Saxon
Wheels Of Steel

THE REVIEW

...just energy, no frills... direct, simple, naive even, but genuine... among my great loves, seen in concert 3 times, between 1981 and 1984... why their success lasted so little, I still wonder now, it is certain that their creative vein exhausted quickly, but I sketch a hypothesis: the band wasn't "liked", I know it's an absurd statement, yet I find it credible...

"Wheels Of Steel", a concentrate of pure Heavy Metal, just barely contaminated by a blues vein, which becomes more prominent in the subsequent album, the beautiful "Strong Arm Of The Law", also from 1980... the Band had released a first self-titled album in 1979, naive and immature, cover included, but something good could already be sensed... just a year later, however, Saxon reached unexpected expressive heights, originality and style to spare, enough to be considered together with "Iron Maiden" among the most representative bands of English Heavy Metal or NWOBHM.

The album is direct and sincere, sparse even, but solid as a rock, without smudges, without slips, all "Heavy Metal" pure. The leader and singer, Biff Byford, has a distinct voice, penetrating, pained, I would dare say a "borderline" voice so much that I always feared during concerts that he wouldn't make it, but then, he always went all the way, and did so magnificently, an incomparable frontman... The album opens with the track "Motorcycle Man", which without mysteries lays all cards on the table, and shows us how Saxon's rock is indeed granitic, but with a singing always "melodious" such that it never feels, just noise... such that it never feels, soulless... the guitar solos are always well-composed and perfectly executed, maybe none of the band's members was ever considered a talent, yet they always did their dirty work excellently. Then there's the very famous "747 (Strangers In The Night)", Saxon's flagship piece, based on the intuition of a very simple introductory guitar riff, which becomes the backbone of the piece. And again, the pure steel of "Wheels Of Steel", or the very hard and then "bluesy" "See The Light Shining", a track divided into two completely distinct parts, but perfectly integrated. The blues and melodic vein can still be felt in the semi-ballad "Suzie Hold On", which even today, almost 25 years later, moves me and makes me dream...

I prefaced this, I reviewed an album of one of "my great loves", it's likely that for this reason, emotion has betrayed me, and that I have been too biased, but one undeniable thing I can affirm, this record is a "milestone" in the panorama of early 80's Heavy Metal...