Hell, Fire and Saxon

I really like Saxon, and I've really enjoyed all five of their newer albums that I've picked up over the past 13 years... but to be honest, I'm kind of at a point where I'm asking myself if I really need more. It's all good shit, and when I give those records a spin, I do like them... so maybe it is just where my head is at musically, and I'd just rather listen to something else.

When Hell, Fire And Damnation was intially up for preorder, I was kind of annoyed that I was going to have to buy another Saxon record. I didn't want to, but seeing that I've bought each new album from the band over the years, I felt obligated. However once I started looking online to purchase, it seemed that I was only seeing the black vinyl option in the US, so I quickly moved on.

I listened to the songs a couple of times on Spotify, and even though I wasn't in the mood to listen to it, I recognized it as another really great record for the band. Had I not seen the record on colored vinyl in a local Bull Moose store here, I may have never bought a copy... but holding it in my hands was too much of a temptation and I bought it. I'm not too excited for it right now, but we'll see how I feel about it when my mood eventually shifts and I want something newer from Saxon.

Free Saxon

I've been buying new Saxon albums since the band released Call To Arms in 2011. At the time, I was really only familiar with their classic records from the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal era, but that new record really hooked me at the time and put me on notice that Saxon was still going strong. The band has released a few new records since then, and I've rushed out to grab the vinyl for each one. When I heard that they were releasing their 24th album this year with Carpe Diem, I found myself struggling to show much interest. Maybe it was because I really only wanted to listen to hardcore, but after one quick listen of the new album, I just shrugged my shoulders and set it aside.

Every month or so through the Spring, I would give Carpe Diem a spin on Spotify. It was okay, but I still wasn't hooking me. I stayed away from it all Summer, and was starting to resign myself to the fact that I just didn't need to buy the record. Like the new Scorpions album, I figured that it was good for a couple of listens, but it wasn't something that I needed clogging up my shelves. On a whim, as we moved into the Fall season, I queued up the record in Spotify again. I was surprised with what I heard. The record was better than I remembered, and I found the songs having a much stronger impact on me. Saxon continue to release solid traditional heavy metal... they do what they do, and they do it well. I'm glad that this finally clicked with me, because I'm really liking this album.

When I went to buy a copy, I wanted the red vinyl pressing. I found a seller on Discogs that was selling one at a decent price, and I grabbed it. It seems that I've been burned a few times over the past year with sellers not listing records for the correct colored vinyl, and I was disappointed to get fucked on it again with this Saxon record. I usually don't bother complaining for bands that I'm not collecting, and I'll typically just take the record I'm sent and be okay with it. Since this is the third or fourth time that I've had this happen to me, I fired off a message to the seller to let him know his mistake. I wasn't really expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised when he issued me a full refund and told me to keep the record. Good deal.

Denim And Leather

Back in 2015 I made my first move to start adding the first UK pressings of the Saxon albums to the collection. Those things are always available to pick up somewhere, and they carry a pretty low price tag...but it still managed to take me about six years to get my hands on the first four records. I guess that is a statement on how unfocused and random my record buying can be. Even an easy task of picking up the classic Saxon albums still takes me fucking forever.

Denim And Leather, released in 1981, was Saxon's fourth album, and is another New Wave Of British Heavy Metal classic. The band was on fire at the time and while they continued to put out some quality stuff after this, for me, nothing ever measured up to that run of Wheels Of Steel, Strong Arm Of The Law and Denim And Leather.

As I was picking up a couple of other records from a seller in Japan, I saw that they had Denim And Leather available as well, and I couldn't resist adding one more to the cart. It feels good to finally cross this one off the list.

I'm very happy to grab this copy with the merch insert. Love that image of them on the bikes with the logo behind them.

The Eagle Has Landed 40

Saxon release more live albums than Iron Maiden...and since Maiden have around eight live albums, that is saying a lot. Seriously, going through Discogs, I count fifteen live albums from Saxon. When you are as productive as Saxon, and have that longevity, I guess the live records start to add up...but still, that is a lot of live shit.

Saxon released their first album in 1979, and with the band celebrating their 40th anniversary this year, they decided to recognize the accomplishment with a huge live release.

