Saxon
Hell, Fire And Damnation SILVER LINING MUSIC
It’s yesterday once more.
Nigel’s alive! Biff’s alive! Gordon’s alive!
In recent times it seems Saxon have had almost as many medical emergencies as heavy metal insurgencies. Drummer Nigel Glockler survived a brain aneurysm and a canine attack; frontman Biff Byford suffered heart failure. So it’s fitting that Brian Blessed – who famously declared “Gordon’s alive!” in the Flash Gordon movie – should add his booming voice to The Prophecy, the opening track of Hell, Fire And Damnation.
Cthulhu-style grumblings and backwards satanic mumblings usher in the title track, and Saxon hit the ground running with a tempestuous tale of the never-ending battle between good and evil. The Barnsley brawlers get into their trademark stride – mighty, marauding, deceptively melodious – as easily as Biff shrugs his big shoulders into his big leather greatcoat. It’s a very fine start indeed. But it’s as good as it gets. From the assassination of John F Kennedy to The Dambusters, much of Byford’s songwriting is inspired by historical events. Here his approach becomes wearisome.
Take these five consecutive tracks. concerns the renowned/rumoured alien spacecraft crashdeals with Marco Polo’s antics in the Mongol Empire.
