Reviews

Saxon have well and truly proven themselves as in important influence on so many metal bands that there really is no reason they couldn't sit back and take it easy in their final years. Whilst Hell, Fire And Damnation doesn't really bring anything new to their arsenal, it certainly isn't an album that sees them taking it easy. The album starts gently enough with the atmospheric spoken intro 'The Prophecy' (featuring the voice of Brian Blessed, everyone's favourite king). 'Hell, Fire And Damnation' kicks the album into proper gear, with a dirty guitar tone, and a muscular riff reminiscent of Judas Priest. 'Madame Guillotine' slows the speed down, but is a welcome second track with the well-worn and aged vocals of Biff Byford finding the style that suits them best. There are big choruses everywhere here, pulling the listener back to ye metal of olde, but still played with a modern feel. 'Fire And Steel' pummels its way through three and half minutes with lyrics straight from the Anvil playbook. You will find your head bobbing throughout, even on some of the less solid tracks like the cheesy 'There's Something In Roswell' or 'Witches Of Salem', but for the most part punchy tracks like 'Kubla Khan And The Merchant Of Venice' give the album enough edge to set it a cut above most of the recent albums by the band. Although the great production and guitar tones have a lot to do with this, the songs are the true star here, and the addition of Diamond Head's Brian Tatler to the band has certainly given them a lift. This late in the game a band like this is unlikely to pick up many news fans with each release, but if the quality continues on par with this album they certainly won't lose any old ones.

At the height of Oz Alternate music wave underway, one of the many bands that caught that wave was Spiderbait. A bunch of misfits from Finley, a small town in southern N.S.W. with a population less than 3000. Early years started in the late 80's but it was the mid 90's where their style of music began to be appreciated. What is their style you might ask? Non-traditional rock - swift, fast songs typically short clocking in less than 3 minute tracks based on the buzz-saw guitar of Whitt, the fast-paced and loud drumming of Kram and the bottom line held out by Janet (the chick with the heavy bass). They introduced themselves to the world in 1993 and shortly followed 2 years later with Unfinished. This was a much more polished release but still had the same sound as their initial release. Starts with Janet singing 'I Gotta Know'. Straight to the point abrasive song that put's it point across in just over 2 minutes. You will find this sort of behaviour through the tracks to follow. Track 2 has Kram putting up some insane drumming in addition to some aggressive vocals, Janet coming into calm the track down. I could provide a review on every song - it is a record that hits my all-time Top 10 and has many listens. It's only around 35 minutes long but hey so was Slayer's Reign In Blood. That is by no way a comparison. More so it shows that you can pump out a heck of a release if you cut the fillers and simply have gems included. Other songs to highlight include 'Who are The Freemasons', 'Chuck Picola' - a cool instrumental kinda acting as a short interlude for the record. It's quickly followed by 'Yeah Oh Yeah' which is superfast, punchy song with Janet in charge this time. I'll stop there. I have enjoyed the bands releases following but this to me is their most raw effort before the fame lights hit them.