This box set was substantial, and along with that, it carried a hefty price tag. I was torn if I really wanted this or not...on the one hand, how often am I going to listen to all forty live songs in one sitting...but then again, I've had my eye on picking up the 22 song live set for the Heavy Metal Thunder album that was live at Wacken from 2012, and waiting around on these things doesn't seem to make them cheaper. In the end, I bit the bullet and pulled the trigger on it...bank account be damned!

This box set contains five records...each with their own cover photo of a band member...so this thing had my attention from the start.

I love the look of these individual album covers. That red is a good look.

The songs from this set are pulled from different shows from 2007 through 2018, and covers an impressive spread of material. A lot of these songs I'm really not too familiar with, so I'm excited to hear them here.

Included in the box set is a set of 23 guitar picks, featuring that artwork from Saxon's 22 studio albums. I find this to be a cool addition and something special and unique for this box set packaging. Nice touch.

In addition, the package also includes a nice hardcover book, a slipmat and a tour pass that has a download code.

The book looks really nice, with forty pages of photos from Saxon's forty years on the road. This thing is really solid, although I would have loved to have some pieces of writing and history notes included...still, it is a nice piece of eye candy.

Finally, the box set also includes a print of the original hand written lyric sheet for 747 (Strangers In The Night).

The lyric sheet print is signed by Biff Byford and hand numbered out of 747. Overall this box set is really well done, and is a nice collectors item. I'm glad that I grabbed one.

Saxon Singles

When I'm buying records from overseas sellers, before I check out, I'll check to see what else they may have available...and this usually pays off when I'm looking for NWOBHM stuff. When I was picking up the Iron Maiden single for Running Free, I quickly checked the sellers list, and was happy to add a couple of cheap singles to the cart.

When it comes to Saxon, it seems that most people tend to overlook their debut self-titled album. It is understandable, and the band didn't really hit their stride until their follow up, Wheels Of Steel. Still that debut is a solid rocker, and I was happy to grab a couple of early singles from that record.

I love that live shot of Steve Dawson on the front of the Backs To The Wall/Militia Guard single.

The Saxon logo kind of obscures what is going on in the cover photo for the Big Teaser/Frozen Rainbow single, but it's still a nice one to own, since this is the only pressing for the single that came with a picture sleeve.

These two Saxon singles were part of the Heavy Metal series from Carrere Records. They don't offer anything new, but I really like the look of these, and would love to get the rest of them. AC/DC, Montrose, Van Halen....and Stingray!?!? No idea who Stingray is, but they ended up in some good company.

Strong Arm Of The NWOBHM

I've been riding high on the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal this year. I've downloaded a ton of stuff that I've never heard before, and I've been eating it up. I've been itching to buy a bunch of old NWOBHM singles, but since I have so many full length albums that I'm still missing from the collection, I'm trying to focus on the bigger records from that time.

A few years ago, I picked off the first two Saxon albums, and I was ready to chase the other records from their classic period...and then I got sidetracked for a few years. It's taken me a while to get back to it, but it felt great to finally grab Saxon's third album, Strong Arm Of The Law.

Strong Arm Of The Law may be my favorite Saxon record. Heavy Metal Thunder, Dallas 1pm, Sixth Form Girls, 20,000 Feet, the title track...damn...every song fucking rules.

When it came time to buy this record, I wanted to go for the first UK pressing...the one that came with the "free patch". Turns out it was more of a giant iron-on, instead of a sew-on patch, but it was still cool to get one.

Innocence Is No Excuse

Innocence Is No Excuse was my introduction to Saxon back in 1985. My world in metal was really starting to take off at the time, and there were lots of bands that I was discovering...and this Saxon album fell a bit flat for me at the time.

This probably wasn't the best starting point for Saxon, and I wonder if I'd grabbed Strong Arm Of The Law or Denim And Leather instead, it probably wouldn't have taken me another twenty years before I would finally recognize how great Saxon were in the early 80's.

Given my recent obsession with early 80's band like Dokken and Ratt, I've been thinking that it might be time to download a copy of Innocence Is No Excuse and see how I feel about it these days. When I was flipping through the used bins at one of the local record stores, and I saw the eyes of the girl on the album cover, begging for me to take her home, well, how could I say no?

