UDR\/EMI<\/p>\n
When both Steve Dawson (1986) and Graham Oliver (1994) had been erased from the band pictures I sort of left the fold too. From late 1982 onwards SAXON were my heroes, but I thought I\u00b4d bought my last album after the uneven \u201cMetalhead\u201d in 1999. When former members started SON OF A BITCH, Later OLIVER\/DAWSON SAXON around 1994 I followed closely as they were faithful to the old songs. <\/p>\n
Fast forward to 2013, and the release of yet another SAXON album, their 20th studio outing I believe. The cover is just about the same as the previous three or so, but the music. At long last Biff has lead his cohorts back in time, 25 years or so, and created an album almost filled with modern sounding NWOBHM. The title track is blessed with a fat riff, a great refrain and Biff stays within his vocal range in a favorable way. They still mostly stay in more epic territories than OD SAXON, but bikers will like \u201cWarrioprss of the Road\u201d and \u201cWheels of Terror\u201d. Most long-time fans will rejoice as \u201cStand Up and Fight\u201d and \u201cStanding in a Queue\u201d lives and breathes their own denim and leather lives. A couple of excursions into the more German influenced SAXON in the nineties era are here to keep latter-day fans happy. Both \u201cGuardians of the Tomb\u201d and the gentler (complete with a banjo opening) \u201cMade in Belfast\u201d undeniably adheres to that part of the band\u00b4s past. But most important of all, Biff has decided not to deny the bands glory days. On the second disc there are a couple of expected and unexpected old tracks that have received a symphonic or re-recorded treatment. The orchestrated \u201cCrusader\u201d is mostly spiced up with keyboards and does less for me than the original, the same goes for old filler \u201cJust Let Me Rock\u201d and the perennial memorial song \u201cRequiem\u201d, which is better in original shape, as well as on Graham Oliver\u00b4s solo album. \u201cForever Free\u201d is in an ok beefed up version, blessed with the same rejuvenated NWOBHM band using modern recording technique. And the best on offer? In my mind there is no doubt about \u201cFrozen Rainbow\u201d getting a very favorable acoustic treatment, winning the first prize in just about the same fashion that the first version of the band conquered England!<\/p>\n
Track List
\nProcession
\nSacrifice
\nMade in Belfast
\nWarriors of the Road
\nGuardians of the Tomb
\nStand Up and Fight
\nWalking the Steel
\nNight of the Wolf
\nWheels of Terror
\nStanding in a Queue<\/p>\n
Bonus Disc
\nCrusader (Orchestrated)
\nJust Let Me Rock (Re-recorded)
\nRequiem (Accoustic)
\nFrozen Rainbow (Accoustic)
\nForever Free (Re-recorded)<\/p>\n
www.udr-music.com www.saxon747.com <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UDR\/EMI When both Steve Dawson (1986) and Graham Oliver (1994) had been erased from the band pictures I sort of left the fold too. From late 1982 onwards SAXON were my heroes, but I thought I\u00b4d bought my last album after the uneven \u201cMetalhead\u201d in 1999. When former members started SON OF A BITCH, Later […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-concert_reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}