british heavy metal legends SAXON will release their 24th studio album, “Hell, Fire And Damnation”on January 19, 2024 via Silver Lining Music.
The official music video for the LP’s latest single, “There’s Something In Roswell”can be seen below.
“Hell, Fire And Damnation” it is SAXON investigate all areas of history and mystery amidst ten of their most confident and thunderously powerful songs and “There’s Something In Roswell” is a true treasure amidst the jewels, with the sort of expansive groove and embrace which sands deserves. The track is about the enigmatic events surrounding the 1947 crash of an assumed Army weather balloon in Roswell New Mexico, referred to as “the Roswell incident”.
“It’s such a great story. It’s been around for years and years, and it’s just what the song says: there must be something in Roswell because there’s too much hoorah about it still,” SAXON Lead singer Biff Byford explains. “I like the tune as well; I think it harks back to ’80s SAXON musically, a really good bridge between the classic ‘Dallas 1 PM’ was and’SAXON 2023.'”
“Hell, Fire And Damnation” is an album which sees SAXON Investigate all areas of history and mystery amidst ten of their most confident and thunderously powerful songs yet. Biff delivers his richest vocals in years, Nigel Glockler and Nibbs Carter on drums and bass, respectively, lay down the rhythmic law with bombastic power, and the guitars of Doug Scarratt and Brian Tatler They are fresh and fiery, a perfect complement to each other, carrying an overall energy and fury which will have fans salivating. Musically, SAXON bring it all to the table. There’s a furious tribute to current heavy metal in the denim-and-leather-coated super-sprint “Fire And Steel”a wonderful nod to the NWOBHM’s birth in the electric mid-pace “Pirates Of The Airwaves”but maybe the true treasure amidst the jewels is “There’s Something In Roswell”with the sort of expansive groove and embrace which arenas deserves.
Produced by Andy Sneap (JUDAS PRIEST, EXODUS, ACCEPT) and Byfordwith Sneap mixing and mastering, “Hell, Fire And Damnation” strides the perfect line between confident, current power, and gloriously irreverent flexing of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal muscle which SAXON co-created.
“I think this album’s one of the best he’s done sound-wise, and he’s done a lot of albums,” Biff declared. “It has a really raw, vibrant sound… if you compress the total time making this album, it was four weeks tops… you can hear everything brilliantly, nothing’s overcomplicated, nothing’s over compressed. The guitar sounds are fucking immense, they’ re just great, raw guitar sounds. And we haven’t done a lot of overdubbing on there, it’s just playing. I really, really like it.”
2024 promises to be a great year for SAXON, with the European tour alongside JUDAS PRIEST and URIAH HEEP kicking off in the UK in March, the arrival of the heavy metal masterpiece “Hell, Fire And Damnation” and the recently announced co-headline US tour with URIAH HEEP titled “Hell, Fire & Chaos – The Best Of British Rock & Metal”.
“Getting these shows in March 2024 with JUDAS PRIEST and URIAH HEEP meant it made sense to push and get the album made faster,” says Biff“so, we got on with it in haste and pulled it out of the bag. It was tricky, but I think it’s safe to say we managed it well.”
“Hell, Fire And Damnation” track listing:
01. The Prophecy
02. Hell, Fire And Damnation
03. Madame Guillotine
04. Fire And Steel
05. There’s Something In Roswell
06. Kubla Khan And The Merchant Of Venice
07. Pirates Of The Airwaves
08. 1066
09. Witches Of Salem
10. SuperCharger
The cover art was created by Peter Sallai and can be seen below.
Early last year, SAXON guitarist Paul Quinn announced that he was stepping back from touring with the band. As a result of his decision, SAXON canceled its April 2023 South American tour as well as the appearance at the Monsters Of Rock cruise. Quinn has since been replaced on the road by DIAMOND HEAD‘s Brian Tatler.
Brian you have already joined fellow guitarist Doug Scarrattdrummer Nigel Glocklerbassist Tim “Nibbs” Carter and Byford for several European shows but will continue to be a member of DIAMOND HEAD.
Byford and Quinn are the sole remaining original members in SAXON‘s current lineup.
Originally from South Yorkshire, England, SAXON has gone on to sell about 23 million albums and has produced such classic songs as “Denim And Leather”, “Princess Of The Night”, “Wheels Of Steel” and “Power And Glory”.
