Classic metal amidst the grunge
Scott Hedegard | Fayetteville, AR USA | 09/05/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"If Iron Maiden and Def Leppard were the two most successful bands to come out of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal in the late '70's and early '80's, a great time for real metal fans, then Saxon probably is the most underrated, at least in the US.
Maiden has hung tough, thanks to a ferocious following, and Def Leppard ceased to be metal after their first two albums. Saxon has retained enough of a primarily European audience to remain active to this day. Metal is a strange beast - the music is the most confining in all of rock, but those who excel enjoy life spans that far exceed most any other genre.
Saxon's reissue of 1995's "Dogs Of War" defiantly retains the classic metal sound they helped forge, thanks in part to being influenced by Judas Priest and Thin Lizzy, to name a few seminal metal bands. Biff Byford's vocals and lyrics remain the cornerstone of the Saxon sound, but his voice has aged noticeably to more of a boozy Bon Scott style tone, especially on "Big Twin Rolling".
The guitars are sharp and thankfully have not copped out to the dropped "D" grunge tuning that took over damn near every heavy band in the '90's. The title track should be plenty heavy enough for anybody, and I must admit it takes balls to record a very '80's sounding pop-metal tune on "Hold On."
"Great White Buffalo" and "Walking Through Tokyo" show how bands weren't afraid to stretch their creative wings at one time, and bully for Saxon for doing it.
All in all, "Dogs Of War" is a fine latter day effort from a band that deserves much more credit than they've received over the years."