Power and the Glory

The precise moment Saxon started to lag behind and produce inferior entertainment is hotly contested, kind of like the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series. Some folks are overly optimistic and say it was Destiny, and perhaps I'm overly pessimistic by saying it was this album right here. The title track is a phenomenal Manowar-style barnstormer that's more anthemic and ambitious than the title track that preceded it, and the sun-baked atmosphere of 'The Eagle Has Landed' has it sharing pedestal space with some of Saxon's greatest power ballads.

But then, there's the rest of the album, and the aluminum trash can it was recorded in. This is a bloated, geriatric onslaught of vague cock rock that bears a dream-like sensation of weightlessness and pointlessness, reminding me of every dull, unsatisfying moment of Priest's Point of Entry. The plodding major-scale riffs feel so repetitive and clunky, most notably tortured throughout the half-baked Aerosmith xerox 'Nightmare'. I am a huge Saxon fan, but let's be honest, this track sounds like the credits music to an Adam Sandler movie. Laced with dull, featureless riffs and a commercialized Biff wailing about being alone in the night, it bears shockingly little resemblance to Saxon.

I understand that with every Saxon album, the fastest tracks were steadily diminishing like hyperboreal ice shelves, falling into the cold, penis-shriveling waters of power ballads, but it's especially egregious here. The aforementioned title track and 'This Town Rocks' is all you get, and even the latter constantly toggles back and forth into half-time. A slow, commercial approach to songwriting wouldn't be so bad, provided Saxon had a bright, vivacious tone like Denim and Leather. On the same token, a crusty production job can be assuaged with some kickass riffs, like Strong Arm of the Law. Both cogs will turn so long as one does, but the only thing turning in 'Redline' is my stomach, with that shrieking rock lead repeating for an eternity throughout the whole song. I believe the meme-minded would refer to this track as "Motorhead at home".

Power and the Glory is a pale gray splotch of hard rock, forgettable and contrived, and just barely rescued by it's fantastic opening and closing tracks. Though, for as little respect as I have for it, I'll admit it's not the worst NWOBHM album you'll ever hear. It's not even the worst Saxon album, unfortunately. Oh and by the way, Tony Hawk's Underground sucks.

Biff Byford said that the best Saxon albums were the previous trilogy (Wheels Of Steel, Strong Arm of the Law, and Denim and Leather) with Denim and Leather being the highest point. People say that Power & the Glory is the first step in the direction of the abyss.

So I ask, 'what is wrong with these people and what are these peoples' conception of heavy metal?', because Power & the Glory is by far much more "metal" than the previous works, works that had a much more rock 'n' roll feeling and production. Listen to Power & the Glory, Warriors, and Redline - pure astonishing heavy metal music, heavier than any previous efforts. From Nightmare to Watching the Sky, the pace slows down a little, but not the quality, and the fire returns with the bass pumping in Midas Touch (this song has a feeling similar to Iron Maiden's debut album, especially in the slow parts).

At the end of this masterpiece we have the classic The Eagle Has Landed, a great and interesting song that grabs your attention and doesn't let you go. By Power & the Glory's standards, the previous works from Saxon don't look too heavy metal, but look much more "rock 'n' roll". It's a great injustice that Saxon started to lose the attention of people here. I could understand if this happened with Crusader, a very disappointing album with just the title track deserving any attention, but here it isn't the case. This is the best Saxon album before the decline started in Crusader and ended with Unleash the Beast.

Highlights: Power & the Glory, Warriors, Midas Touch, and The Eagle Has Landed.

Cons: the cover art is blatant and ugly.

Calling out what's first seen, that cover art sucks. It reminds me of the movie Beastmaster, but way more limpy. Beyond that, it's Saxon fiddling with heavy metal and hard rock. With this one, Saxon starts to move away from their rougher heavy metal beginnings. They create a weird mix of ass-kickery and inoffensive rock. It's a step in a commercial direction that splits the album's identity unevenly, with two really good songs and the rest skimming on the highs and lows of mediocrity. This can be called a bad album, but know what to expect and then realize that you'll probably get less than that. Still, it's mildly enjoyable for what's accomplished, and it's still Saxon playing with the fallout of the NWOBHM persona.

