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Album Details
- Artist: Saxon
- Album: The Inner Sanctum
- Label: SPV
- Year of Release: 2007
- ME Rating:
- Reviewed by: patchen on 2007-04-19
RecommendSaxon were there at the beginning of the British New Wave of metal in the early 80’s, though even then they were a step below Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. That has not stopped them from staying around for twenty or so years, delivering the same dramatic, big yet melodic sound to basically the same fans. They are still big for the same reason Status Quo are; they are comfortable and familiar. That is not to say that they are inspiring, however. Singer Biff Byford is still leading the charge of anthemic tunes suitable for football games and D & D soundtracks. It IS somehow comforting to hear a band in 2007 sing "I’ve Got to Rock (To Stay Alive)" with a straight face, never mind "Need For Speed." There is even "Red Star Falling," a power ballad that would have been all over MTV when the genre had cache.
The U.S. version of this set comes with a bonus DVD featuring video and studio outtakes. Their fan base is rabid, so this ought to do well with them, and with aging 80’s kids who still see that period as the golden era of metal.
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on 2012-01-18 CharlesMartel Said:
I suppose Saxon deserve some credit for sticking around so long. Barnsley's best (and if youre not English you may not quite get how unutterably ironic that sounds) are still at it after all these years. But sadly, that is about all the praise they are goiung to get from me. Curiosity got the better of me one day and for some completely inexplicable reason I bought this CD. I had never bought anything by Saxon before, for good reason, and am unlikely ever to do so again. Perhaps I felt my music collection was incomplete without something by the pioneers of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
Doesn't that name say it all? By the end of the seventies, punk had virtually killed off heavy metal in the UK. It had come to be regarded as something of a joke, and few took it seriously. But a handful of hardy souls, Saxon and Def Leppard being the leaders, decided to bring it back. Reciting spells laden with words about fast cars, loose women and historical or quasi-historical figures with a gory past, heavy metal rose, zombie-like from the grave, and set out again to turn (mostly male) kids into long-haired automatons shaking their heads in time to the rhythmic thump of the drums.
And so, over 25 years later, the band members of Saxon, set out from their care home in Yorkshire to the recording studios in London. Packing away their zimmer frames and their hearing aids, they once again squeeze themselves into those leather trousers stiffened with age (all the better because they can't topple over) and grind out another album. Heavy metal may have moved on but Saxon haven't. By the second track, "Need for Speed ", they are on familiar territory, though I doubt that some of the members could survive the speed without inducing heart failure. And at the very end of the album, Saxon dig up another long-dead bloodthirsty tyrant and regale us all with the tale of "Attila the Hun" .
Saxon may not have changed their music, but it is quite amazing that after so many years, they can still sing about stuff which once made them the leaders in their field. There may be a few more flourishes to their music now (after all, they have to move on) but in essence this is the same Saxon you heard in the early eighties. Why are they still doing this? Perhaps a clue can be found in one of the songs on the album "I've Got to Rock (To Stay Alive)". Maybe it is all part of the prescription along with beta blockers.
Rating: 3/10
