SAXON — Power & the Glory

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3.82 | 33 ratings | 3 reviews

Album · 1983

Filed under NWoBHM
By SAXON

Tracklist

1. Power and the Glory (5:57)
2. Redline (3:38)
3. Warrior (3:47)
4. Nightmare (4:25)
5. This Town Rocks (3:58)
6. Watching the Sky (3:43)
7. Midas Touch (4:13)
8. The Eagle Has Landed (6:56)

Total Time: 36:40

Line-up/Musicians

- Biff Byford / vocals
- Graham Oliver / guitar
- Paul Quinn / guitar
- Steve Dawson / bass
- Nigel Glockler / drums

About this release

Full length, Carrere Records, 1983.

Thanks to Pekka, adg211288, Unitron for the updates

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SAXON POWER & THE GLORY reviews

Specialists/collaborators reviews

Unitron

As fantastic as Saxon's great trilogy of albums before are, Power & the Glory is what I consider to be the band's best album. They take their classic metal sound that has proven to be such a winner, and expand their songwriting skills further with more subtle changes to create a rich sound while never deviating from what they do best.

Everything sounds so powerful, extra energetic, and if Power & the Glory isn't a fitting title I don't know what is. The title track is one of the finest openers I've heard, six minutes of pure metal that makes me feel ready for anything. One example of a subtle expansion of songwriting is Redline. It's a swaggering rocker that the band's always been great at, but with added guitar harmonization that really enhances the impact it has. Midas Touch has an instant hook of a riff, and great contrast between catchy riffs and moody sections. Nightmare is a great metal ballad, and is the first time I ever heard double bass drumming in a song of its kind. It closes out the song and makes an already memorable song that much more.

The album closes out with one of Saxon's most unique songs, the gargantuan The Eagle Has Landed. It's almost psychedelic, starting out like something from Pink Floyd's Animals album. It has a wandering and grandiose atmosphere, even once it gets heavy with riffs as slamming as they could get in '83. It's a wonder they never did anything else like this song, but that just makes it that much more special.

Saxon has no shortage of excellent albums, but Power & the Glory has just an extra edge above other favorites like Strong Arm of the Law and Rock the Nations. One of classic 80's metal's finest.

more than 2 years ago
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Report #320557

Stephen

Saxon's fifth album is the first to feature new drummer, Nigel Glockler, and based on its year's release, 1983, the heavy metal climate was started to change toward hard rock and "Power & The Glory" wasn't far from trend. The real traditional heavy metal with fast tempo in this album can be found in perhaps only two tracks, the opening title track and "Warrior" with its pounding drums intro, but just like another big track, "This Town Rocks", Saxon tweaked the tempo dynamically and they're eventually turned to hard rock.

You can barely stumble upon a single bad track inside, but most of the songs are pretty good with only a few outstanding tracks. The strongest one will be the title track and "Watching The Sky". The slaughtering intro riff is killer, the verse and the harmonic chorus is flawless, what a great track! "Nightmare" is a decent power ballad while "The Eagle Has Landed" has the psychedelic feel that's obviously influenced by Pink Floyd, both tracks are a bit out of place but definitely not bad at all.

After multiple spins, it's hard to say this album is a part of Saxon's essential catalogue, pretty good maybe, but despite the short length of the album, it has shortage of really strong and huge tracks. Good album to have for fans of heavy metal / hard rock, but they sure have a better one out there.

more than 2 years ago
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Report #239755

Pelata

Why, oh why have I never bothered looking into Saxon??! My first exposure to Saxon was having to learn this title track for my tenure in October 31 (and even then, I learned it from their version, not Saxon's). It was a fun song to sing and people seemed to get into it, but I never took the time to get Saxon albums. Even after getting a promo for their last album Labyrinth AND giving it a good review, I never bothered to look into Saxon...well, all thats is about to change.

The title track on this album is untouchabe! It's a fantastic slice of Metal from the NWOBHM era that, honestly, defines the term Classic Heavy Metal. "Redline" has a sort of Deep Purple, boogie vibe to it. In fact, Biff Byford sometimes reminds me of Ian Gillan. The guitar playing on this album is great! "Warrior" is a headbanging monster while "Nightmare" has a cool, brooding chorus. Another fave is "Watching The Sky"...what a great opening riff!! The same can be said for "Midas Touch" which, to my ears, has a little bit of Accept in it. The final track, "Eagle Has Landed" has a sort of Pink Floyd, "Have A Cigar" vibe complete with blusey, Stratocaster, David Gilmour-styled soloing during the intro and instrumental section...the vocal parts on this song are intense!

Verdict: Looks like I've named just about every song on the album...which I guess is a good sign. This IS Heavy Metal and I could kick myself for never hearing this album before! What an idiot!! Ha! Needless to say, I am going to begin collecting Saxon albums...beginning with this one!