Saracen
Heroes, Saints & Fools

HERO: Illustrious warrior; man of superhuman qualities favoured by the Gods; one who has fought for his country; a man of distinguished bravery.

SAINT: A holy person; one eminent for virtue; officially recognised by the Church as having won by exceptional holiness a high place in Heaven and veneration on Earth.

FOOL: Person whose conduct one disapproves of; one wanting in wisdom; a person of weak mind; a jester, clown; a vague term of endearment.

In 1980, the rise of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal initially piqued my interest, but then frankly left me indifferent: at 16, I had been weaned on Progressive music in all its forms, German Cosmic Couriers, and Classical Music, supported by the four cornerstones of Hard Rock, with a particular fondness for Uriah Heep, whose stylistic eclecticism and innate taste for melody I admired. It was the print media that pointed me towards an alternative to Iron Maiden, Saxon, and Judas Priest: an undergrowth with a less thunderous sound that still respected the glories of the previous decade, a series of new English bands that almost always included a keyboardist in the lineup, without, however, neglecting the explosive energy of the new movement.

The MAGNUMs of Kingdom of Madness had been its unconscious pioneers a couple of years earlier, but one main factor characterized their existence: none of them came from Sparkling and Fashionable London, but from the Midlands and the English provinces in general, places more faithful to certain Anglo-Saxon traditions and ancient legends. On my turntable began to play NIGHTWING, GRAND PRIX, DIAMOND HEAD, WHITE SPIRIT, PRAYING MANTIS, DEMON, and VARDIS, but one title, which I had read great things about, proved elusive at the time: SARACEN's debut. After searching for it in vain for years, it appeared to me in the mid-'80s among the used records in one of my usual trusted shops, and the listening went well beyond my expectations: pairing it with reading Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose made that great chunk even more fascinating...a truly winning combination!

In the mid-'70s, this band from Derbyshire was already known in the Midlands under the name LAMMERGIER, but the advent of Punk inevitably prolonged their apprenticeship and the interest of record companies until the fateful beginning of the new decade. The quintet, changing its name to SARACEN, was releasing its debut 33 rpm for a small local label, Nucleus, when Polygram, sensing its potential, interfered with the project and took over the distribution. On the one hand, it was a good thing, as national circulation rewarded the album by entering the Top 50, but on the other, it penalized the tracklist by including a non-album session track, NO MORE LONELY NIGHTS, a pleasant but somewhat banal heavy-pop song forcibly inserted among the rest of the tracks, all highlights of Progressive Metal ante litteram, of unheard epicness.

The work, despite the title, is not a Concept Album but a collection of fantasy images, with majestic descriptions of medieval armor-bearers, battles with demonic adversaries, and even a certain philosophy of life relatable to our modern days. The Title Track, with its great progressive openings, describes the three characters that can take shape in each of us throughout life, but the moral of the story translates into following your heart and not embarking on one of the three paths, remaining true to oneself. STEVEN BETTNEY's voice possesses the passion of a DAVID BYRON, the solos of guitarist-composer ROBERT BENDELOW perfectly intertwine with the magical keyboard contribution of RICHARD LOWE, the rhythm section of BARRY YATES and JOHN THORNE guarantees sensual phrasing and sudden accelerations. The anthemic CRUSADER combines old and new with great class, ROCK OF AGES is the piece that the Maiden never wrote, the short instrumental DOLPHIN RIDE even evokes the late PETER BARDENS of ARISTILLUS, with Lowe and Bendelow being absolute protagonists of a small masterpiece. HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE and READY TO FLY are timeless Prog Metal gems, dominated one by an anthology-worthy keyboard riff, the other by an ascending guitar solo, among the most exciting I've ever heard.

After a hibernation period of about 20 years, these great gentlemen have reawakened, producing new works of great respect, but their golden temple resides in the grooves of this monumental platter, from which many will come to draw.

For the adjective EPIC, start here!