Rock the Nations

Saxon is a very well-known NWOBHM band. They are well known for their hits such as Denim and Leather and Princess of the Night and their music is very influential for other metal bands such as Metallica, Artillery, and Testament. Saxon are influenced by many prog rock bands, blues rock, and heavy metal bands like Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, Albert King, and Motorhead. Rock the Nations however could have been better, and the album is still heavy metal, but they have more glam metal influence on here. It's like if you mix Van Halen, Mötley Crüe, and NWOBHM we get Rock the Nations as a result.

The song Party Till You Puke has a mix of blues, rock' n roll, and swing, which does not sound good for a heavy metal band. It's like if you took Chuck Berry and Little Richard and mixed it with glam metal. This song would have been better if they made it metal instead of swing, blues, and rock and roll. Another notable song is "Waiting for the Night", which has an obvious Jump by Van Halen influence. It is not something you would expect from a band that has Denim and Leather as a metal anthem. Graham Oliver's guitar has more melody, the song has a pop hook to it, and the song is more like a song Van Halen or Guns n Roses would have written. This song isn't terrible, but the overall song would have sounded better if they didn't use the Jump influence on it.

I also would like to mention Northern Lady, which has Elton John playing piano, this song is a lame ballad that at the time glam metal bands also had on their albums. This was the worst song on the album, I would rather be listening to chalk scraping than this pile of garbage. Northern Lady lyrically is also pretty cheesy. "Lady face the morning sun The sunlight in your hair Northern Lady, you're the one..." This song ruined the overall album and made it lose the potential of being great. If the song was not on here, then it would have been a much better album.

The album's production is good and Biff Byford's vocals are still the same, but the album is more like a pop rock album, like how Def Leppard sounded on Hysteria and Pyromania. Nigel Glocker's drums are thunderous on Battle Cry and Graham Oliver's guitar solo is generic. Rock the Nations is catchy, Biff Byford's vocals are powerful, and the song is upbeat. Rock the Nations will be stuck, and it will be playing in your head over and over again like a broken record. Graham Oliver's guitar solos are also good. The album still has heavy metal, even though it's more like pop rock.

Overall, the album is Ok and their musical sound is less present than their legendary albums. The album is also an example of infamous bands like Saxon following the bandwagon of music trends at the time. There are good moments here, but you should listen to the classics instead of these, because they are much better music-wise, although Graham Oliver does have some good solos here.

5/10

One of my favorite Aesop's Fables is the one where the son, the father, and the donkey all walk through a village. The dad's on the donkey, then the son's on the donkey, then they're both on the donkey, then no one is. This is because the village keeps shouting at them, claiming it's disrespectful to make the father walk, cruel to make the donkey carry both of them, dumb to not use the donkey at all... I can't remember why the dad can't ride it by himself. Maybe the son had leprosy or something. Oh well. The moral of the story is everyone's an asshole, and Rock the Nations sucks.

Rock the Nations is an album that places too much stock on compromise, attempting to please everyone and having no personality of its own as a result. It's an incoherent psychosis of well-intentioned Wheels of Steel retreads, interspersed with mawkish glam rock sedatives like we've recently been suffering through. The most notable example of each is 'Battle Cry' and 'You Ain't No Angel', with the former following the recipe for a great Saxon tune almost verbatim. A phenomenal rolling drum pattern is complimented by Biff's carefully harmonized vocal lines, tied together with a spectacular proto-power metal riff. This composition by its lonesome blows Power and the Glory and Crusader out of the water. 'You Ain't No Angel', conversely, is sitting at the bottom of the water, wondering why its lungs hurt.

The dullardly glam tracks have ditched the introspective affectations of Innocence Is No Excuse and come across as substanceless and forgettable. 'Empty Promises' and 'Waiting for the Night' have a decided lack of atmosphere, emotion, and well, songwriting. The major scale leads are like sweet bubble gum that immediately loses its flavor, and by the third or fourth minute, the circuitous rock riffs are only tasting of spit and disappointment. I would honestly take Tokyo Blade's Blackhearts and Jaded Spades over this, and that's a damn shame.

And then there's the rose-tinted spectacles aspect, and by that I mean Elton John. Mentioning Sir John's involvement in Rock the Nations would've probably gotten my point across faster than that Aesop's Fable, now that I think of it. His contributions include the diabetic love ballad 'Northern Lady', as well as a solo in 'Party Til You Puke'. As ridiculous as the 50's boogie-woogie motif is, I have to admit, this track is quite similar to my favorite from their debut album, 'Still Fit to Boogie'.

Although by and large a failure in my book, Rock the Nations could've been worse. It managed to bring some great additions to Saxon's setlists, which is more than I'd say of Crusader. That alone is worthy of some kudos, but there's still no sense in settling for this sort of diluted compromise when you could either have Wheels or Steel or Innocence is no Excuse instead.

Saxon's Rock The Nations is like when you see aircraft doing an aerial show and in the middle of it, one of the jets just veers the fuck off course for no reason. It stumps everybody, much like how Saxon stumps me on this album. Looking at that cover, it's a letdown that barely half of this album lives up to such enormity. Instead, it's glammification (and then some) from a heavy metal band. The production isn't as perfected like the polished, loud job on Innocence Is No Excuse, so it sounds stripped and compacted in comparison.

Throw this in the ballpark of Mötley Crüe's Shout At The Devil, which still has more balls than this. However, Saxon isn't without their strong-arm song containing a colossal chorus, hefty bass support, and dominant riffs. The anthemic, Maiden-esque "Battle Cry" is the start-to-finish song encompassing these traits and much more. Byford's distant wailing, the rolling drum patterns, and the charging pace keeps this one intense and upbeat without toying with cheesy melodies and upbeat jingles. The one problem that plagues this song and the rest of the album is how weak the guitars sound. It's that typical '80s sound where the guitars begin sounding like synthesizers, having no bite at all. It sometimes works, but on an album like this it needs to sound like something more pronounced.

