Saxon – The Inner Sanctum (Release Year – 2007)
Saxon is a band that I haven’t checked out for a long time. Not since 1990’s Solid Ball of Rock to be exact.
Saxon has been a revolving door of musicians over the years and singer Biff Byford, and guitarist Paul Quinn are the only original members.
Judging from the quality tunes on The Inner Sanctum, it doesn’t matter who is in the band because Saxon is still kicking ass in 2007.
This disc opens up with three great crushing metal tracks in a row, and does not let up until you get to Red Star Falling.
Red Star Falling slows the pace down to give the listeners a break. This track has a hauntingly cool feel about it. There are keyboards layered into the track, but it isn’t over powering, and gives the song a cool feel.
Need For Speed is a great track, and will be one of my favorites for a long time. This is the perfect anthem for any racing fan.
Without going into a further song by song breakdown, I can easily say that their are no bad songs on the Inner Sanctum. This is a great heavy metal disc, that will appeal to fans of 80’s metal. The stand out tracks to me are State of Grace, Need For Speed, Going Nowhere Fast and Ashes to Ashes.
It blows my mind that Inner Sanctum is Saxon’s 19th studio album. This band was a critical part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, yet they fail to get the same respect on U.S. soil as some of their counterparts. Inner Sanctum is a disc that takes me back to the early 80’s sound of Judas Priest and Accept. It is a superb metal disc, that is easily one of the best of 2007. And to boot, my copy of the Inner Sanctum came with a bonus DVD with a bunch of live performances. Talk about getting more bang for your buck!! Looks like I need to work on some Saxon back catalog now. For the rest of you, pick up Inner Sanctum! You will not be disappointed.
For more information on Saxon, check out their website or their myspace page.
Rating: Out of 1o
Track Listing:
1. State Of Grace
2. Need For Speed
3. Let Me Feel Your Power
4. Red Star Falling
5. I’ve Got To Rock ( To Stay Alive)
6. If I Was You (Album Version)
7. Going Nowhere Fast
8. Ashes To Ashes
9. Empire Rising
10. Atila The Hun
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I think this is a great album from a band that needs to be recognized as one of the founding fathers of modern Metal. Aside from Iron Maiden and Def Leppard, Saxon has to be considered one of the major successes of the NWOBHM movement. They haven’t put out a bad album in at least a decade, that’s a lot better than some of their peers.