The two through-and-through heavy metal songs, "Power & The Glory" and "The Eagle Has Landed", rule the shit out of this album. They're both very different, very heavy, and very catchy songs that display the band's writing and translation in executing that writing to the fullest. The title track could easily be heard on the first Running Wild album. It's practically the same production job, with that cutting guitar distortion and blubbery bass rolling ahead of the clattering drums. Following the song's turbulent opening is the infectious chorus, both an anthemic direction and more epic than the rest of the album (except against the finale). The closer is a slow, doom-like pace tested by prog-influenced / spacey guitar leads. The rupturing riffs, plump bass lines, Byford's echoing singing, and the darker atmosphere ensures this album can never truly be discarded.

With that praise out of the way, what's left is an album with little going for it. There are licks, vocal lines, and riffs spread thin throughout that aren't disingenuous heavy metal / hard rock, but the sum of the parts (read: each song) can't stand on their own, unlike the two aforementioned tracks. It's more up-tempo than I would like, but even with that easy-to-manage hurdle, there's the cheesiness to confront. From the super corny lyrics (some of which are mind-numbingly repeated too often) to the just-as-corny riffs that accompany, these other songs in all their variedness aren't as enjoyable. They're average, dusted-off heavy metal / hard rock with no defining hooks. Byford's high-range (think Udo from Accept from around the same time) doesn't do more than take up space knowing that he has to perform vocals somehow, so that disconnect already hampers with the meandering writing.

Take the title track and "The Eagle Has Landed" and skip this album. It's got these two awesome songs that sandwich the rest. From the banal music in between to the lame cover art, this is a Saxon album that shouldn't have been. The rest of these songs might be heavier than the commercial material to follow, but it's not anymore interesting. There's better representation for a band with such a large discography.

After four great albums, milestones that became symbols of NWOBHM era, Saxon were at the top of the world. The year is 1983, when metal was getting bigger and bigger, with genres and subgenres creating and developing. In that atmosphere, it would be great if Saxon sealed it all with another smasher, wouldn't it? Unfortunately, not only that they didn't create a masterpiece, they released ''Power & the Glory'', an album that will change their career for worse, and start a serie of hard/glam rock influenced albums in the '80s. All of them except for ''Innocence Is No Excuse'' were bland misfires and they are the main reason why Saxon today don't have the reputation of Metal Gods, along with Maiden, Priest, Sabbath etc. It's such a shame and injustice, but they're the only ones to be blamed...

Remember ''Wheels of Steel'' or ''Strong Arm of the Law'' and pure metal attitude and passion that Saxon kicked you with every single song? Well, not much of that is to be found here. Instead, you have the weak car ridin' - girl bangin' ''Redline'', ''Nightmare'' - a sappy story of a guy who wants his girlfriend to be with him, cause he's having nightmares (the song is actually very good, but the lyrics are redundant), ''Watching the Sky'' - a boy who truly believes in aliens (like E.T. film, I guess), and ''The Eagle Has Landed'' - some cosmic psychedelic mumbo-jumbo (but it totally fits to the song, so I'll forgive them this). ''Warrior'' reminds a lot of Maiden’s ’’Invaders’’, it’s weak as much as that song, and ''This Town Rocks'' is very good, but should be found only on live albums, certainly not on studio releases. UltraBoris had a very good point about this, read his opinion, I completely agree with him.

Another wrong move for Saxon is that starting with this album they slowly but shorely headed into hard rock/glam metal territory. This wouldn't bother me that much if they played strong and ballsy hard rock, but no. Thanks to the glam influence, they started making some really shitty and cheesy music. This would become more apparent on the following ''Crusader'', ''Rock the Nations'' and ''Destiny'' albums. I intentionally didn't mention ''Innocence Is No Excuse'', since that album is very good, unlike the aforementioned ones. Luckily, Saxon woke up in the '90s, and realised what they really are - the proper heavy fucking metal band.

Still, this album has some truly astounding songs. That would be, of course, ''Power and the Glory'' - unbridled power, well deserved glory. Amazing song, with one of the most epic choruses and solos in Saxon's history (the only thing I can compare to it is Crusader); ''Midas Touch'' - great combination of ballad in verses and heaviness in chorus - this is a great little gem; and last but certainly not least ''The Eagle Has Landed''. I would call this the most unique song in Saxon's discography. There are a lot of reasons for this - first of all, the structure is very unusual, the song starts with some slow and atmospheric playing, and it lasts for about three minutes, when Biff starts singing. You can easily hear a lot of echoing, especially in the final verse lines, which combined with psychedelic lyrics really creates the feeling of a floating in the deep space. Great song, a bold experiment, it leaves the listener stunned and mesmerised. The Pink Floyd factor is crucial here. Wish that were more songs like this on this album.

