Saxon - Unleash The Beast (1997)

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Saxon - Unleash The Beast (1997)

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During the 1990's when heavy metal had lost some of it's popularity and was seen by many as a style of music that belonged to a decade past, Saxon stood tall as champions of the genre and continued to provide us metalheads with what we wanted to hear.
Saxon started the '90s with "Solid Ball Of Rock" which is exactly what that album was, followed by "Forever Free" in '93. 1995 saw the release of another of their better albums in "Dogs Of War", but it was "Unleash The Beast" in 1997 which was their best album since the early-mid '80's.
Doug Scarrat made his debut with the band on this album, replacing original member Graham Oliver on guitar, and whilst it is always sad when an original member goes, Scarrat fitted in perfectly and injected a freshness to the Saxon sound.
Saxon started to build a more aggressive, harder sound in the '90's after their more commercial sounding late '80's albums and with Dogs Of War this was most evident. Again they took another step in the harder direction with Unleash The Beast, and I think they hit it right on with this album.
The album has a great dark gothic picture on the cover, and mirrors the album perfectly, which starts off with the intro "Gothic Dreams". The album has a darker tone than previous Saxon albums, and the band experiments more with their sound whilst still maintaining that classic Saxon sound all us fans love. Following the intro is the great opener "Unleash The Beast" and this is exactly what Saxon have done. After a big intro of crashing drums and Byford's scream the guitars rip in and the pace picks up, with this being one of the faster tracks on the album. The next track "Terminal Velocity" keeps up the pace, with that classic Saxon guitar driven rock, and Byford getting a slightly more aggressive tone to his vocals. This song really pumps in the style of past songs such as Solid Ball Of Rock.
"Circle Of Light" again is dark and aggressive, a song about a person's life in the balance, when the next world beckons and the next few seconds will decide which path is taken.
The next song "The Thin Red Line" is my favorite song on the album, and one of my all time Saxon favorites. Perhaps only the great Iron Maiden can do battle/war songs as well as Saxon, but this is a great one to sing along to, with that classic Saxon melodic chorus. It also has a quieter moment in the middle of it when the guitars die down and Nibb's base just pumps along, before a great guitar solo breaks in. This conveys the calm before combat or during a lull in it, and builds again into the clash of warriors in battle.
"Ministry Of Fools" picks up the pace a bit again and also has a great chorus. It also gives a much-deserved slap to those supposed "respected" people who hold positions of authority in society and influence our lives.
"The Preacher" is another song with a dark undertone, but also a great intro that builds into that guitar driven rock sound.
"Bloodletter" is more frantic and aggressive, the fastest paced song on the album with great guitar work.
"Cut Out The Disease" again has a dark tone but also has a more experimental sound with timing changes, acoustic guitars and quieter moments, and great crashing heavy guitars. It is a different type of song to the classic Saxon of the past, but it is a great song that still has that unmistakable Saxon sound.
"Absent Friends" shows the band experimenting again, this time with a more mellow sounding acoustic song reflecting on the unexpected passing of friends. It has a good guitar solo in the middle, and it's mellow sound adds a good variance amongst the other heavier tracks.
"All Hell Breaking Loose" finishes off the album in the rapid fire, fast paced Saxon way. It's a good album closer.
To summarise, this is perhaps the most consistent album Saxon has ever recorded. There is not one bad song on it. It sounds dark but fresh, hard and aggressive with great guitar work, and Biff Byford's voice sounds just as good as ever (if not better).
This album is a must have for all Saxon fans, or if you just appreciate good classic sounding metal (real metal). Saxon has released many great albums and fantastic songs, but of them all "Unleash The Beast" is my favorite.

By wizey, amazon

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Saxon - Unleash The Beast (1997)

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Saxon - Unleash The Beast (1997)

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Saxon - Unleash The Beast (1997)

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