Saxon
Sacrifice

April 2013
Released: 2013, UDR Music
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: Waspman

As Saxon marches towards its 35th year of activity, the band manages to somehow stay more active than ever, with a constant stream of albums, DVDs, and tours. Incredibly, they have avoided stagnation, and continue to release albums that are more entertaining and vital than bands a quarter of their age. Thus, 2013 is upon us, and so is Saxon’s 20th studio album, SACRIFICE.



Now, with Saxon, you can never quite be sure what you’re going to get; which is part of their appeal. Yes, you know it’s going to be classic metal in the NWOBHM vein, but will it be more ‘70s hard rock oriented like CALL TO ARMS? Or will it be a full-on metal assault like METALHEAD? Well, for fans of the heavy stuff, this is your time, because SACRIFICE is Saxon’s heaviest album in quite some time. The basic sound of the band is intact, lead by Biff Byford’s ever-young vocals, but seriously, the title track contains about as vicious a riff as Saxon have EVER penned. I don’t know what pissed them off, but I’m glad of it, as it’s also one of the finest songs the band has released.



Elsewhere, the band covers a lot of ground you may expect, from Byford’s mix of blue collar & fantasy lyrics, heavy songs, rock songs and all points in between. If I were forced to pick favorites other than the title track, I’d go with the faster ones, “Warriors of the Road” and “Stand Up and Fight”, the latter of which has one of the catchiest choruses on the album. Really though, there are no bad songs on the album and it’s an easy purchase for the band’s legion of fans. SACRIFICE is another victory for the mighty Saxon.

Saxon
Sacrifice

March 2013
Released: 2013, EMI Music Distribution/UDR
Rating: 3.0/5
Reviewer: Arto Lehtinen

Some basic facts are supposed to remain the same such as eating, digging metal, sleeping, etc., in the mandatory routes of our life or some radical changes happen. Without this, then the whole schedule and aspects of life gets totally screwed up. As for traditional metal, the British heavy metal veterans Saxon the basic facts remain year after year without loosing their grip and starting non-sense or ever becoming boring. The five piece have continually put out true, solid and high quality metal one by one since the late 90’s. All right, each of us can admit the albums released in the mid and late 80’s were quite hair oriented hard rock however...



Anyway, the newest album 'Sacrifice' once again testifies that these old dogs are capable of creating true head banging and heavy metal hymns echoing in the catacombs of the ear and mind. Saxon never changes and why should they!? Saxon is known for the identifiable voice of Biff Byford and catchy metallic sounding tunes. The album sounds superb produced by Andy Sneap. As a matter of fact, the album sounds like true Saxon with the identified sound.



The band has revealed in a few interviews that the Sacrifice album could be the swansong in their long history. Therefore, Sacrifice could be a pleasant way to say the farewell, but lets not give up as Saxon will be touring a lot and these new songs, along with the true classic Saxon songs, will sound as great as expected.