Strong Arm of the Law

This has to be the greatest Saxon studio album. Sure they throw on a few rock moments, as opposed to all out metal moments, but even those manage to be quite great, sounding like a precursor to Accept, as opposed to something that survived the 70s and refused to die.

The first track... "Heavy Metal Thunder". Fuck yeah, this is heavy indeed. Great speed-metal riff that threatens to snap your spine quite a few times, combined with awesome soloing as well. My goodness this song just fucking owns. "To Hell and Back Again" is even faster, surprisingly!!! The riffs aren't quite as well formed, but here, Saxon has really got some good idea going. "Strong Arm of the Law" is a bit slower, but sounds like something Accept could've put out in1983-84, or so. Very much ahead of this time, this album is.

"Taking Your Chances" is more power-metal than anything else. The chorus is a bit boring, but the riffs underneath are good. That's what the previous two Saxon studio albums were kinda missing at times - well-defined riffage. It's certainly here.

"20,000 Ft." is more speed metal with a nice melodic main riff. "Hungry Years" is a bit slower, but as opposed to kinda rocking, it totally BLUDGEONS you. If it's not speed metal, it's power metal. "Sixth Form Girls" has silly lyrics, but the song is totally catchy. Then, "Dallas 1pm" is just fucking ominous - the way the riffs are set up, they completely hep the theme of the song develop.

So what we have here, folks, is a Saxon album that manages to hold one's attention from beginning to end, consistently. Something that only their live albums tend to do, their studio album managed to pull off. Very nice.