The meritorious success of Saxon’s latest touring extravaganza – characterizing of festivals such as Sonisphere and Download – has proven, without a shadow of a doubt, that these classic British metal masters can still quench the parched lips of rock and metal fans from all over the globe. A 19th studio album doesn’t just appear on the shelves of your nearest record shop, these old-timers have journeyed down the path of an extraordinary career, spanning for more than 30 years.
‘Call To Arms’ symbolizes everything Saxon stand for. Mouth-watering armour coated riffs, assaulting drum fills and classic heavy metal vocals. No gimmicks. No fuss. Just plain horn-raising metal.
The album explodes into the thrilling ‘Hammer Of The Gods’, a song that pours with energy, acceleration and ravenous tendencies. In terms of opening tracks, this one deserves a round of applause. The vocal melodies do everything to make sure every single person in the audience sings along with a sense of metal communion. No Saxon song is without its mouth watering guitar solos, and this makes no exceptions. And with its speed and accuracy, it takes no prisoners either. As a superb toast to their career, ‘Back In 79’ is a song that reminisces on the past in a nostalgic manner. Once again, Biff Byford’s chorus lines never falter and by only two songs into the album fans will have everything they will ever need to hum along to. The pure sounds of the guitar are second to none during the song (and the whole album for a matter of fact). This is a song that is truly supposed to be enjoyed with an old school Saxon t-shirt and a nice cold beer.
The next song, beautifully named ‘Surviving Against the Odds’ really does bring together the experiences that have led to 30-year career in music, with the perfect lyrics of “They never thought we could make it…” Oh how wrong they were, these guys have made in style for longer than many could have imagined. As the album continues to show exactly why Saxon are such a success, ‘Mists of Avalon’ depicts images of fantasy and tale, a trait that is so appealing and away from the norm of everyday life. The chugging guitars accompanied with true, emotion-fuelled lyrics really do make this song one to look out for. The harmonic solos add to the overall vibe and top it off perfectly, almost like the old cliché of a cherry on a cake.
Already five songs down the line (oh how time flies when you’re having fun), the title-track makes its killing appearance. There is only one sentence that can accurately sum up this song – one hell of an anthem! This track seems to have a mysterious magic to it that forces you to shut your eyes and tap along uncontrollably to the beat. ‘Call To Arms’, brings a sense of togetherness and brotherhood during the heartache of war, which supports the iconic poster of Lord Kitchener’s recruitment scheme, used as the album cover.
Soon enough Saxon return to their furious, hard-boiled riffage they are renowned for, with the outstanding guitar solo that carves out your eardrums and drills its way into your brain, this is ‘Chasing The Bullet’. Dangerous by title, dangerous by nature, this song has everything a great rock n’ roll track should have; overdriven guitars, deep, thumping bass, pounding drums and Bill Byford’s vocals that never fail to impress. The exact same thing can be said about the more ferocious, even more aggressive and over-the-top-speed of ‘Afterburner’. In the eyes of almost every rock and metal fan the mosh pit is a beautiful concept, and this destructive song will ensure that the mud is well and truly churned up at any festival!
Having your music chosen for a movie is actually quite an honour. Saxon also now have this to add to their CV (is there anything they haven’t done?)! ‘When Doomsday Comes’ will feature in the forthcoming movie ‘Hybrid Theory’, a sci-fi thriller directed by James Erskin. This is apparent in the song due to the synthesizer, which for Saxon is actually quite uncommon. Nevertheless, this is still a great tune, and will easily fit in any sci-fi film.
After a rollercoaster of speed, chugging guitar rhythms, nauseous bass lines and ferocious solos perfect for all air-guitar enthusiasts, the album ends with ‘No Rest For The Wicked’, followed by a fascinating ‘Ballard Of the Working Man’. At this point is generally begins the chanting of “we want more, we want more”. Luckily, Saxon know exactly how to deliver. An emotional orchestral version of the title track is the result of the lads wanting to add more to the album, and this really would be the perfect theme tune to watch William Wallace charge down the hill.
‘Call To Arms’ really is a superb album, and if you ask lead singer Byford he will tell you “this is probably the best album we’ve ever written…” And I don’t think he lying either! If you were expecting something different to what Saxon are known for you are to be sadly disappointed. But they stuck to what they know, and what they do best. And yes, yes it does work very, very well.
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Soon enough Saxon return to their furious, hard-boiled riffage they are renowned for, with the outstanding guitar solo that carves out your eardrums and drills its way into your brain, this is ‘Chasing The Bullet’. Dangerous by title, dangerous by nature, this song has everything a great rock n’ roll track should have; overdriven guitars, deep, thumping bass, pounding drums and Bill Byford’s vocals that never fail to impress. The exact same thing can be said about the more ferocious, even more aggressive and over-the-top-speed of ‘Afterburner’. In the eyes of almost every rock and metal fan the mosh pit is a beautiful concept, and this destructive song will ensure that the mud is well and truly churned up at any festival!
