CD Review: Saxon – Sacrifice
UDR/EMI
All Access Review: A-
 |
| Saxon - Sacrifice 2013 |
James Cameron’s “Titantic” had star power, amazing special
effects and a budget that rivaled the gross national product of some small
countries. “Made in Belfast,” Saxon’s blue-collar tribute to those who put their
blood, sweat and tears into building the doomed luxury liner, was recorded for
their rampaging new album Sacrifice with
considerably less money and a leading man in Biff Byford who looks more like a motorcycle
club president than Leonardo DiCaprio. And yet, it’s “Made in Belfast” that’s
more deserving of an Oscar.
In comparison, Cameron’s interminably long film has nothing
on the widescreen epic that serves as the awe-inspiring centerpiece of Sacrifice, Saxon’s third killer album
in a row out now on the UDR label. As good a place to start with Sacrifice
as any, “Made in Belfast” is an interesting anomaly for Saxon. Dramatic and
devastatingly heavy at times, with a crushing, knee-buckling chorus as damaging
as the iceberg that tore a gigantic hole into Titanic’s supposedly
indestructible hull, “Made in Belfast” also sweeps across the Irish countryside
on wheeling Celtic mandolin courtesy of Paul Quinn. And the aural landscape
Saxon paints is breathtaking.
An experiment that works astonishingly well, against all
odds, the contrast of punishing heavy-metal riffs, soaring twin-guitar helixes,
and lovely folk accents is a refreshing change for Saxon, but don’t expect them
to make a habit of it. Fascinated by history, just as Saxon was when they
penned their own examination of the Kennedy assassination in “Dallas 1 p.m.” some
thirty years ago, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal vanguards go old school and
burn up the asphalt on “Warriors of the Road,” a fireball of delirious metal
energy that’s a throwback to Saxon’s early ‘80s work. The bruising, hard-nosed
contemplation of modern-day frustration that is “Standing in a Queue” is just
as nostalgic, although it seems to pine just as much for the simple, but brutally
effective, hooks of Bon Scott-era AC/DC as it does for their NWOBHM heyday.
Still hungry for new adventures, however, Saxon displays how
enamored they are with the explosive, riotous sound of thrash on Sacrifice by raining down torrents of
serrated guitar noise – designed by Quinn and his partner in crime Doug
Scarratt – in the violent, feverish mosh pit of a title track. And they seethe
with rage on the menacing “Wheels of Terror,” but Saxon hasn’t given up on
melody, a crucial element of the classic Saxon sound found on “Guardians of the
Tomb,” the bruising workingman anthem “Walk the Steel” and “Stand Up and Fight,”
all of which feed on the raw fury and searing speed of Exodus or Testament.
The limited deluxe edition of Sacrifice is paired with a bonus disc of extras that find Saxon re-imagining
a handful of their most revered classic songs – among them, a majestically
orchestrated version of “Crusader,” lush acoustic takes on “Requiem” and “Frozen
Rainbow,” and a frenzied “Forever Free.” Still, it’s the hot, molten core of Sacrifice and its brazen “go for the
throat” attitude that ought to send old fans and new converts alike into paroxysms
of rock ‘n’ roll ecstasy. Saxon's not dead yet. In fact, they seem to found
metal’s fountain of youth, as Sacrifice
burns with a relentless intensity – no ballads were allowed here – that belies their
age.
– Peter Lindblad
– Peter Lindblad
