Unknown Soldier

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.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Overview
Angel Witch were one of the most notable bands of the NWOBHM and that notability was somewhat surprising considering that the band only ever released one studio album in the movement’s main period of the early 1980s and what an album it was as well! Angel Witch had already followed the much maligned path of a lot of newbie bands, in that its members were constantly shuffling about and they had also gone through several name changes of which Lucifer had been one such previous name of the band, before the delightful Angel Witch had been finally decided upon. In all this time though, the one central factor had always been frontman Kevin Heybourne who was the band’s guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, and as an artist he certainly excelled where it mattered and can now be seen as something of a highly talented songwriter. He was also way beyond many of his counterparts in terms of songwriting ability and was truly capable of dishing out memorable metallic melodies that few could match. Angel Witch as a band came across as a combination of Black Sabbath, largely due to the band’s gothic and somewhat darker influences and had grasped what melodic metal was all about, they were certainly influenced by the speed of Motorhead as well, but as said it was in the songwriting department that the band were well and truly a cut above the rest. The band first appeared on the previously mentioned Metal for Muthas compilation album which came out in the early part of 1980 and Angel Witch’s contribution to the album was “Baphomat” which was then followed up by the single “Sweet Danger” which also appeared on their debut set, before then label EMI gave up on the band. The band were quickly picked up by Bronze Records and soon went into the studio to release their debut album the eponymous Angel Witch. It should be noted, that Angel Witch by the time of their debut already had a sizeable following in both the UK and Europe, and were certainly seen as one of the better metal bands to come out of London, given the fact that the hotbed of the NWOBHM in terms of quality was the Midlands and the North-East. Unfortunately the band were not able to build on their classic debut album and very quickly the whole structure of the band came to a standstill, as both bassist Kevin Riddles and drummer Dave Hogg would join Tytan. Finally despite Kevin Heybourne’s attempts to keep the band together, the end finally came for Angel Witch when Kevin Heybourne himself threw the towel in and joined fellow NWOBHM band Deep Machine, a band who also had a strong local following, but like many bands of their ilk were unable to get a record deal. By 1982 though Kevin Heybourne would once again try to reform the band, but to no avail and it wouldn’t be until 1984 that another attempt at reforming took place, this time with Dave Tattum being brought in on vocals and drummer Dave Hogg also returning as well. The long-awaited sophomore set Screamin’ ‘n’ Bleedin’ which came out almost five years on from the debut, would fall far short of that classic debut album despite its lusty and juicy album cover!

Verdict
The Angel Witch debut was the classic example of an album that split opinions between critics on its release in March 1980, as certain critics regarded the album as an instant classic of the NWOBHM, thanks to its combined aggressive, melodic and sinister feel. Negative reviews criticized the album’s production and called it weedy sounding metal, similar types of adjectives that had been used to describe the Fist debut Turn the Hell On also in 1980 (a good album that didn’t make the top 20) Obviously most reviewers, fans and myself regard the Angel Witch debut as a classic of the NWOBHM and in any other year it would’ve made a top 3 position, but given the fact that 1980 was such a stellar year the best ever so far, even position no.7 still seems a lofty height for any album being reviewed here! The opening track and the title track “Angel Witch” quickly demonstrates the dominant technical riffs that the band were associated with and these riffs are aptly joined by Kevin Heybourne’s somewhat punk inspired vocals. The energy of the album is quickly maintained on “Atlantis” which very much exemplifies the Angel Witch sound and the again the song hints at the band’s proto-thrash approach. The album’s third track “White Witch” is a bona-fide band classic and goes through a couple of stylistic changes and demonstrates how Kevin Heybourne was able to churn out quality material with relative ease. The same could also be said for the album’s other classics such as “Sorcerers” and “Gorgon” tracks beyond the capabilities of a lot of other metal bands and then of course there is the proto-thrash of the Slayer like “Angel of Death” and another highlight is the short but menacing outro “Devil’s Tower”. The album was something of anomaly at the time of its release and was labelled by some critics as ‘weedy metal’ which may sound strange in hindsight given the albums’ reputation, but remember this was an age where powerful, macho and sexually-alluring sounding vocalists graced both hard rock and heavy metal and Kevin Heybourne hardly fell into these parameters. But over previous years vocalists like Burke Shelley of Budgie and Geddy Lee of Rush (a band followed by heavy rockers) showed that when the music was good, so-called weedy vocals were just as good as the real mcCoy! In many ways Kevin Heybourne’s vocals are one of the real charms when listening to Angel Witch, but sadly he never really felt that comfortable as a vocalist and for this reason he recruited other vocalists like Roger Marsden (who didn’t appear on an album) and Dave Tattum who appeared on Screamin’ ‘n’ Bleedin’. Musically Kevin Heybourne was recognized as one of the best guitarists of the NWOBHM and as a songwriter he had a talent far beyond most of his rivals. Overall Angel Witch much like their similar counterparts Diamond Head, suffered from a combination of bad luck, bad decisions and bad management which literally doomed them from the word go. By the time of their second album Screamin’ ‘n’ Bleedin’ five years later, the metal scene had moved on so much that the album was largely irrelevant and resigned the band to the metal locker, a shame really as Kevin Heybourne had more talent than most when it came to dishing out potent melodic metal and kick-ass riffs with a sinister tinge, in fact few could match the Angel Witch debut.

Kevin Heybourne- Guitar/Vocals
Kevin Riddles- Bass/Keyboards
Dave Hogg- Drums

Production- Martin Smith

__________________
Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History