Continuing my way through the Saxon catalog with “Battering Ram”, which was the bands twenty first studio album. Again their albums continued to chart in more and more countries in Europe and moved up the charts in the UK and Germany. This was a tough listen for me at times. It’s not that’s it’s terrible but it just doesn’t hit the mark in the same way as the previous albums had since Unleash the Beast. Several very good songs but several that are just okay for me. While I’m sure I played this a lot when it first released, while getting ready to go through it for this review I couldn’t remember one song. After several spins there are a few stand outs but not near as many as Sacrifice had. The production is also much noisier than I remembered.
“Battering Ram” – Uptempo fast paced track driven by Nigel’s drumming. About a live metal show and how loud and powerful it is. Good opener.
“The Devil’s Footprint” – A darker track that opens with a spoken word before exploding into a barrage of guitars and drums. Solid song and story. Based on folklore from 1855 England where a cloven hoof footprint was scene in the snow and caused mass panic.
“Queen of Hearts” – The riff starts and stops several times making me think the cd was skipping but it eventually all comes together. Heavier and darker again lyrically but a cool song and little different. Inspired by the Alice in Wonderland story. One of my favorite songs on the album.
“Destroyer” – A heavy riffy metal track with a fast pace. The guitar playing is a standout along with Nigel’s drumming. Solid song but lyrically a little repetitive. An apocalyptic sci-fi inspired end of the world story.
“Hard and Fast” – The title says it all. Fast, heavy and hard hitting from the first note. Nothing new or inventive just Saxon style metal. Good but not great.
“Eye of the Storm” – Opens with the sound of thunder setting the tone into a heavier more groove style. Very repetitive chorus and not a lot of variation musically. Just an average song for me. About nature and how it can wreak havoc.
“Stand Your Ground” – Uptempo foot to the floor track. Again it’s repetitive and not trying to reinvent the wheel and is just okay. About overcoming adversity.
“Top of the World” – Very cool melodic track that breaks up some of the heavier tracks. One of the better songs on the album. About climbing Mount Everest and the thrill and danger of that.
“To the End” – A decent groove but the song doesn’t go anywhere and is just kind of monotonous. About camaraderie and loyalty.
“Kingdom of the Cross” – At six minutes a little long and is a slower more melancholic song with spoken word from Biff in the verses and singing in the chorus. A different song but it’s kind of cool as a closing song. It’s about the horrors and tragedy of World War 1.
“Three Sheets to the Wind(The Drinking Song)” – A CD bonus track that’s a fun rock n roll song not to be taken too seriously but it does help the album somewhat considering how serious and heavy most of it is. The lyrics are self explanatory.
Recap: A very heavy album similar to the previous Sacrifice in that way but not near as good and very repetitive lyrically. There’s still some good songs but overall this is probably my least fav from the band from Unleash the Beast to now.
Favorite Songs: Battering Ram, Queen of Hearts, Destroyer, and Top of the World.
