Saxon
Crusader

THE REVIEW

The Saxons are one of the most important bands that contributed to the birth of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal alongside Iron Maiden, Samson, Venom (in their extreme form), and Diamond Head.

Their decline in terms of sales and popularity began precisely with this album "Crusader," "because it's full of commercial tracks," as fans accused them. Despite the validity of the accusation, the record is still a beautiful album, which rightfully belongs among the historical albums of NWOBHM, as it’s filled with all the ingredients for a good Saxon-style album: appropriate riffs, very nice solos that are not excessively long, and the impact of a rocker voice like that of Biff Byford. The album starts with the intro "The Crusader Prelude", where you hear screams and the passage of knights over a battlefield from the era of the crusades, a theme on which most of the lyrics were written. The actual album begins with "Crusade", an initial acoustic guitar arpeggio and then it kicks off with a solid and compact heavy metal, not complex but effective drum lines, a very nice track, a cadenced voice for Byff who really amazes on this album with the Saxon-typical anthemic choruses, the solo is also very nice. A speed rock track with a slight glam inclination is "A Little Bit Of What You Fancy", this is one of the tracks that fans criticize for its commerciality, in fact, the main riff and anthemic chorus are very catchy, the same goes for the trivial solo, it's not the best track on the album!

Cadenced rhythms for "Sailing To America", a decent hard rock piece, here too anthemic chorus, not very engaging but pleasant to listen to until the end, well done Biff! We return to excellent levels with "Set Me Free", a pressing rhythm and Maiden-like melodies for a one hundred percent Saxon ride. A certain AC/DC attitude in "Just Let Me Rock", here too heavy rock is robust and cadenced, but Biff, being the true rock singer, stands out again, the solo is nice, not very technical but pleasant, even if the whole song seems a bit repetitive it’s one of the best on the album. Another well-constructed track is "Bad Boys (Live To Rock n' Roll)", the usual stadium chant-like chorus and another song that builds on Biff's voice, tough riffs, and good rhythm. Majestic Middle-Eastern opening for "Do It All For You", it seems to foreshadow another epic song, but the subsequent guitar arpeggio leads us into a completely different song that feels the melodic influence of Queen, even if it is very commercial, it has an awesome solo, wonderful, the best of the whole bunch! Still great catchiness for "Rock City", however (as seen in the other songs) commerciality does not equate to trash/song, but to yet another anthemic song, with a great rhythm and good chorus, another highlight of this "Crusader" for its well-played, not at all banal solo.

It concludes with "Run For Your Lives", a song that reprises the Saxon standard style with some Maiden-like melodies, another gem of the album especially for its choruses. "Crusader" is among the many demonstrations that catchiness or commercialization does not necessarily mean betrayal or softening of the sound, as well as being an important album in Saxon's discography.