Saxon's 'Hell, Fire and Damnation' - Album Review

I think that it is fair to say that 2024 has got off to a great start. Whilst January is never the busiest month for new releases, those which have been served up so far have been excellent - with South of Salem knocking it out of the park again on their second album and Magnum delivering another album of classy hard rock in a manner which only they can. 'New' and 'old' has been represented well, then, but another veteran band have also treated their large fanbase to something new this month - with the British NWOBHM legends Saxon releasing their twenty-sixth studio album (including their two recent covers albums - which I have not heard) Hell, Fire and Damnation. Whilst their recent release cycle is not quite as prolific or as clockwork as Magnum's, Saxon have released more albums overall - and have essentially been putting out a new album every two or three years on average since releasing their self-titled debut album in 1979. Given how long the Saxon catalogue is, too, there is very little within it which I would actively class as filler. Like many metal bands, they flirted with some more hair and AOR-esque sounds in the late 1980s, but even those albums are mostly enjoyable - but in recent years Saxon have arguably been putting out some of their best ever work. Their early albums will always be heralded as classics due to their part in shaping the influential NWOBHM scene but, objectively, a lot of their recent releases are arguably better - at least from an overall sound and production perspective. The Saxon of today are much heavier than the Saxon of the early 1980s and it is great that a band who has been around for so many years consistently still puts out records of such quality - often sounding more energetic than bands half their age. There have been some line-up changes along the way, but Saxon have not generally picked out young guns to replace veteran members - generally sticking to their peer group age-wise to keep Saxon authentically rooted. This is pertinent, too, as Hell, Fire and Damnation is the first Saxon album in a while to feature a different line-up to the one before. The last Saxon line-up had been in place since 2005, when long-time drummer Nigel Glockler returned to the band - meaning that every album from 2007's The Inner Sanctum to 2023's More Inspirations featured the same line-up. This changes on Hell, Fire and Damnation as it is the first Saxon album ever to not feature founding guitarist Paul Quinn as a full-time member of the band. He contributes guitar solos to two of the songs, but he has now stepped back from Saxon's busy touring schedule - so has had limited involvement in this latest album. In his place, though, is Brian Tatler (Diamond Head) - a long-time friend of Saxon's and a NWOBHM legend in his own right. I have seen Diamond Head open for Saxon quite a few times in recent years, so the pairing certainly made sense. It is a shame to see Quinn step down, given that he was one of the band's founding members, but in Tatler Saxon have a fine replacement - and he has made his mark on this album with a few riffs and plenty of excellent solos. Quinn's departure leaves frontman Biff Byford as the only original member still standing - but with everyone else in the band, besides Tatler, having been around for many years at this point the change in personnel does not feel jarring.

It helps as well that the band's long-term producer Andy Sneap has once again worked with Saxon in the studio here - helping Hell, Fire and Damnation to sound as massive as ever. The album builds up to its first big riff, though, with the short intro piece The Prophecy kicking things off. A wall of gothic strings and choirs, and featuring a suitably dramatic and over-the-top voiceover from actor Brian Blessed, sets the scene nicely. The song segues into the album's title track, too, which is one of the standout cuts here. Like always, though, nearly every song here could realistically be classed as a such - but the majestic mid-paced rocker is a great representation of the Saxon sound. The crunching guitars of Tatler and Doug Scarratt set the tone nicely early on, building up in anthemic way around Glockler's drums - before the first of many excellent riffs kick in and the mid-paced song gets underway proper. Saxon are as good now as they always have been, though, largely in part to how great Byford still sounds. His voice has aged somewhat but, if anything, the grit that he has developed with age only makes him sound better - and he can still unleash the odd scream when necessary as can be heard near the beginning of this song. He has a knack for excellent choruses, too, and the effort here feels suitably anthemic - and the song is certain to become a live favourite on this year's tour. Subtle gang vocals give the chorus real weight, but the main refrain is packed full of Byford's classic melodies. There are plenty of other great choruses here but the stadium-ready quality of this effort makes it really stand out - and the excellent and lengthy guitar solo section, which is started by Scarratt and finished by Tatler, only elevates the song further. Saxon's sound has not significantly changed over the years, but occasionally they go for a sound which is slightly more 'epic' than usual - and the album's title track is a great example of such. Madame Guillotine is somewhat more typical, then. It opens with a great bass riff from Nibbs Carter, the groove from which the whole song is then based around, whilst some chiming guitar leads grow in stature around it. As mentioned, this is a very groove-heavy song - with the verses feeling clean and punchy. There is actually a bit of an AC/DC-esque simplicity to the verses, with the bass rumbling away behind the stripped back guitar riffing, whilst the chorus feels bigger and more produced. Subtle keyboards add depth, whilst Byford subtly harmonises with himself to create a more layered sound. Despite the simplicity, though, the song has light as well as shade - with Tatler's guitar solo slowing things down against some clean guitar melodies, before Scarratt takes over with something more typical. Saxon often like to speed things up, too, but Fire and Steel is the only thrash-adjacent song here. Glockler's fast-paced double bass drums drive everything, whilst the riffing and scorching guitar leads which open the track set the tone for next few minutes. Saxon's fast-paced songs tend to all be quite similar, but no-one quite cranks up the speed quite like them. Byford's gritty vocals help the track to pop, though, and the chorus is a great lesson in how to create something very effective out of some simple ingredients. It is also one of the two songs here to feature Quinn - who is the filling in the three guitarist solo sandwich part-way through.

