Band:	Saxon
Album:	Power And The Glory
Style:	New wave of British heavy metal
Release date:	March 21, 1983
Guest review by:	stratorock666

01. Power And The Glory
02. Redline
03. Warrior
04. Nightmare
05. This Town Rocks
06. Watching The Sky
07. Midas Touch
08. The Eagle Has Landed
09. Denim And Leather [live] [2009 remastered edition bonus]
10. Suzie Hold On '82 [Jeff Glixman version] [2009 remastered edition bonus]
11. Turn Out The Lights [2009 remastered edition bonus] [Kaley Studio 1982 demo]
12. Stand Up And Rock [2009 remastered edition bonus] [Kaley Studio 1982 demo]
13. Power And The Glory [2009 remastered edition bonus] [Kaley Studio 1982 demo]
14. Saturday Night [2009 remastered edition bonus] [Kaley Studio 1982 demo]
15. Midas Touch [2009 remastered edition bonus] [Kaley Studio 1982 demo]
16. Nightmare [2009 remastered edition bonus] [Kaley Studio 1982 demo]
17. Redline [2009 remastered edition bonus] [Kaley Studio 1982 demo]

As a fairly big Saxon fan, i looked forward to listening to this album, as i hear a lot of people on forums and such speak about it in rather harsh tones. To be honest, I love this album. It doesn't have the quality of the previous three, but theres a certain old school metal, out and out rockin' feel to this album that is, if not as "pure" as on previous albums, still very much there. Of course Saxon, with this album, take things in a slightly different direction, with some songs (such as the title track) seemingly having a more Iron Maiden like melodic metal feel rather than the hard rock-on-speed of the previous three albums. I Like that. I like the fact that they tried something a little different with this album. Okay, this does not have the same energy as the previous albums, but damn if it isn't an album that gets you rocking out - because it is. To me at least.

But anyway, disregarding style and evolution of the band's sound for a moment, what are the actual songs like? A Lot of people say because of the production the songs don't have the same impact. To me, this is nonsense. Yes, there has been better (much better) production, but the slightly iffy production, in my opinion, simply gives it a rather charming, old fashioned metal sound, harking back to the days before every metal band alive had the ability to overproduce albums til any edge was lost. But anyway, the songs, disregarding the production, quality level in my opinion is equal to what came before. The opening melodic metal slice of "Power and the Glory" is fantastic, containing an excellently powerful little riff refrain and has great, not to mention powerful vocal melodies going on. Very typical power/melodic metal type song, and like I have said before, different for them (at this stage in their career). But for me at least it worked, and it's one of my all time favorite Saxon songs. Other stand-out songs include the fantastic "Warrior" - another slightly more melodic metal
song, which has a classic melody, some more great riffs and more stand-out vocals. There is also "The Eagle Has Landed", which some may find as a diversion too far, with a heavily prog-leaning sound. I personally love this song, i think it is an admirable experimentation for the band, and it sure as hell works well, giving this album a great finishing track.

So to sum things up, this album may not have the energy of the previous three albums but it makes up for it in sheer song quality. At eight songs long there are no fillers and although "Redline" and "This Town Rocks" I consider rather average, they don't spoil the momentum of the greater songs on the album. Slightly iffy production aside, this is a seriously enjoyable metal album, evolving Saxon's sound whilst still retaining what made them special before. Again - not a perfect album, but a great listen if you are a fan of this type of music or especially if you like the band.