08. Saxon Strong Arm of the Law 1980 (Carrere)
Heavy Metal
A strong arm of metal built to last.
Overview
Continuing with their amazing period of creativity, Saxon’s third album which was entitled
Strong Arm of the Law, came out just four months after their superb breakthrough on the previous
Wheels of Steel album.
Wheels of Steel had reached the lofty position of no.5 in the UK album charts that year and had also spawned two hit singles in the title track and “747 (Strangers in the Night)” so for any budding metal fan at the time, Saxon were surely the metal band to be into and this was a great time to be buying their music. The band had also toured the UK extensively and as leaders of the NWOBHM they were a popular draw at that years Monster of Rock festival and also would be a regular feature on Top of the Pops (for any non-Brits it was a very popular top 40 singles show usually on a Thursday evening and regular metal would feature on it in the early 1980s due to its popularity) in fact this was the first time I ever saw Saxon and I vaguely remember seeing them on TOTP several times back in the early 1980s! As a band they weren’t content to rest on their laurels and so before embarking on a European tour, the band decided to capitalise on their new found success by releasing their third album
Strong Arm of the Law in 1980 (record labels were usually always pushing for a quick follow-up album to a band’s breakthrough one) but I guess the record label would’ve been surprised at the speed it was achieved at in this instance, which of course would be in just four short months! The album would be produced with the same production team and run at almost the same running time as the previous
Wheels of Steel, and yet again the songs would be band compositions making the album a real band effort. Over the course of the year Saxon had demonstrated that hard work, a signature stripped-back sound and real enthusiasm had been vital cogs for their success in the UK and Europe (and they would soon go down a storm in Japan as well) and they were probably the most important band in terms of sheer energy for the success of the NWOBHM in 1980, because as with any movement that needs commercial appeal to survive, Saxon had put themselves through sheer hard work at the forefront of both media and public attention as far as metal was concerned. In fact by the end of 1980 Saxon were probably the biggest of all the NWOBHM bands in terms of popularity, even more so than their fellow leaders Iron Maiden and Def Leppard, and this was largely on the strength of having two superb commercial metal albums sitting comfortably behind them and touring virtually non-stop. Just a few years later the band’s template would be used as one of the inspirations behind the Spinal Tap film which of course was a parody of a British heavy metal band and this in many ways presented Saxon as a negative and clichéd NWOBHM band.
Verdict
On
Strong Arm of the Law the breakneck speed of the previous album is still evident, but now the theme of motorcyles has largely given over to more general metal themes. So Instead of starting this album with the sound of bike engines revving, we are now treated to the bombastic approach of the album opener “Heavy Metal Thunder” which starts as the name suggests, with errrr a burst of thunder and lightning, where the atmosphere of this song sets the scene for the rest of the album. The speed of the band is there from as early as the second track “To Hell and Back Again” and remains constant throughout the album on songs like “Taking Your Chances” “20,000 FT” and the album’s lesser track “Sixth Form Girls”. The title track “Strong Arm of the Law” and the excellent “Hungry Years” demonstrate a heavy mid-tempo approach and the latter song has a distinctly blues rock feel about it. Finally there is the politically fired “Dallas 1 PM” which is something of a surprise to close the album with and the sound effects from the previous album make a brief return here, all in all these three tracks show great depth in quality from the band. Album for album
Wheels of Steel tends to have greater stand out tracks, for example in its single’s material and heavy metal anthems, but in terms of songwriting
Strong Arm of the Law shows a greater level of consistency, with no weak tracks in its listing either, despite the fact that it doesn’t have anything as enduring as “747 (Strangers in the Night” “Wheels of Steel” or “Suzie Hold On”. Taking this aside, I’ve always viewed
Strong Arm of the Law as the stronger album for its tighter feel and greater depth, but this is a topic that most Saxon fans will debate and the debate usually focuses on the best album out of their classic trio of
Wheels of Steel,
Strong Arm of the Law and
Denim and Leather. Again the band are super tight and Biff Byford vocals if anything can be seen to be even better on
Strong Arm of the Law, for the simple reason the greater depth of the music being churned out here, gives him a better platform in which to dominate across its eight tracks. I’ve also often read on numerous reasons over the years why Saxon never quite attained the same level of success as their nearest rivals Iron Maiden or Def Leppard, and a number of these possible reasons have already been addressed and covered directly or indirectly over these album reviews. But a couple of key aspects of note here, is the fact that the band’s policy of releasing a trio of classic metal albums in such a short space of time, may not have been the best idea for the band’s longevity. Also the band’s priority markets of Britain and Europe, were dominated at the the expense of the greater US market early on and this was surely their death-knell, especially if they’d hoped to become worldwide superstars. Finally anybody looking for three essential NWOBHM albums could do far worse than the trio of killer albums put out by Saxon between 1980 and 1981, because basically what you heard with Saxon is what you got and that was honest metal built to last and one listen was normally enough to get you hooked or perhaps not.