For me, though, the album's best songs, along with the aforementioned title track, are the next four. The mid-paced, storytelling anthems represent the band at their best in my opinion - and There's Something in Roswell kicks off this suite. Like the title track, the song opens with some scene-setting guitar stabs before settling into an infectious groove based around some crunching guitar chugs. There are songs here which are more complicated riff-wise, but there are similarities here to Madame Guillotine in how relatively stripped back the overall arrangement is. Glockler's drumming is very simple, but the occasional flourish and the punch of his tone helps the song to tick, whilst again Byford is the centre of attention throughout. The verses are suitably gritty, but it is the chorus that stands out the most - with anthemic hooks and a buzzing guitar tone which helps to emphasis the extra-terrestrial nature of the song's lyrics. Probably my favourite song on the whole album, though, is the faster paced Kubla Khan and the Merchant of Venice. It is still fairly mid-paced overall, but there is much more energy here - with Glockler breaking out his double bass drum rolls much more. The pre-chorus and chorus are propelled by his fast footwork, but the song is also a bit more interesting from a guitar playing perspective. Whilst the simple chugging heard elsewhere can be very effective, I like the busier guitar patterns featured this time and the song just feels much riffier overall. Many of my favourite Saxon songs are busier from a guitar perspective and it is great to hear quite a bit more going on throughout this one - with Tatler's shredded solo bringing everything together nicely. Sound-wise, then, the song just perfectly sums up the modern Saxon sound. There is a heaviness here which was not always present on their classic albums but the approach to melody is the same - with the chorus being another which has already lodged itself in my brain. Pirates of the Airwaves, which features another brief cameo from Blessed in the intro, is another real favourite. It is another mid-paced track and, perhaps deliberately, there is a strong classic rock feel throughout. Given the song's lyrics dealing with the old phenomenon of pirate radio, this more old-school sound is fitting. The guitar tones used throughout the song, apart from during the chorus, feel like a bit of a hark back to the band's early albums. The verses feel a little bluesier than is typical guitar-wise, too, but this really works in my opinion. The heaviness kicks in during the chorus, though, which is as anthemic as ever. Due to this mid-paced groove and the anthemic chorus hooks I can see this song being another which becomes a big live favourite. It is the sort of chorus which can be easily sung by a crowd - and the rock and roll feel of the piece means that it will come alive on stage. The guitar solos are similarly bluesy, too, which is fitting.

The last of the real standouts for me is 1066 - a battle anthem which could be seen as a sequel to Saxons and Vikings, the song which Saxon collaborated with Amon Amarth on on the latter's latest album. It is another mid-paced track, but it feels much more metallic overall. The guitar tones are more typical of the band's modern sound here but Glockler's drumming and the huge bass presence of Carter just give the song more weight. It does a bit of everything which I tend to like about Saxon. The riffing throughout is excellent, there are some great metallic flourishes, and Byford's lyrics tell a great story. There is so much to like here and it also stands out due to it being the only song which Tatler solos on alone. Most of the songs feature solo trade-offs, but Tatler tackles this solo himself - with a lengthy flurry of notes which starts slowly before exploding into something more. The album's final two songs, whilst not quite as good as the four which preceded them, are still very enjoyable, though. Witches of Salem sounds a little like the title track to 1991's Solid Ball of Rock. There is a bit more of a rock and roll feel to the verses, with Byford's vocal melodies tapping into a somewhat folkier territory despite the big guitars behind him - but the chorus is suitably weighty, upping the heaviness. Despite their heavier sound in recent years, Saxon have never lost their original classic rock influences. Pretty much all of their recent albums have showcased it somewhat, but this album seems to have leaned on it a little more overall - despite there still being plenty of hard-driving metal anthems here to enjoy. The mid-paced song is still very muscular, though, with the chorus perhaps being one of the album's punchiest moments - even if melodically it does not hit as hard as some of the others here. The album's closing statement, then, is the faster Super Charger. Whilst not as thrashy as Fire and Steel, it nevertheless feels more energetic than the crunchier song which came before. It is one of those songs which is probably not quite as a fast and furious as it seems, though. Glockler rarely kicks things into overdrive, but this precise ride work helps the pre-chorus to really pop, with most of the speed coming from the knottier riffing. Perhaps the album could have benefitted from having one more out-and-out pacy number, but the shot of adrenaline that Super Charger provides, with its shout-along chorus and strong riffing, is certainly welcome. It is also the other song here to feature Quinn's guitar playing. He plays the last of the song's two solos, so it is perhaps fitting that one of the band's founders closes things out from a guitar solo perspective. It is unclear whether or not he will feature on the band's albums going forward - but having him here alongside Tatler on a couple of songs has acted as a nice transition. Overall, then, Hell, Fire and Damnation is another excellent album from Saxon. The band can essentially do no wrong and all of their recent releases have done a lot for me. There are stronger recent releases overall, but a handful of the songs here are likely to become some of my favourite Saxon songs in time - and I am already looking forward to hearing them live.

The album was released on 19th January 2024 via Silver Lining Music. Below is the band's promotional video for Hell, Fire and Damnation.