SAXON
Hell, Fire And Damnation
SILVER LINING MUSIC Brit metal veterans keep their wheels of steel turning
Saxon are on a mission to perdition
2022’S CARPE DIEM saw Saxon breach the UK album chart Top 20 for the first time since 1984’s Crusader, but it didn’t mark a huge resurgence. They’ve had the odd dip, of course, but Saxon never went away and, over the course of an impressive 23-album back catalogue, they’ve retained a remarkable consistency. They have their own place in metal history, an established fanbase and an instantly recognisable sound. On album 24 they’re not likely to be presenting anything jaw-droppingly different, so the main question Hell, Fire And Damnation has to answer is whether it succeeds on the band’s own terms.
The answer is a resounding yes. Over the years, Saxon have dabbled in grandiose power metal and close-tospeed-metal bangers. The core remains the same mid-paced fists-in-the-air anthems they’ve been forging since their NWOBHM glory days, however, and it’s aformat they’ve now honed to perfection. The album starts with a spoken-word intro that strays perilously close to Spinal Tap’s Stonehenge, but does get automatic awesome points by dint of being delivered by Brian Blessed. The opening title track begins with surprising shades of Metallica’s Creeping Death before Biff Byford issues a scream and it settles into the sort of riff-driven metallic rocker that influenced Lars Ulrich and co in the first place.