Holy shit. I'm absolutely loving this album right now. I don't know why it didn't stand out more when I heard it in 1985...maybe it was just too close to my discovery of Savatage and Accept, and it got pushed to the end of the line for the heavier stuff, but today, this album is exactly what I'm looking for.

They Played Rock And Roll

Back in 2011, I was still going nuts over hardcore records, but metal was really starting to worm it's way into my brain. Prior to that, I had been content to buy metal releases on CD because it was cheap and convenient...but in 2011, I began to really shift my focus, and started buying the majority of new metal albums on vinyl. That was the year that I bought my first Saxon new release, Call To Arms, on vinyl, and since then, I haven't missed a single one.

Thunderbolt is Saxon's 22nd studio album. Twenty two! How many bands can compete with that level of output? Frontman, Biff Byford, is 67 years old, and the band is still raging. By now, Saxon fall into that same mold as Motorhead and AC/DC...the band has a sound, and they do not stray far from that...and speaking of Motorhead, Saxon's new song, They Played Rock N Roll, is a great tribute to Lemmy and the band.

So yeah, you know what to expect with a new Saxon album, and while it isn't going to blow me away, I'm still happy to see them still writing solid Heavy Metal songs.

Hot Rockin'

As a favor to Sandwell, I'd been storing a couple boxes of records here for him in The States. To save on shipping costs, he had some orders from REV and Deathwish sent to me, and then the plan was that when he was visiting NYC from the UK, I'd box up all the records and send them to his NYC address and he'd reimburse me the postage. Well, when I finally sent all the records to Mark, it cost me a little over $6. Pfft...I wasn't going to sweat $6, and I told him not to worry about paying me. So instead, as a 'thank you', he sent me a couple of Metal singles.

Nothing new on this Hot Rockin' 7 inch that served as a single from Judas Priest's Point Of Entry album. The B side features a live version of Breaking The Law. I imagine that this song was still pretty fresh at the time, and a live version would have been cool to hear...but these days, live versions of Breaking The Law are a dime a dozen.

So while the songs on this 7 inch aren't anything new, it is totally worth owning for the picture sleeve. Old Judas Priest photos rule.

Sandwell, obviously follows this blog closely, and knows that I've had a mild obsession with Saxon recently. This double 7 inch single for Never Surrender hits the spot.

Saxon have never looked overly "cool" or "metal", and this cover shot of the guitarist in denim overalls does not help their case at all. Band is still awesome, regardless.

There is just something cool about gatefold 7 inch sleeves.

The Eagle Has Landed

When I was picking up the Sammy Hagar Heavy Metal single a couple weeks back, my cart was a little light, so I hit up the list of vinyl that the discogs seller had available. You know...buying a $3.50 piece of vinyl from overseas feels a little pointless, unless you can pad your order with more records.

I was crazy over Saxon last year, and I started the hunt for original UK pressings of their early records. My intent was to collect them all in chronological order, but after seeing this seller with a copy of Power & The Glory available, I snatched it up...the $9 price tag helped sway my decision as well.

While it might be a little outside of what would be considered Saxon's classic period, Power & The Glory is no slouch, with the title track and The Eagle Has Landed being setlist staples to this day. It is funny, when I saw Saxon live for the first time early last year, they played The Eagle Has Landed, and I was kind of underwhelmed with the song. I really wasn't familiar with it at the time, so I kind of wrote it off. By the time I'd seen the band for the second time, later that year, I knew the song a bit better, and when they played it here in Maine, it became one of my favorite songs of the night. Truly epic.

Battering Ram

I've mentioned that I've had a bit of a Saxon obsession going this year, so when it came time to pre-order their new album, Battering Ram, I couldn't resist the temptation to go big.

I probably didn't really "need" the box set, but what can I say...my love knows no price.

Included with the vinyl, is a t-shirt, CD, and an exclusive live CD from a Saxon show in 2011. At this point, Saxon may rival Iron Maiden with the number of recorded live sets they have released. Like Maiden, Saxon love their live albums.

