Saxon

TheGreatDuck wrote:

Or maybe it is you?
Destiny and Innocence are among the best albums they did.

Surely you jest. These were cringe-inducing, watered down, pop-metal sell-out pablum.

I actually really enjoyed Innocence, even though it was an obvious attempt at breaking into the US market. Destiny I have trouble listening to all the way through.

TheGreatDuck wrote:

Or maybe it is you?
Destiny and Innocence are among the best albums they did.

I like these two more than their classics

Actually, I might agree with you here.They're more commercial, the production is glossier and they've got keyboards, but I still hear heavy metal on those albums.
I'll also say it again, Rock The Nations, despite being one of their worst albums, still had one of the greatest and most epic songs they ever made - Battle Cry.

Innocence has 2 songs I like a lot - Broken Heroes & Rocknroll Gypsy. Can't think of anything I like from Destiny or Rock the Nations though, they are too poppy for me. I think this period almost completely destroyed Saxon. I know it lost them a lot of fans, me included. Glad I came back though.

Yeah, ^^^^^^what that guy said.

They had some well written songs in the 1980's. I think being over shadowed by the likes of Iron Maiden didn't do them many favours. Wheels of Steel, Strong Arm of the Law and Unleash the Beast are good ones that I enjoy.

Grimmo wrote:

They had some well written songs in the 1980's. I think being over shadowed by the likes of Iron Maiden didn't do them many favours. Wheels of Steel, Strong Arm of the Law and Unleash the Beast are good ones that I enjoy.

What's about Denim and Leather? It's the one I like best. It's on par with Wheels of Steel and Strong Arm of the Law, imo.

For those, who haven't got the early Saxon albums: "The Carrere Years" is a great compilation, including the first seven records for a very, very good price.

Should have the new Saxon live cd/dvd tomra. Live @ Wacken!

Metalwargod

Wargod wrote:

Should have the new Saxon live cd/dvd tomra. Live @ Wacken!

Metalwargod

I've had that for a couple of weeks and it's excellent!

Sutekh wrote:

Albums like Strong Arm of the Law defined their sound, and whilst somewhat simplistic by today's standards, were full of sing along moments that made them classic metal anthems. I've always enjoyed the mix of classic and 'trying for radio play' sounds on the album Crusader, and most of Innocence is No Excuse. Anything from there until around 2000 I'm not keen on (maybe you'd call it mediocre). However, albums since then have fused a European power metal sound to their bar-room origins, creating a consistent set of albums such as Lionheart and Call to Arms.

I was with you all along, and everything else makes perfect sense, but you didn't just call Unleash the Beast "mediocre", did you?!

I had a few of the classic lp's back in the day, and while I liked the classic songs, I didn't care much for the lp's as a whole, consequently, I pretty much gave up on the band...fast forward to 2005. I read all the hoopla BWMK made of "Lionheart" so I decided to pick it up, I kept waiting for the filler tracks, but there weren't any!   

candlemass wrote:

I had a few of the classic lp's back in the day, and while I liked the classic songs, I didn't care much for the lp's as a whole, consequently, I pretty much gave up on the band...fast forward to 2005. I read all the hoopla BWMK made of "Lionheart" so I decided to pick it up, I kept waiting for the filler tracks, but there weren't any!   

I think I've already declared my allegiance to Lionheart somewhere in this forum. Saxon's greatest album EVER...in my opinion. And Killing Ground is a close second. After seeing them live a few months ago, I have become quite a fan of Call To Arms (didn't care for it when I first listened to it, for some reason) and Sacrifice, but Lionheart and Killing Ground still rule!

BTW, "Beyond The Grave" is my favorite song off Lionheart.

I'm partial to Dogs of War Unleash the Beast but that may be because there was so little at the time in the way of classic metal. Lionheart is a great album.

I own only 2 albums of their's...Metalhead and Killing Ground. Both are superb listens and I do eventually plan on getting more of their releases. One of these days.

The period between Power & the Glory and Innocence, Saxon were progressively losing me. By the time I heard Innocence, I already couldn't have cared less and they never got me back.

Lari wrote:

Sutekh wrote:

Albums like Strong Arm of the Law defined their sound, and whilst somewhat simplistic by today's standards, were full of sing along moments that made them classic metal anthems. I've always enjoyed the mix of classic and 'trying for radio play' sounds on the album Crusader, and most of Innocence is No Excuse. Anything from there until around 2000 I'm not keen on (maybe you'd call it mediocre). However, albums since then have fused a European power metal sound to their bar-room origins, creating a consistent set of albums such as Lionheart and Call to Arms.

I was with you all along, and everything else makes perfect sense, but you didn't just call Unleash the Beast "mediocre", did you?!

Definitely not. I love Unleash the Beast... just forgot when it was released!

Killing ground and lionheart are both excellent albums. All saxon cds are great.

They definitely have some weak moments, Rock the Nations being the weakest in my book. Innocence and Destiny have some ok stuff but i'm glad they climbed out of that hole of trying to get hits in the U.S.

Listening to inner sanctum right now. Great album

Saxon's cool. I've never been much more than a casual fan, but whenever I've come across their stuff in the used bins I've picked'em up.

I have four of the early albums on CD (self titled, Denim & Leather, Wheels of Steel and Strong Arm of the Law) and two of their later ones (Killing Ground and Lionheart) so my Saxon collection has a big-ass hole in the middle.

I also used to have Innocence is No Excuse on cassette back in the olden days but aside from the two singles ("Call of the Wild" and "Broken Heroes") I can't recall any of the other tracks from it.

"She used to be an ironhorse, twenty years ago...."   

Fat Freddy wrote:

Saxon's cool. I've never been much more than a casual fan, but whenever I've come across their stuff in the used bins I've picked'em up.

Pretty much sums up how I feel about Saxon - good band, not a huge fan. I do have most of their albums, either on CD or soft copy. I did see them a couple years ago and they were great live - fun show! Of their recent albums, I like Call To Arms best - but that probably has more to do with seeing them perform a good chunk of that album when I saw them. The songs work fantastic live.