By Andrew Bansal
Legends of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal Movement in the late 1970s, Saxon have always been one of those bands that enjoyed a cult following and are revered by fans of the genre to this day. They still release solid albums and tour around the world. The band never broke out into the worldwide ‘heavy metal mainstream’ so to speak, but that doesn’t matter to any of the fans whatsoever, myself included, and throughout their honest, hard-working career Saxon have struck the right chord with us old school fans. One of their most celebrated albums is the fifth studio album ‘Power & The Glory’, which came out exactly 30 years ago on March 21, 1983. It’s not like I ever need a reason to listen to Saxon, but today I’ve got a great reason to do exactly that.
For a band like Saxon, now 20 albums deep into their career, it gets harder and harder to choose songs for a live set as the years pass by, as more new material gets added on to the discography. I got my first live Saxon experience in late 2011 in Hollywood, and I thought they played out a very well-balanced set, in terms of representing all or most of their great albums. But when I listen to Power & The Glory, such is the quality of music that it’s almost like a ‘best of’ mixtape in itself, and Saxon fans would be perfectly fine with hearing just about any of these eight songs being played live.
The amazing hooks and guitar harmonies in the first song, the title track, draws in the listener instantly. That’s the beauty of this Saxon album. Simple, powerful, memorable, and very repeat-worthy. With a 6-minute duration, the title song lets you hear the main twin guitar harmony plenty of times for it to leave a permanent imprint in your mind, and the bridge in the middle of the song gives it a whole different dynamic. ‘Redline’ isn’t far behind in terms of catchiness either, with the lead guitar riffs and solos doing the job for that song. The album really doesn’t have any dull moments to speak of, and moves from strength to strength with every passing tune. ‘Warrior’, ‘Nightmare’, ‘This Town Rocks’ are each classics in their own right, while ‘Watching The Sky’, ‘Midas Touch’ and the glorious closing track ‘The Eagle Has Landed’ bring the album to the kind of ending that would make you go back over and start again.
It’s also amazing for me to note that Biff Byford’s voice is almost exactly the same on this album as it was when I saw the band in 2011, which means he maintained that voice for all these years. The dedication and professionalism in his performance is the very embodiment of Saxon. Power & The Glory also saw the debut of drummer Nigel Glockler, and the album began what has turned out to be a longtime association between him and Saxon, as he featured on 14 of the 16 subsequent albums and remains the band’s present-day drummer. Paul Quinn and Graham Oliver were fantastic on guitars on the album, and bassist Steve Dawson had that very recognizable gallop in his bass lines which is typical of NWOBHM albums of that era.
All in all, Saxon’s Power & The Glory is traditional heavy metal perfection. Below is the YouTube stream of the full album. Sit back, grab a drink and savor the taste of true old-school metal. In the words of Biff Byford:
“To the power and the glory, raise your glasses high!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtfGWvrwIVY
Track Listing:
1. Power & The Glory – 00:00 – 05:54
2. Redline – 05:55 – 09:32
3. Warrior – 09:33 – 13:18
4. Nightmare – 13:19 – 17:41
5. This Town Rocks – 17:42 – 21:39
6. Watching the Sky – 21:40 – 25:20
7. Midas Touch – 25:21 – 29:33
8. The Eagle Has Landed – 29:34 – 36:31