Overall, this is a very disappointing effort, and a beginning of very turbid times for Saxon. This bad score isn't only the consequence of the average music, but more important, this was also the sign that Saxon will never achieve the stellar status that, for example, Maiden has. As for the mainstream public and casual rock listeners, Saxon died out in the '80s. Not many of them are aware that in 1997, Saxon practically saved heavy metal with ''Unleash the Beast''. But who in the world cared for heavy metal then? Nobody, it seems...

Sometimes ignored, maybe because it is the first Saxon album that wasn't made by the classic line up, Power and the Glory stands as a very strong traditional metal album. Creating fast metal songs without turning to thrash -I won't say "speed", I don't like that term- and keeping at the same time the mid-tempo NWOBHM trademark, Saxon presents here a very interesting effort that, in many ways, was condemmned to be the post Eagle Has Landed album, so it was destined to lose -it's like Motörhead's Iron Fist-.

The cover art is a disaster, is just plain ugly, nothing to say here.

The title track opens the album with a killer riff and a quite interesting drum entrance. The song is awesome from the beginning to the end, pure mid-tempo crunchy heavy metal. The bass lines at the chorus are quite interesting, specially as they are not what you would expect from Dawson. There's this small break at the middle that sounds a little out of place. Guitar work is very cool, so are the solos. Vocals have a quite annoying reverb, but they are well done. Lyrics are about soldiers of fortune -according to Byfford, inspired by the Falklands war-; they are well done.

Redline is the biker song that can't be out of a Saxon album. It's a mid tempo -a little slower than the title track- track, with some good guitar and drum work, but the basslines dissapointed me a little bit, since Dawson usually does this kind of songs with a pounding song behind the drums... well, this time he decided to follow the guitar lines a little bit more, so the potential of this song being a headbanging crunchy piece got kind of frustrated.

With a fast riff the pounding Warrior starts. This is a personal favorite, so I'll try to be objective. Drums make here a perfect match with the guitars, something that is kind of hard to oobtain by many metal acts. This has to be the most powerful vocal line Biff has ever made, his voice is totally poisoned and filled with power. It's faster than both previous tracks, but it's still kind of jumpy. The riff after the solo is incredible, specially cause the rest of the instruments follow it nicely. Nigel Glocker provides some excellent work on the drums here, being this the first Saxon album where the drums may be kind of protagonic -Gill's abbilities are undeniable, but they weren't show fully while he was on Saxon-.

Nightmare comes next, and it sucks. It is supposed to be a somehow slow balladesque song; it has this backing vocals that are half dark half pop that could bore anyone. The basslines are very interesting, despite of the song's qualities.

Regarding This Town Rocks, Byfford says: "...specifically written for the live show". Now, I won't deny this must be great live, but it certainly sounds out of place here. As it was suggested in a review below mine -I think it was Boris'-, this should have never been recorded. Is the fastest song on the record, the lyrics are totally out of place -that song is to talk to the audience, not to sing it-.

Watching The Sky is a cool track, although it is considered by many the first step to the posterior well known selling out. Although the main riff is indeed a little bit radio oriented, the song is a good mid-tempo metal piece and the lead break is very heavy, too heavy to achieve commercial success. Lyrics are about UFOs, and they are even dumber than the subject itself, so go figure.

Midas Touch comes next. It's also kind of "happier" than regular Saxon, but the musicianship is very interesting, specially the rythm section. The arpeggio breaks for the verse are, as well, a nice experiment, not strange to Saxon -see 747-, but quite different this time, since they slow the song to re start it at the chorus without any kind of transition. It's maybe too long.

For closure, there is the weird The Eagle Has Landed. The beginning of the song is boring and reminds any kind of 80's action TV show sountrack, and it is very long. Then it turns to metal, but it's still boring, slow and repetitive. The reverb I mentioned on Power and the Glory is worse here, and the chorus is just annoying. I still don't see the deal of this song and I'll never see it.

In general terms, this album moves, as Crusader in an ethereal period of Saxon's career: the golden years seem to be over after the The Eagle Has Landed Live album, and the commercial days that would start with Innocence Is No Excuse are still not clear; sadly, due this, both albums get usually overlooked, but there's a lot of quality metal here that certainly can't be forgotten.

