TageRyche
Senior Member
SAXON
Hell, Fire and Damnation
Silver Lining Music - 2024
With the addition of Diamond Head guitarist Brian Tatler to the lineup, Saxon has once again turned up the volume for their 24th studio album Hell, Fire and Damnation.
The opening track "The Prophecy" is just under 2 minutes long and combines a heavy sounding instrumental and a spoken word oration from actor Brian Blessed (credited with writing the track). It is its own singular entity and if you've ever heard Blessed speaking, it provides an instantaneous dramatic flair as it leads into the album's title track.
That title track is hard rocking and heavy throughout and oddly enough, I thought singer Biff Byford's vocals had an extra touch of a gravelly tone to them. Of course, that could be just my imagination. Still, I thought his vocal worked perfectly with the song.
"Madame Guillotine" is still in the same kind of uptempo vein but it is not nearly has fast in pace as the title track. The chorus has a nice line of melody threaded into it that I enjoyed a lot.
I don't know that I would necessarily describe "Fire and Steel" as an anthem type of track, but its relentlessly fast pace really struck a chord with me and ended up making this one killer track in my book.
When I saw the title "There's Something in Roswell", my first thought was did we really need a song that alien conspiracy theorists could use at their theme song? But as silly as the concept might be, the song is actually pretty damn good. Speaking of silly song titles, while I know there's a history lesson there, I thought "Kubla Khan and the Merchant of Venice" just was a weird title. But again, good damn track when you sit down and listen to it.
The song "Pirates of the Airwaves" is another song with a history lesson awaiting you in the lyrics. This time it is about when rock music wasn't allowed to be played on British radio and rock stations and their DJs would broadcast from ships at sea. On its own merits I would've enjoyed the song. But what made me really love it a lot was how it serves as a companion piece (in my own mind) to the movie Pirate Radio which is about the same topic. I love that movie a lot so to have a song to go with it now just made the listening experience that much more of a powerful thing for me.
Ancient British history is explored in the song "1066" which is about the Battle of Hastings. And then Saxon crosses the pond and travels ahead a few hundred years for "Witches of Salem", a song about The Salem Witch Trials. I loved the way the use of screams at the beginning of the song made it seem like you could use the track as a theme song for a horror movie.
Closing out the album is the song "Super Charger" which completely lives up to its name. The song is a bare knuckles speed demon of a song. Fast moving to the point of being fiercely resolute in just how adrenaline charged the tempo is, when the song finally fades out, you feel like you are finally able to take a calm breath.
With Doug Scarratt on guitar with Tatler, bassist Nibbs Carter on bass and Nigel Glockler on drums all providing a thunderous musical soundtrack from which Byford vocals and lyrics soar over, Saxon has yet again turned in another in a recent run of albums that has turned me into a fan of the band beyond just their classic "Denim and Leather" song. Hell, Fire and Damnation is classic straight forward heavy metal from one of the true stalwarts of the genre!
Hell, Fire and Damnation
Silver Lining Music - 2024
With the addition of Diamond Head guitarist Brian Tatler to the lineup, Saxon has once again turned up the volume for their 24th studio album Hell, Fire and Damnation.
The opening track "The Prophecy" is just under 2 minutes long and combines a heavy sounding instrumental and a spoken word oration from actor Brian Blessed (credited with writing the track). It is its own singular entity and if you've ever heard Blessed speaking, it provides an instantaneous dramatic flair as it leads into the album's title track.
That title track is hard rocking and heavy throughout and oddly enough, I thought singer Biff Byford's vocals had an extra touch of a gravelly tone to them. Of course, that could be just my imagination. Still, I thought his vocal worked perfectly with the song.
"Madame Guillotine" is still in the same kind of uptempo vein but it is not nearly has fast in pace as the title track. The chorus has a nice line of melody threaded into it that I enjoyed a lot.
I don't know that I would necessarily describe "Fire and Steel" as an anthem type of track, but its relentlessly fast pace really struck a chord with me and ended up making this one killer track in my book.
When I saw the title "There's Something in Roswell", my first thought was did we really need a song that alien conspiracy theorists could use at their theme song? But as silly as the concept might be, the song is actually pretty damn good. Speaking of silly song titles, while I know there's a history lesson there, I thought "Kubla Khan and the Merchant of Venice" just was a weird title. But again, good damn track when you sit down and listen to it.
The song "Pirates of the Airwaves" is another song with a history lesson awaiting you in the lyrics. This time it is about when rock music wasn't allowed to be played on British radio and rock stations and their DJs would broadcast from ships at sea. On its own merits I would've enjoyed the song. But what made me really love it a lot was how it serves as a companion piece (in my own mind) to the movie Pirate Radio which is about the same topic. I love that movie a lot so to have a song to go with it now just made the listening experience that much more of a powerful thing for me.
Ancient British history is explored in the song "1066" which is about the Battle of Hastings. And then Saxon crosses the pond and travels ahead a few hundred years for "Witches of Salem", a song about The Salem Witch Trials. I loved the way the use of screams at the beginning of the song made it seem like you could use the track as a theme song for a horror movie.
Closing out the album is the song "Super Charger" which completely lives up to its name. The song is a bare knuckles speed demon of a song. Fast moving to the point of being fiercely resolute in just how adrenaline charged the tempo is, when the song finally fades out, you feel like you are finally able to take a calm breath.
With Doug Scarratt on guitar with Tatler, bassist Nibbs Carter on bass and Nigel Glockler on drums all providing a thunderous musical soundtrack from which Byford vocals and lyrics soar over, Saxon has yet again turned in another in a recent run of albums that has turned me into a fan of the band beyond just their classic "Denim and Leather" song. Hell, Fire and Damnation is classic straight forward heavy metal from one of the true stalwarts of the genre!
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