The rest of the album doesn't reach this peak. It hovers below it with one or so of the above positive traits, like the title track's memorable chorus, the vigor of "Running Hot", or the poppy leads of "Waiting For The Night". Hell, even "Northern Lady," Elton John's only useful contribution to the album, is ripe with addicting leads and a more melodious vocal performance. There are positives like these that keep the songs interesting, but don't contribute to the overall value to the album. Other songs go out of their way to butcher Saxon's reputation, like "You Ain't No Angel" trying to be Whitesnake with none of the zest or the worthless jazzy / piano-bar-type swing or whatever (it reminds me of Family Matters) of "Party 'Til You Puke". It creates for a hacky album with an already inconsistent flow.

You might as well skip this one and not even worry about it. "Battle Cry" is pretty cool, but it's nothing you can't miss from any of the bad Saxon albums that had songs like "Crusader" or "The Eagle Has Landed" on them. Rock The Nations feels like an underachievement, with the band not committing to one direction like on Innocence Is No Excuse. Even Destiny, while sucking hard, was able to be (mostly) consistent.

While a guest appearance by Elton John doesn’t inspire much confidence in the ‘metalness’ of an album, don’t let that put you off or let the critics fool you. Rock the Nations doesn’t deviate as far from the quality or style of classic Saxon as some would have you believe.

In fact, this album is almost textbook Saxon. We have the standard songs about the glory of rock and roll, the obligatory head pounding, banner waving speed metal war epic, a sappy power ballad and the usual nonsense about motorcycles on the highway and sex with hot teenage girls.

Of course, this all flows about as well as cream cheese, but then Saxon have built an entire career on albums with no logical song progression whatsoever. All things considered, there’s a lot to like here. The riffs are chunky and catchy in equal measure, Biff is as powerful as ever, and the production, much like the band, is rock solid and workmanlike, if a little unspectacular.

While the band were rapidly losing relevance by this time in the face of the American thrash juggernaut (and this is hardly going to challenge Peace Sells or Master of Puppets for album of ’86), there’s still plenty of enjoyable, old school British heavy metal to be had here. It's by no means their finest hour, but definitely recommended for fans of the band or the style.

After their fantastic offering the previous year, Innocence Is No Excuse, the band takes a sudden dip in the mud. I’ve no idea what the FUCK they were thinking when producing the majority of the tracks on here. Shit, were they trying to go pop or something?? Sometimes it sounds as if they were attempting to be a blues band as well here, as horrid as that may sound. Oh yeah, there is also one track that gives me the impression that they might have wanted to go in a big band/swing direction too, mixing it all with guitars. Sounds awful, eh? Well it is. Don’t worry though, there are still enough METAL tracks on here that live up to the standards of Saxon…err…two only, but still enough to have given hope to those back then, that Saxon was not completely dead. Saxon’s always been a band of wide variety, but they fail to deliver the variety well here on this album.

Rock The Nations - A tough and heavy attitude with a damn good chorus, so you know fuck well that this is indeed Saxon. Obviously, this is one of the better tunes on here, and one of the two tunes that live up to the Saxon standard. This is one of those “raise your fist in the air and pump like mad!” type of tunes. Oh yeah, the lead solo is fucking terrific.

Battle Cry - Despite how shitty the majority of this album is, what we have here is one of Saxon’s all time best songs. The bass lines and drumming are done amazingly well, giving off the impression of one fighting for his life in a battle field. The chorus is one that grabs you by the balls, “Let me hear! Let me hear! Let me hear your battle cry!”. Everything about this song fucking kills.

Waiting For The Night - Aside from the catchy beat and riffage, this song is just too damn poppy. Like a few other tracks on here, I can tell this song had good potential, but for some reason, the band chose not to do that and screwed it all up instead. Decent tune, but this IS NOT the way Saxon should sound. Any lighter, and it could be played on a soft rock station.

We Came Here To Rock - Now just look at that song title, you know this has to definatly rock! Attitude and catchiness fill the lyrics, supported with damn good riffs, but…it could have been a bit better if the band hadn’t been on a “We wanna go pop!” trip.

You Ain’t To Angel - Groovy all the way through, but way too dull in riffage. If it wasn’t for Biff’s killer vocal deliverance, I would have just written this tune off right away. The song is indeed catchy, but quite boring at times.

Running Hot - Last good song you’ll hear on the album. No pop and no experimental orientation, this song just plain out smokes! The vocals kill, and the driving rhythm is excellent. Oh, and not to mention the solo, which just fucking slays.

Party ‘Til You Puke - Here’s where the band attempts to go big band/swing, filled with jazzy drum beats and big band piano playing in the background. Believe it or not, I believe that this song could have been turned into some killer tune, keeping the same lyrics and song structure, though changing the AWFUL music here. Only highlight here is the ending solo, but that type of solo can be heard in many other Saxon tunes as well.

Empty Promises - ::yawn::…boring! Slow and slightly groovy, but amazingly tiring and lame, both riff and vocal wise. Nothing good at all to be heard here.

Northern Lady - Okay, here is where Elton John does the piano work. Needless to say, this is Saxon’s worse ballad ever. WHY must they do this shit to their fans. As if Party ‘Til You Puke and Empty Promises didn’t make the listeners frown enough, they just have to go further with this lame-ass ballad, probably causing the listener to hit the eject button or stop the turn table, just like it did with me.