Label: Silver Lining
Release date: 19. 1. 2024
Production: Andy Sneap & Biff Byford
Album length: 42.23 min
Genre: N.W.O.B.H.M. / Heavy Metal
Rating: 8.5/10
“Hell, Fire and Damnation” kicks off a new chapter for the battle-hardened, tough-as-nails NWOBHM veterans Saxon, since it’s their first studio outing without founding guitarist Paul Quinn. He’s been replaced by Brian Tatler, the boss of fellow NWOBHM survivors Diamond Head, who for now remains a member of both bands. The original plan was for Quinn to stay on as a studio member of Saxon, with Tatler filling in only on tours, but it all ended up playing out differently. Much to the annoyance of undisputed Saxon chieftain Biff Byford, Quinn formed The Cards soon after leaving, which put the final seal on his more than four decades with the legends of the NWOBHM scene. Even so, Biff wasn’t feeling vengeful. Quinn’s guitar parts are still on two “Hell, Fire and Damnation” tracks, while Tatler played the rest alongside longtime guitarist Doug Scarratt.
Right off the bat, it has to be said that “Hell, Fire and Damnation” is, as expected, a thoroughly typical Saxon studio effort of the kind they’ve been putting out since 1997, when Scarratt joined. After the first half of the nineties, when they leaned closer to hard rock than metal, Saxon made a stylistic ‘break’ and gradually started cultivating a punchier sound with the occasional power metal adventure. That led to a nice string of excellent albums that were on par with, or even better than, their classics from the eighties. That kind of consistency and commitment to a clear musical vision is rarely seen in metal.
The release of “Hell, Fire and Damnation”, which follows Saxon’s well-oiled songwriting and production recipe, will delight all the longtime followers of Biff and the gang. As on many previous albums, the themes of the individual songs draw heavily on more or less dark moments from human history. “Hell, Fire and Damnation” doesn’t have an epic masterpiece on the level of “The Pilgrimage”, which really stood out on the previous album “Carpe Diem” (2022, RockLine review), but every track is still at least solid, if not very good.
For the spoken-word intro on “The Prophet”, Saxon managed to lure in the legendary English actor Brian Blessed, best remembered for his roles as King Richard IV in the unforgettable series Black Adder and Prince Vultan in the cult film Flash Gordon. This isn’t Blessed’s first musical guest spot as a narrator, either, as he’s previously worked with power metallers Pythia and space rock veterans Hawkwind. The apocalyptic, rhythmically ‘wound-up’ title track, which features nothing less than a biblical clash between angels and demons, good and evil, is a classic, hard-hitting number with a catchy chorus, nice guitar harmonies, solid drum fills courtesy of Nigel Glockler, and a tasteful guitar solo. Whatever his in-form instrumental crew doesn’t manage, Biff’s vocal charisma takes care of, and together they create yet another new Saxon live standard.
“Madame Guillotine” is taken at a slightly slower tempo, which, thanks to a combination of factors such as the refined guitar solos, leads to a memorable chorus about the infamous guillotine and the bloody days of the French Revolution, when the heads of boastful tyrants and innocent people alike dropped like flies. On “Fire and Steel”, dedicated to the steelworks of Sheffield, Saxon shift back into ‘fifth gear’ with bristling guitar lines and a fighting rhythm. Even though ‘steel’ is probably the most overused word in metal lyrics, it’s a solid track that the longtime fans will love. “There’s Something in Roswell” comes off a bit more inventive, revolving around the still-unresolved 1947 incident in Roswell, New Mexico. Saxon, who like to return to Cold War themes now and then, also buy into the famous conspiracy theory that the US government covered up the existence of aliens back then.
“Kubla Khan and the Merchant of Venice”, about the meeting between the famous Venetian merchant Marco Polo and the equally famous Mongol-born Chinese emperor Kublai Khan, is a somewhat more epic-leaning number than the rest of the material on the album, but it isn’t on the same level as some of Saxon’s past songs about historical figures. Just think of unforgettable standards like “Lionheart” and “Atila the Hun”.
On “Pirates of the Airwaves”, another Cold War-flavored number, about listeners of banned radio stations on the eastern side of the so-called Iron Curtain, Saxon come close to some of their more hard rock-leaning songs from the first half of the nineties. The slightly more power metal “1066”, one of the album’s better moments, is tied directly to the band’s name through its lyrics, as it’s about the Battle of Hastings and the arrival of the Norman duke William II, who defeated the Anglo-Saxon king Harold II and became the new English king as ‘the Conqueror’. Fittingly, it’s one of the heavier tracks on the album.
“Witches of Salem”, about the Salem witch trials and the mass hysteria that gripped American Puritan religious zealots in the town of Salem at the end of the 17th century, is also one of the more interesting moments on this album. The closing “Super Charger” doesn’t fit the album’s prevailing historical theme, but it’s totally in line with Saxon’s ‘biker’ tradition, since it’s very rare for one of their albums not to have at least one song dedicated to ‘iron horses’. All the longtime fans will be satisfied by this fast-paced number, which stylistically also recalls Judas Priest a bit. They, along with Uriah Heep, will be joining Saxon on their 2024 tour.
It’s hard to believe that “Hell, Fire and Damnation” is already the English metal champions’ twenty-fourth studio album, that forty-five years have passed since their debut, and that next year they’ll be celebrating fifty years of existence, because despite their ‘dinosaur’ tenure, Biff and his comrades are still in excellent shape. Even though the new album brings nothing new, steers clear of any experimentation, and has no particularly standout masterpiece, it’s yet another very good effort that won’t leave any longtime fan cold.
Author: Peter ‘Dr. ProgRock’ Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. The Prophecy
2. Hell, Fire And Damnation
3. Madame Guillotine
4. Fire And Steel
5. There’s Something In Roswell
6. Kubla Khan And The Merchant Of Venice
7. Pirates Of The Airwaves
8. 1066
9. Witches Of Salem
10. Super Charger
Lineup:
Biff Byford – vocals
Doug Scarratt – guitar
Brian Tatler – guitar
Nibbs Carter – bass
Nigel Glockler – drums
