Artist: Saxon
Title: The Eagle Has Landed 40 (Live)
Genre: Heavy Metal
Release Date: 2nd August 2019
Label: Militia Guard / Silver Lining / ADA
Album Review
40 years huh? On August 2nd, Saxon, the British Heavy Metal vanguards who continue to deliver their seminal Metal music to sold-out venues worldwide, will salute their 40th anniversary by releasing ‘The Eagle Has Landed 40 (Live)’ on Militia Guard/Silver Lining Music, a cracking, crunching and wholly representative celebration of four decades as one of the UK’s leading Heavy Metal lights. Entire musical genres have been born and died since SAXON released their self-titled debut in 1979, and through all the eras and all the trends, SAXON have continued to both entertain fans everywhere and prosper with albums and tours saturated in the band’s consistent trademark sound and quality. ‘The Eagle Has Landed 40 (Live)’ celebrates all the classics from their early years with the modern classics which have continued to define SAXON as legends.
40 years is a milestone in Metal history (not the only one but wow) so SAXON is recording, playing and touring for four decades and that is worth a recapturing and a 3CD album with gifts and goods galore. SAXON supporters can enjoy ‘The Eagle Has Landed 40 (Live)’ in various formats: a triple CD combo packed in a 6 panel digipack with a 16 pg booklet, digital download and streaming. ‘The Eagle Has Landed 40 (Live)’ will also be available as a 12” lid-off box set, containing 5 x 12” 180 gms vinyl, ‘The Eagle Has Landed 40 (Live)’ tour pass and slipmat and an exclusive 40 page book. The pièce de résistance however is the ‘747 Signature Edition Boxset’ - limited to 747 copies - which also includes an exclusive 23 plectrum set featuring album artwork from all 22 SAXON’s studio albums and a limited edition ‘The Eagle Has Landed 40 (Live)’ plectrum. ‘The 747 Signature Edition Boxset’ also comes with Biff Byford’s original hand-written lyric sheet of the ‘747 (Strangers In The Night)’ song, with each print being hand-numbered and autographed by the man himself.
So now first some words to the well-produced video ‘747 (Strangers in the Night)’ which, by the way was captured in the year 2015 in Helsinki and featured Phil Campbell. Biff is in good shape vocal wise, the video is recorded in crisp quality and features a nice little side story that refers to the lyrics, it is shown that the plane (747) did suffer a power breakdown and people seem to make their peace with god, all the time the narrative switches between the band, performing on stage, and the 747 attempting to land without everyone losing their lives. All in all a good music video and especially for fans of SAXON a nice little nod referring the bands past and the adventures of 40 years on the road and in the air.
The album features forty songs covering four decades, from ‘State Of Grace’ to ‘Machine Gun’, from the blistering ‘20,000 FT’ to the thunderous ‘Battering Ram’, SAXON bring you on a victorious, boisterous journey through the human waves at Wacken, the stalwart supporters in Berlin, the mad dogs and Englishmen in London and other illustrious international cities via a selection of songs chosen by none other than Biff Byford himself. There are also tributes to their old friends and former colleagues MOTÖRHEAD, with the supercharged ‘They Played Rock and Roll’ and a cover of ‘Ace of Spades’ featuring an appearance from the dearly departed “Fast” Eddie Clarke. And to round off the MotörSaxon magic, there’s a roaring version of the classic ‘747 (Strangers in the Night)’ featuring Phil Campbell from Helsinki in 2015 – we already mentioned the video coming along with it.
The final result is not simply a triple album of great music, but a stirring and gloriously LOUD odyssey through golden years of metal history guaranteed to bring the head-banger out of even the mellowest rocker in the room.
Tracklist
Disk: 1
01. State of Grace (Berlin 2007)
02. Red Star Falling (Berlin 2007)
03. Attila the Hun (Berlin 2007)
04. If I Was You (Sheffield 2007)
05. Witchfinder General (Berlin 2009)
06. Demon Sweeney Todd (Berlin 2009)
07. The Letter + Valley Of The Kings (London 2009)
08. Machine Gun (London 2009)
09. Live to Rock (Berlin 2009)
10. Hammer of the Gods (Berlin 2011)
11. Back in ‘79 (Berlin 2011)
12. I’ve Got to Rock (to Stay Alive) (Berlin 2011)
13. Call to Arms (Berlin 2011)
14. Rock ‘n’ Roll Gypsy (Berlin 2011)
15. Chasing the Bullet (Berlin 2011)
16. Play It Loud (Berlin 2011)
Disk: 2
01. Sacrifice (BYH Balingen 2013)
02. Night of the Wolf (BYH Balingen 2013)
03. Conquistador + Drum Solo (BYH Balingen 2013)
04. Stand Up and Fight (BYH Balingen 2013)
05. Crusader (Wacken Open Air 2014)
06. Battalions of Steel (Wacken Open Air 2014)
07. The Eagle Has Landed (Wacken Open Air 2014)
08. Power and the Glory (Wacken Open Air 2014)
09. Dallas 1PM (Wacken Open Air 2014)
10. Princess of the Night (Wacken Open Air 2014)
11. Denim and Leather (Wacken Open Air 2014)
Disk: 3
01. Eye of the Storm (Zoetemeer 2015)
02. 747 (Strangers in the Night) with Phil Campbell (Helsinki 2015)
03. Killing Ground (London 2016)
04. Ace of Spades with Fast Eddie Clarke (London 2016)
05. 20,000 FT. with Andy Sneap (San Antonio 2018)
06. Thunderbolt (San Antonio 2018)
07. Sons of Odin (Los Angeles 2018)
08. This Town Rocks (Los Angeles 2018)
09. Nosferatu (the Vampire’s Waltz) (Manchester 2018)
10. Predator (Manchester 2018)
11. They Played Rock and Roll (Stockholm 2018)
12. The Secret of Flight (London 2018)
13. Battering Ram (London 2018)
Line-up
Biff Byford - Vocals
Nibbs Carter - Bass
Doug Scarratt - Guitar
Paul Qinn - Guitar
Nigel Glockler - Drums
Website
www.saxon747.com / www.facebook.com/saxon
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 6
Video: 8
Total: 7.3 / 10
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