As a devoted
Saxon fan, I find many of their records of very high quality. This one is my favourite, and also the first one I bought. In comparison with their other works this is surely one of their most intense and aggressive releases.
After a short dark atmospheric intro,
Unleash The Beast burst into madness. This is one of their wildest and heaviest songs. The aggressive beginning followed by a riff of dimensions gets going wild every time. The amount of power and intensity that comes out of this one is amazing. The balance between the different passages are stunning, especially the ending where a slower and more raw rhythm takes over. Lyrically it's about mystic possession, and it is well written.
The fast and furious leads are brilliant, overall a brilliant monster of a song.
Terminal Velocity is a mid-tempo banger with a solid rhythm section and some cool guitar solos. The chorus could be more exiting and it's the least successful song on the record because of the lack of change. Even though the bass displays some cool breaks.
Circle Of Light has some brilliant double bass drumming and the intense riffs add, in making it a pretty raw track. The main rhythm is very tight, a fact that goes through the whole album.
The Thin Red Line is a song about war and a hymn to the heroes who fight in it. The tempo is pretty slow and fits well with the huge epic chorus. The calm atmospheric mid-section is working really well, featuring a melodic solo. The drums are detailed and brilliant played by legend Nigel Glockler. The song has an epic feel to it and is of very high quality.
The next song is a pure rocker and hymn.
Ministry Of Fools has a brilliant melodic lead guitar rhythm, and is one of the coolest sing-a-long choruses ever. The song just makes you rock with its fresh approach. It also has a cool lyric about standing up against all the crap that people try so put into your head. This is one of the best melodic power songs I know. Biff's vocal is fantastic, lots of depth and still melodic.
The Preacher is based on a great tight riff and the underlying acoustic guitar gives it an interesting sound. The chorus seems mystical and fits well into the changing rhythm.
Bloodletter is faster chapter. The pace is high and the guitars are blazing with energy. The power is truly amazing in this song, due to a very solid main rhythm. The melodic guitar solo is really great, and overall this song knows only one way, and that's fast ahead. The chorus is a bit stretched out, but hey that's a detail.
Cut Out The Disease is a song full of feelings about betrayal and deceit. The rawness of the main guitar riff is extremely powerful, and the overall feeling of the song is very dark. It seems like the band needed to make this song to get past dark episodes behind them. The quality of the track is very high, and it has an amazing amount of depth.
Absent Friends is without doubt one of the best emotional songs ever written. About missing someone special that has past away. The acoustic rhythm is melodic and brilliant. The vocal parts sung with compassion and lots of feeling. The guitar solo is huge and groundbreaking.
The middle-section features a fantastic raw guitar play. The chorus is really working and it sounds great when a multitude of voices joins in. The beautiful poetic lyric adds to this amazing song.
All Hell Breaking Loose ends the album with mayhem and power. The changes in pace from fast to very fast are working greatly. The guitar play is a firework of great skill. The varied drums and hard bass are making a very solid fundament. A great song that sums up a lot of the energy of this record.
An element that has a lot to do with the high rating I give, is the guitars which seem very spontaneous and filled with raw energy, and the drums that are perfectly played with lots of power and detail.
The solid bass also plays an important part in the sound picture, and the balanced vocals sound fantastic.
Lyrically some songs are clearly better than others. Some are a bit simple, but all are working and seem to fit with the musical side. Themes of mystic elements, religion, death and righteousness.
This performance is their hardest and best to date and a classic record in my collection. Unleash The Beast right now!
Written by
Tommy Saturday, March 1, 2003
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