1983 was a tremendously great year for Metal, and this album is one of the main reasons why. Power And The Glory is not only my personal favorite Saxon album, but also the album that proved to the world that Saxon was no minor NWOBHM band. Of course, the previous albums proved that as well, but by 1983, the NWOBHM movement had died down, leaving only a few bands standing, and Saxon was one of them. The music was heavier, more aggressive and louder than anything they had previously done, as well as anything they’d do in the near future.

Power And The Glory - In my opinion, this is THE ULTIMATE Saxon song. Yes, even better than Wheels Of Steel, Crusader and Denim And Leather. THIS is what Saxon is all about. Kickass riffage, powerful vocal range, catchy choruses that get nailed to your skull, strong attitude and ear piercing solos! Saxon’s lyrical war image begins here with this song.

Redline - A very groovy track, one of those biker themed songs that Saxon had always been damn good at doing. It’s not as good as Motorcycle Man or Stallions Of The High nor is it as fast, it’s just groovy and mid-paced all the way through.

Warrior - Why isn’t this song ever mentioned among Saxon fans??? Hell, this is by far one of their best tunes of all time. Another powerful war themed song that gets you pumped up to wanna do something. The vocals are terrific here, and the mid solo is absolutely fantastic, which still leads me to wonder why this song isn’t more popular. Only songs that ever get mention from this album are the title track, This Town Rocks and The Eagle Has Landed. All great tunes, but this one deserves to be up there with them.

Nightmare - The mood that this song sets is very mysterious and dark in its own way…I mean hey, just look at the title. It’s a ballad, but not an “Oh dear please come back to me!! BOOHOOO!!!” type of ballad. This one really kicks a lot of ass. Biff’s vocal work here is amazing.

This Town Rocks - A crazy-ass speed Metal tune, almost thrashy as times. My city is mentioned in this song, which is a major upside to me liking it, though not being the only reason I love it. I love this song because it’s a full out speed Metal assault that does not calm down once for the four minutes that it’s on, not until the very last incredible drum solo at the end. Oh yeah, I fuckin’ love the line “We’re gonna Saxonize, we’re vandalize your soul”…kickass stuff right there.

Watching The Sky - Influenced by the movie E.T…strange, but it is a great song, about watching for signs of the extraterrestrial life of course. The highlight here is definatly the chorus, without a doubt, though there is some outstanding riffage here and there in the song.

Midas Touch - Yup, you guessed it, the song’s about Midas and his touch of gold. It’s almost in the same vein as the previous tune, just much more vocal oriented and with better riffage, a bit heavier as well.

The Eagle Has Landed - One of the songs that Saxon is quite famous for, obviously. I mean, they have two popular live albums named after it. This is actually one of the heavier songs on the album, starts out very slow, yet solid and heavy at first, and towards the end, speeds up all the way into a fast-paced Metal tune, sort of like one of those slower thrash metal songs from some 80s thrash band. A masterpiece, that’s all the more I can say about this song.

Some of the songs on here are nice classic Saxon, and the rest is getting to be really silly, forgettable 80s metal, and I don't mean that in a good way. Rockish and midpaced - the bad traits that they had managed to push out of the way on "Strong Arm" came back a bit on "Denim and Leather", and then really wormed their way into the album sound here.

The good: "Power and the Glory" is catchy and just a little epic too - midpaced and anthemic, and definitely fun. "Redline" is decent - faster, with decent riffs, but it just feels empty. It has that sloppily-put-together aura about it, as though they just wanted a quick hit, as opposed to really thinking it out. "Warrior" and "Nightmare" kinda go about their business without really contributing much to anything, and then "This Town Rocks" definitely shows the difference between Studio Saxon and Live Saxon. All of their songs are written to be performed live, I have no idea why they (or any other self-respecting metal band for that matter) keep putting out studio albums... here, the crowd interaction isn't just implied, it's there clear as day... "Does this town know how to rock??" Not a bad song, just something that doesn't make any sense to be put on a non-live album.

"Watching the Sky" - kind of a silly song again. "Midas Touch" is one that really brings back the classic Saxon sound. Catchy and definitely very much heavy metal. Then, "The Eagle Has Landed" is a very interesting song. It is VERY slow and atmospheric, and just keeps building up to heaviness, and finally finishes at around midpace - this is definitely a live staple, and really the crowd is missing.

So what we have here is a very inconsistent album. Some of the songs are really screaming "Def Leppard" at times - both bands kinda went down the same sellout path in the 1980s, except one managed to keep their drummer intact and thus completely sold out in 1984 or so, as opposed to 1987! Really an expendable album, and quite sad after the last few.