SAXON - Call To Arms

Do Saxon still matter in 2011? That's the question I asked myself the first time I laid eyes on the (admittedly rather ugly) cover art of “Call To Arms”. The answer came with the opening notes of “Hammer Of The Gods”, the lead single: yes, they absolutely still matter!

The authors of essential NWOBHM records (“Wheels Of Steel”, “Strong Arm Of The Law” and “Denim And Leather”) reach their thirty-second birthday (and nineteenth studio album) in, to put it mildly, tremendous shape. Of course, you can't expect some groundbreaking innovation from a band like Saxon, not least because, when they did try, it didn't go all that well (anyone say “Destiny”?). Still, nowadays, if you want to hear a pure heavy metal record, played with great class and skill, this is a work you simply can't ignore.

The album opens, as mentioned, with “Hammer Of The Gods”, a powerful, epic track wrapped in the melodic lines typical of the British band. The second song, “Back In '79”, whose choruses are sung by 79 fans, immediately recalls “Denim And Leather”, albeit from a more contemporary perspective, while “Surviving Against The Odds” (one of the best tracks here) pushes the accelerator a bit harder without losing sight of melody. With “Mists Of Avalon”, meanwhile, the sound shifts toward a more atmospheric dimension, with Biff's epic, vibrant voice shaping another great moment. A particularly inspired, poignant Biff also stands out on the title track which, with its semi-ballad sound, tells the story of a soldier writing to his beloved with deep longing.

If the tracks just mentioned represent the best the album has to offer, the rest sit just a notch below and are still a real pleasure to listen to. That's the case with “Chasing The Bullet”, “No Rest For The Wicked” and “Ballad Of Working Man”. “Afterburner” deserves a separate mention, a full-throttle track with a rhythm section firing on all cylinders, the only piece that recalls the earlier “Inner Sanctum” and “Into The Labyrinth”. A sour note, on the other hand, comes with “When Doomsday Comes”, an episode spoiled by a self-quotation from Don Airey that shamelessly echoes Deep Purple's “Perfect Strangers” (worth noting, though, that this track, along with the next one, will be featured on the soundtrack of James Erkin's film “Hybrid Theory”).

To close things out, we get an orchestral rendition of “Call To Arms” which, with a truly exceptional arrangement, opens an intriguing window onto what's next for Saxon.

In short, the English band's creative vein is far from running dry, so much so that several ideas on this new work bode well for the future. After all, if “Never Surrender” is still a highlight of their adrenaline-fueled live shows, it means they have no intention of giving up!

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26/07/2011