DP
MetalHead-Saxon
1999
After a series of average Pop-Metal albums Saxon struck back with Dogs of War, a strong and very dark album with some thrash influences, and another album followed, Unleash The Beast. Metalhead continues on this style.
Firstly I have to say that this album is Heavy. This is one of those albums that you can only describe as Heavy Metal as it doen't fit into any particular subgenre. It is strong instrumentally, vocally, and feels way stronger than your average metal album with crushing double bass at times. The riffs are generic but changed to sound more, um, evil. But now for the track reviews.
Intro- 1.24: Just your average intro. Nothing special.
Metalhead-4.52: Now we're talking. A generic but crushing intro with some cool/spooky vocal effects leads into a riff with some changes making each note sound more crude. The vocals are as good as ever. I just can't fault Bill Byford, he has a strong voice with a high range. A really good song. 5/5
Travellers in Time-5.17: Nice synth to start into an apocalyptic riff, and a Testament Style riff starts up with some simple vocal effects. It's a pretty cool track, but is rather repetitive and lacks much diversity. 4/5
Conquistador-4.42: Powerful trash riff leads out of an acoustic intro. It has a nice feel reminiscent of Iron Maiden but with a better vocalist
. 5/5
What Goes Around Comes Around-4.25: Has a groove metal style intro but Bill decides to do a bad vocal bit over the riff
. It then uses a slow but crushing riff and it then has a really awesome, technical solo (the most technical I've heard in ages, nearly up with a Megadeth solo). 4.5/5
Song Of Evil-4.12: Generic but very powerful riff. It just isn't as strong as the similar Metalhead though. 3.5/5
All Guns Blazing-3.53: Judas Priest style intro, full on and it just keeps coming with another good solo. 4.5/5
Prisoner-4.12: Sounds like Song of Evil, good but not great. 3.5/5
Piss Off-4:04: Blatant Melothrash attempt but it works and has another great solo... 4/5
Watching You-5.18: Sounds like a Judas Priest song mixed with double bass, same power throughout and you guessed it, a great solo. 4.5/5
Sea Of Life-8.11: The epic of the album. It's just.....good. It has all the right features, calm areas, slow areas and (duh duh duh) a solo. 4.75/5
Overall it's a very good and consistent album. I like it a lot and I'd recommend it to Scorpion...
http://open.spotify.com/track/53795veSFwl6jPpW6Sbe1BThere's Metalhead for you guys. You might to use media player or something.
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. I'd rather listen to lyrics about guys with bikes with*cough* Wheels of Steel 