  
British heavy metal legends Saxon are back with their latest album - Sacrifice. It's their 20th studio album in their 34 year career (they've also released 9 live albums and several compilations). The band's last studio album, Call to arms, was a great album, so expectations for Sacrifice are high. The album was recorded at LS Studios in Yorkshire and was produced by Biff Byford with Andy Sneap mixing and engineering by Jacky Lehmann.
As usual the album will be available in a variety of formats - the standard CD, the limited edition CD which includes a bonus disc , Vinyl picture disc, digital download, and a direct to consumer (D2C) edition. Although details haven't been released of what will be in the D2C version, they are usually impressive packages aimed at hardcore fans. Most people then are likely to go for either the download version or the CD - and if you're going for the CD then the limited edition version is definitely the one to go for with its second disc.
Brief comments on a few tracks..
For me the stand-out track on the album is "Made in Belfast", a tribute to the city's shipbuilding history, and a great song. It's one of the heaviest tracks on the album, and is guaranteed to go down well at any gig they play, but when they play it in Belfast it's likely to blow the roof off the place.
"Warriors of the road" is another full power track and another great Saxon song.
"Guardians of the tomb" starts off with some oriental sounding keyboards, which is fitting as the song is about the army of terracotta warriors in China that guard the tomb of emperor Qin Shi Huang. it's still a heavy song but not quite as fast and heavy as the two preceding tracks.
The last track is "Standing in a queue". Only a band with a strong British identity like Saxon could write a song about queueing. I really couldnt think how it would work, but it does work really well.
If you opt for the limited edition CD version then the second disc opens with an orchestral version of "Crusader". I wasn't sure what to expect as Saxon's heavy metal sound doesn't immediately seem like something that would work well with an orchestra, but this version is excellent - the orchestral sounds work far better than I'd imagined.
The other four tracks on the second disc are re-recorded versions of older Saxon songs - two done normally and two done acoustically. All four sound great
The album is great, with some really impressive songs and I think Saxon fans are going to love it.
Sacrifice will be released on 25th February via UDR records, and the band will be following the release with a tour - see below for their UK tour dates.
Track listing:
1. Procession
2. Sacrifice
3. Made In Belfast
4. Warriors Of The Road
5. Guardians Of The Tomb
6. Stand Up And Fight
7. Walking The Steel
8. Night Of The Wolf
9. Wheels Of Terror
10. Standing in A Queue
11: Luck Of The Draw (Bonus track on iTunes Only)
Disc 2 (limited edition version):
1. Crusader (orchestral version)
2. Just Let Me Rock (Re-recorded version)
3. Requiem (Acoustic version)
4. Frozen Rainbow (Acoustic version)
5. Forever Free (Re-recorded version)
UK Tour Dates:
APRIL 2013
Thu 18 Leamington Spa Assembly
Fri 19 Nottingham Rock City
Sat 20 Newcastle O2 Academy
Sun 21 Glasgow O2 ABC
Tue 23 Manchester HMV Ritz
Wed 24 Leeds O2 Academy
Fri 26 Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall
Sat 27 London* O2 Shepherds Bush Empire
MAY 2013
Wed 1st Dublin Academy
Fri 3rd Belfast Mandela Hall
Sun 5th Oxford Academy
Mon 6th Falmouth Princess Pavillion
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