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By RYAN MAVITY
Veteran British band Saxon has long been the Steve Yzerman of metal, at least in America. Much like Yzerman, who was quietly excellent in the shadow of flashier contemporaries like Gretzky and Lemieux, Saxon, who was also part of the early 1980s New Wave of British Heavy Metal, has long lived in the shadow of more popular colleagues like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Def Leppard.
But while those bands have had their share of turmoil, in-fighting, deaths and member changes, Saxon has kept plugging away, staying true to the pure metal sound that made them stars in Europe. With their new album, The Inner Sanctum, Saxon proves that even as they reach the fountain of middle age, they can still rock. They make that abundantly clear on the album’s best track, “I’ve Got to Rock (To Stay Alive),” which might be the best song AC/DC or Tenacious D have yet to write. In their heyday, Saxon opened for Motorhead, and on “Let Me Feel Your Power,” they share Chairman Lemmy’s gift for double entendre.
The album kicks off with the pounding “State of Grace,” with its double kick drums and driving rhythm, and never looks back. One of the album’s highlights is the work of drummer Nigel Glocker, whose beats sound like cannon shots. He helps give “Going Nowhere Fast” and “Ashes to Ashes” their cocky strut, combined with the twin guitar work of Doug Scarratt and Paul Quinn. Add vocalist Peter “Biff” Byford’s commanding presence and Saxon packs quite a wallop. And much how Judas Priest ended their comeback album with a 13-minute ode to the Loch Ness Monster, Saxon calls their bet with a seven-minute epic about Attila the Hun. The only track that falls flat is the other long track, the six-minute “Red Star Falling,” that tries a little too hard to be a lighters-in-the-air ballad. We’d much rather see Saxon kicking ass, swinging their heavy metal hair and worshipping the pure power of ROCK.
I’ve given a little more leniency to Saxon in this review as opposed to other power metal bands I’ve written about for a simple reason: Saxon helped invent the clichés that the modern bands follow. For those that love power metal, The Inner Sanctum is a nice demonstration of how the masters do it.
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