With the exception of a few clunkers in the mid-80's, you can't go wrong with any Saxon albums. Battering Ram is Saxon's 21st studio album, and the band show no signs of slowing down or losing any of that fire. While some older bands can only manage to release an album once every five years, Saxon keeps pouring out quality material.

While Saxon no longer has their full original line up, it is impressive to think that the Battering Ram line up have been together and pumping out albums for about 20 years.

Included is also a numbered sheet with liner notes on the recording of the album that is exclusive to the box set.

I'm a visual kind of guy, and I like a nice thick spine for the records on my shelf, and nothing tops how a box set looks.

Stallions Of The Highway

Look, I've been to see Saxon play live twice this year, and both times they have knocked me on my ass. To see them play twice in a small and intimate setting, and regardless of the size of the crowd, they gave everything they had to their set. Even with only around 75 people at the show in Portland Maine, Saxon looked like they were genuinely having a fun time on that stage.

On top of that, the band just released a new album recently. With all this going on, it has been a fucking breeding ground for a Saxon obsession in my head, and I've been listening to them like crazy this year.

I thought that by picking up the Saxon Chronicles and the Warriors Of The Road DVDs, it would have helped scratch that Saxon itch, but all it did was stoke the flames even higher. I'd already spent more than I should have these past couple of months on new vinyl releases, and I'd talked myself into finishing out the year by taking it easy on record shopping. However, after watching those Saxon movies, the desire to own some original Carrere UK pressings for them was simply too much to ignore.

Typically when I set out to start a collection for a band, I usually just jump in somewhere in the middle. With Saxon, I wanted to start at the beginning with their first album.

The 1979 self titled is a bit of a tentative start for Saxon, before they became one of the bigger names within the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, but there are still some great songs on here with Stallions Of The Highway and Backs To The Wall building upon Saxon's classic sound that they would use as their formula for their next few albums.

Saxon's second album, Wheels Of Steel from 1980, really sees them hanging with the best of the NWOBHM scene, next to debuts from Iron Maiden, Angel Witch, Diamond Head, and Def Leppard.

The good news in Saxon shopping is that you can pick up this shit relatively cheap. For about $14.00, I was able to grab the first two Saxon LPs from a UK seller through the discogs marketplace. Solid deal for these classics.

Sacrificed For Saxon

One of the tools that has been feeding my Metal appetite is my discovery of Iron Fist. This UK Metal mag quickly sucked me in, seduced me into signing up for a subscription, and had me on the hunt for back issues shortly after checking out my first issue.

Issue number three featured Saxon on the front cover. The black, white and red Saxon logo with Biff rocking the mic...I love the look and feel of it. Soon I was jamming those early albums on my ipod and dreaming of adding original UK Carrere vinyl pressings to my record collection.

While checking Saxon vinyl on eBay, I stumbled across a listing of the new album with a $10 Buy It Now price tag. The last few Saxon albums have been great, and at this price, I didn't hesitate to finally pick up the newest one, Sacrifice.

I wasn't thrilled that the album was only pressed as a picture disc for the vinyl release, but I wasn't going to let something like that stop me from buying a copy.

War Dogs

I've had this one for a few months, holding off on posting it, with the expectation that I would be getting another record from Night of the Vinyl Dead. There was a time when I was really hot to buy a bunch of releases from this label specializing in putting out some classic Metal albums that never got the vinyl treatment. You can't order directly from the label, and it seems like you can only find them in the Nuclear Blast Germany webstore where they rape overseas orders on shipping charges. I tracked down a few that I really wanted on eBay, and ended up paying quite a bit for them, but these pressings are pretty limited and sell out quickly, so I didn't mind paying extra. In the end though, it got to be too much of a hassle searching through eBay, and then hoping to place the winning bid, so I just stopped looking. They still have a bunch of releases that I hope to add to my collection, but for now I'm chasing my next obsessions.

So here is Saxon's Dogs of War album. Pressed on a nice "sandy" colored vinyl to match the album cover, this pressing also comes with a bonus set of stickers which is pretty cool and unique. While this is a far cry from Saxon's glory days of the early 80's, this album, released in 1995, isn't too bad...although, truth be told, I probably wouldn't own this if it hadn't been released on Night of the Vinyl Dead and pressed in such a limited amount. Hand numbered 87, out of 333 pressed.