Hell, Fire and Damnation

A new Saxon album – and the first good news is that we are not confronted with “Inspirations III”, but with really new tracks. If I want to listen to cover versions, I go to the local music pub and suffer while amateurs try their hand at crap like “Sweet Home Alabama” or “Take Me Home, Country Road”. Anyone who thinks that Black Metal has a cruel component should please check out such pieces. Anyway, here comes the second good news: “Hell, Fire and Damnation” leaves a higher impact than “Carpe Diem”. Since the bullshit they did in order to hit the US American market, Saxon always stood for down-to-earth metal. Nevertheless, compared to its predecessor, “Hell, Fire and Damnation” sounds more crispy. So let us forget the stereotyped title and the oh-so-metal artwork (both aren’t bad, but maybe too much of a good thing). Let’s come to the music itself.

An “internationally-renowned actor” whose name I have never heard before, proclaims the title track. The song starts with some powerful blows and recalls “Metalhead” (another hardly generic album title, haha). It marks a solid, partly solemn beginning with a casual instrumetal part after the second chorus, but Saxon are clever enough not to use their best weapon immediately. It does pay off if you've been in the business for around 150 years like Biff. By the way, the frontman is still the most important element in the sound of the institution. Even though I do not think that his voice is extremely powerful, his charismatic and passionate performance is excellent. I am sure that he has more energy than most others of his age.

But I wanted to speak about Saxon’s best songs on “Hell, Fire and so on”. The temperature rises sharply with “Fire and Steel”. Yes, it’s another badly hung title, but the composition borders on speed metal and shows that Saxon are still no toothless tiger. Thus, let us open the curtain for the absolute highlight: “There’s Something in Roswell”. The promo sheet describes this song as “the true treasure amidst the jewels”. I agree (and ask myself why they did not write ten “true treasures). This mid-paced track has an irresistible drive, bursts with power due to the crunchy, crystal clear guitar work and dishes up a brilliant chorus: nothing special at first glance, but look (and listen!) again… it will not stop growing on you. I don’t believe that UFOs were landing in Roswell back in 1947 (greetings to Hypocrisy), but if they do not have songs such as this one, they would be well advised to take a trip to Earth immediately. Either way, we have not time for extraterrestrial creatures, because Saxon ignite the next firecracker immediately. “Kubla Khan and the Merchant of Venice” is another musical muscleman and its lyrics deal with Marco Polo. Yes, despite the almost omnipresent clichés, Biff delivers a lot of fascinating lyrics. This is definitely no run of the mill stuff. In view of the potential the band still has, it's a shame that the smartly titled "Pirates of the Airwaves", which is dedicated to the unforgotten NWOBHM, can't quite keep up with the aforementioned tracks despite a catchy bridge.

This song stands as an example for the second row tracks of the album. None of them falls completely through the net, but they do not have the abundance of exciting ingredients like the best songs. The earthy “1066” is one of them and its historical reference is more or less obvious, right? Saxon give the guitars a lot of room again, and the mighty riffs hit the bull’s eye. Needless to say that they profit from another great performance of Andy Sneap and Biff, who mixed and mastered the output. I could cry when I imagine the never-released Sabbat record, which combines a production from 2023 with the musical class of 1988. Of course, some modernity-hating people will once again moan about alleged sterility, but who cares about these guys who only feel good as long as they can feel bad?

Snarling, rebellious guitars herald the powerful end of the album. “Super Charger” marks a worthy finale for a surprisingly strong output. But even if the record would be less good – anyone who has produced more than 20 studio albums and still has this integrity and musical power is nothing less than a very important cornerstone for the entire metal world. Some badasses might not understand that, but they can go to their local music pub. Maybe someone there is playing "Sweet Home Alabama". Have fun with that.