Artist: Saracen
Label: Now And Then Records
Release: 2003
Rating: 5/5
Saracen have risen from the dead and released their second studio album after more than 20 years. A great debut that critics welcomed with open arms and praised up, down and sideways as a textbook blend of the “New Wave of British Heavy Metal” with AOR touches, which were a hugely sought-after trend back then. The first album came out in 1981 and was forgotten pretty quickly, since the band called it quits, and today practically nobody really knows anything about Saracen.
“Red Sky” is exactly what you’d expect from a second album, given the band’s excellent debut. First of all, in sound and style, “Red Sky” is basically a lost album that should have come out in 1983, and it carries on the debut’s tradition in every way and then some. It refines it and lifts it to an even higher level. The production is exactly the kind that whisks you back to the first half of the eighties! Crystal clear, with a pronounced bass line and refined guitar riffs, rounded off with impressively woven trimmings of three-part harmonies. The compact, cannon-like drums carry a deep width in the sound and are clearly separated from all the other melodic lines. The keyboards are pure “early eighties”. Most of the tracks must therefore have been written back in that period 20 years ago. The lead vocal is tailor-made for carrying songs with polished melodies that have a proper head and tail. Everything is saturated with colorful “back” vocal lines of the noblest British pedigree, and the band delivers an extremely listenable record that hits hard and at the same time brings a level of refinement to the performance that usually only bands with experience can master. In the 22 years since the debut, Saracen have learned a lot, and the huge time gap is the main culprit for the songs being so accomplished and polished to the max. On ”Red Sky” they’ve brought back classics from the debut, namely Horseman Of The Apocalypse and Heroes, Saints And Fools (the debut’s title track), which are now upgraded even further in their new guise.
“Red Sky” doesn’t offer the “rock” scene anything new, shockingly earth-shaking, stylistically innovative or avant-garde. But it’s a record that fans and admirers of AOR rock and classic metal artistry will be happy about, or, in plain words, all the “music perfectionists”. The tracks are accomplished, and the instrumental middle sections in them especially prove the band’s perfection. The motifs in these parts of the songs are lined up perfectly in step, one after another, and reach a level of “uncomplicated complexity” (complexly built and simple to listen to!). “Red Sky” is an incredibly varied and dynamic record!
Picture the ferocity of the rowdy early-eighties bands Tokyo Blade, Raven or Demon crossed with the refinement that Magnum carry. The back vocal lines at times follow good old Uriah Heep, Asia (the chorus of Faith), and reach an immodest level of metal vocal harmonies, the kind Def Leppard achieved in their sound. Praying Mantis is another name that just popped into my head. On top of that, the band dishes out devilish riffs that prove that Saracen, despite their prog tendencies, come straight out of the wave of good old British metal. “Red Sky” is a polished album of a kind we rarely find today. Both in production and in the finish of the compositions. Everything has found its right place on this album. It all sounds grandiose… perfect! “Red Sky” is a superbly refined school of “rock”. It’s a classic and belongs in the basic holdings of every household.
Lineup
Steve Bettney – vocals
Rob Bendelow – guitar
Richard Lowe – keyboards
Richard Bendelow – bass
Jamie Little – drums
Production
Rob Bendelow
Track list
1. We Have Arrived
2. Red Sky
3. Faith
4. Horsemen Of The Apocalypse
5. Castles In The Sand
6. Heroes, Saints & Fools
7. Flame Of Youth
8. Jekyll & Hyde
9. Menage A Trois
10. Ride Shotgun With The Wind
11. Angel Eyes
12. Follow The Piper
Album length: 70:23
