Artist: Saxon
Label: SPV Records
Release: 2004
Rating: 3/5
As we know, Saxon started getting steadily heavier, album after album, with “Solid Ball Of Rock” (1991), while the flirting with the rock’n’roll feel that ran all over their eighties records, with the exception of the glam-leaning “Destiny” (1986), got less and less frequent. And so Saxon fired off the heaviest-sounding record of their career! Well, given that trend, that was easy enough to see coming back in 2001 too, when they put out the predecessor “Killing Ground”. And the trend is still going, so “Lionheart” is an even harder album!
To get there, they swapped Fritz Randow in the lineup for a real beast behind the kit, Jörg Michael, who jumped ship to safety from the sinking Stratovarius. The opener Witchfinder General kicks off nasty and angry, with some proper “Running Wild-style rattling” on the double bass pedal. Right from the start the band unleashes a supersonic ultra-voltage never before heard from Saxon, one that not a single one of the following songs can hold a candle to. A true Michael masterpiece of explosive power.
Production obviously played a big part here. This is easily the most alive-sounding production in the band’s history, with Saxon’s guitar riffing and drum clatter sounding wound up tight like never before. The production of the whole record is typically German, pretty close to what Grave Digger or Running Wild do. Brutal. It’s barely been through any studio ironing-out. Apart from two preludes, the short The Return and Jack Tars, the tracks run from fast to mid-tempo, with no “ballads” or acoustic adventures in between. So Saxon wanted to blow up the studio. And they pulled it off nicely, because this is a real classic heavy metal bomb of a record, a hell of a mix of epic, pomp and steel-clad neighing. Saxon again dress up the basic motifs nicely with triplet bits, witty transitions and rhythm changes, conjuring up an interesting palette of moods (the atmospheric peak of the record is the dynamic Beyond The Grave with its downright poisonous main riff). All the songs are graced by the unique voice of legendary singer Biff Byford, who once again shines across the board. Soaring high screams and melodically rounded-off verses are woven in as well. Biff sings his lines with plenty of variety, so he doesn’t just “hang” in the same sequences through the verses nonstop, but cunningly winds his way through different tonalities. With the color of his voice, too. He’s a master, a master of the routine that comes with the years.
Did Saxon sacrifice anything in order to sound more aggressive than ever? Of course they did. The spirit of the band, the magic, that uniqueness where you know from the first beat, “Yep, that’s Saxon!”, is on “Lionheart” playing second fiddle for pretty much the first time in the band’s story. “Killing Ground” (2001) still managed to catch the right balance in this respect, but this time Saxon sound way too power metal (the tracks To Live By The Sword and English Man’O’War are typical examples, and Witchfinder General too). They sound power metal because of the new drumming style as well. The last track, Flying On The Edge, will be a step too far for many, the straw that breaks the camel’s back, since it’s a literal copy of Running For The Border from “Killing Ground”. In it, Saxon sing about how to catch a plane so you don’t miss a gig. A tour-life travelogue. The rest of the lyrics (a staple by now) are once again tailor-made for all of you who like chasing dragons and every other creature of your own imagination around the apartment with fire and sword. In short, no deep sermons in the lyrics. Which wouldn’t really fit in here anyway.
So the record is a solid metal assault, but the flirting with power metal, which is the trend on the metal rock scene right now, with young bands trying their hand at the genre swarming like leaves and grass, somehow devalues it. The irony is that Flying On The Edge, which I just called a copy, keeps the most of that characteristic Saxon magic. So in order to sound closer to the ears of the kids throwing themselves at HammerFall and the like, Saxon sold off a little of their soul. Just a little, a tiny bit.
Still, “Lionheart” is a record that’s a typical heavy metal bible with a classic approach, and it flows extremely well. Pop it in the CD player and it’s over in a flash. It’s devilishly alive and razor sharp, Saxon rattle away brilliantly and are as wicked on it as ever. So, no worries. My remarks are a warning mainly for Saxon nostalgics. “Lionheart” will especially scramble the brains of all the young metal knuckleheads, who’ll be gleefully going through their delirium of ecstasy with it, while we old-school Saxon fans have already forgiven them completely, if the grudge was even justified in the first place. Even in their 35th year, Saxon keep on stomping away like they’re twenty-year-old kids and not the elder statesmen of heavy metal!
Lineup
Biff Byford – vocals
Paul Quinn – guitar
Doug Scarratt – guitar
Nibbs Carter – bass
Jörg Michael – drums
Production
Charlie Bauerfeind
Tracklist
1. Witchfinder General
2. Man And Machine
3. The Return
4. Lionheart
5. Beyond The Grave
6. Justice
7. To Live By The Sword
8. Jack Tars
9. English Man´o`war
10. Searching For Atlantis
11. Flying On The Edge
Running time: 45:03
