Opeth, Arch Enemy) and more: he had seven songs written for his solo disc, adding that the record would probably feature a number of guest musicians. "I'm gonna ask various people [to appear on the record]," he said. "It's not easy for guitarists to work with you, because they just smack down their signature solo and off you go. Singers, I might do some duets and things. We'll see. I wanna get the songs written first, and then see who wants to work on them. I'll probably have a nucleus of a drummer and a bass player, although I might play bass myself. I've still got my Rickenbacker."
On a related note, he pick his 12 favorite Saxon songs: https://www.loudersound.com/features/12-top-saxon-songs-as-chosen-by-saxons-biff-byford
The solo album will feature guest appearances by drummer Nicholas Barker (Cradle Of Filth) and guitarist Fredrik Åkesson (Opeth, Arch Enemy) and more: he had seven songs written for his solo disc, adding that the record would probably feature a number of guest musicians. "I'm gonna ask various people [to appear on the record]," he said. "It's not easy for guitarists to work with you, because they just smack down their signature solo and off you go. Singers, I might do some duets and things. We'll see. I wanna get the songs written first, and then see who wants to work on them. I'll probably have a nucleus of a drummer and a bass player, although I might play bass myself. I've still got my Rickenbacker."
On a related note, he pick his 12 favorite Saxon songs: https://www.loudersound.com/features/12-top-saxon-songs-as-chosen-by-saxons-biff-byford
1.Motorcycle Man
2.Strong Arm Of The Law
3.Denim And Leather
4.Power And The Glory
5.Crusader
6.Solid Ball Of Rock
7.Lionheart
8.Sacrifice
9.Valley Of The Kings
10.Battering Ram
11.Thunderbolt -> "This is about Greek mythology and Zeus and Krakens and all sorts of things, you know, mystical! I like history, it’s got a wealth of really great subjects to sing about and it fits the genre as well. I think probably us and Maiden have cornered the market on that subject matter!"
12.Conquistador
2.Strong Arm Of The Law
3.Denim And Leather
4.Power And The Glory
5.Crusader
6.Solid Ball Of Rock
7.Lionheart
8.Sacrifice
9.Valley Of The Kings
10.Battering Ram
11.Thunderbolt -> "This is about Greek mythology and Zeus and Krakens and all sorts of things, you know, mystical! I like history, it’s got a wealth of really great subjects to sing about and it fits the genre as well. I think probably us and Maiden have cornered the market on that subject matter!"
12.Conquistador
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The_7th_one
Ancient Mariner
They're also going to release a live album with 40 songs to celebrate their 40th anniversary
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
Yeah, that's great.
Biff said that it was a nightmare to select these 40 songs.
BIFF BYFORD Says 'It Was A Nightmare' Selecting The 40 Songs On SAXON's New Live Album
SAXON vocalist Biff Byford recently spoke with rock journalist Mark Taylor. The full conversation can be viewed below. A few excerpts follow (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). On the group's forthcoming "The Eagle Has Landed 40 (Live)", which features 40 songs covering four decades: Biff: "It...
www.blabbermouth.net
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Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
It would have been way better if Saxon have used the back cover of the CD (of SBOR) to be the main cover for the album Solid Ball Of Rock.
It represents the title of the album at best.../ plus, the original album cover (click here) is basically the same as the one for the previous album, Destiny -> the big letter ''S" from their logo.
It represents the title of the album at best.../ plus, the original album cover (click here) is basically the same as the one for the previous album, Destiny -> the big letter ''S" from their logo.
