Saxon – The Solid Book Of Rock – Boxset Review
The complete latter-day Saxon package!
Killing Ground (2001)
Track Listing: Intro / Killing Ground / Court Of The Crimson King / Coming Home / Until Hell Freezes Over / Dragon’s Lair / You Don’t Know What You’ve Got / Deeds Of Glory / Running For The Border / Shadows On The Wall
Rock Is Our Life
The crunchy rifferama of the title track spoke volumes for the mindset of Saxon in 2001. Here was a band who could still unequivocally challenge anyone in the ‘heavy’ stakes and yet they remained kings of melodic metal!
Perhaps a little more reliant on mid tempo metal (in a NWOBHM style, of course) than previous outings but considering they’ve always been leaders in their field this is hardly a complaint.
Album closer “Rock Is Our Life” perfectly sums up the ideology of this band and you can still hear the mantra throughout the entire duration of Killing Ground. 7/10
Classics Re-Recorded
Track Listing: Princess Of The Night / Crusade / Wheels Of Steel / Motorcycle Man / Strong Arm Of The Law / Denim And Leather / Dallas 1pm / And The Bands Played On
On the bonus front we get Classics Re-Recorded (issued originally with the initial pressings of Killing Ground) and, as the title suggests, this limited edition disc held re-recordings of some of Saxon’s finest moments.
Titles such as “Wheels Of Steel”, “Motorcycle Man”, And The Bands Played On” and “Crusader” need no introduction -and they didn’t particularly modernising either – but this disc is still a cracking addition, proving once and for all that Saxon have penned some of the finest, most timeless, metal anthems known to man! 7/10
Ordered mine, and can’t wait for it to arrive. The only disc I already have from the boxset is Inner Sanctum. That album goes to show how great heavy metal music can be overlooked.
You won’t regret it Glen, it’s an outstanding set. Saxon have been ridiculously consistent over the years and this boxset proves how some of the finest metal of the past 2 decades has been overlooked!
Fully agree with this review. An outstanding set from a very very consistent band. ESSENTIAL
Thanks Jimmy, much appreciated! Essential indeed \m/