Saxon promise ‘brutal’ sound on 21st album

Saxon frontman Biff Byford says the band’s 21st album will have a “brutal” sound.

They’ve started work on the follow-up to 2013’s Sacrifice with drummer Nigel Glockler. He was allowed to leave hospital last month following brain surgery in the wake of being diagnosed with an aneurysm during Saxon’s winter UK tour.

Byford tells Metal Wani: “He’s just done the drums on the album. He’s doing good, he’s working out and getting fit. I’m writing lyrics now and doing melodies.

“It’s a mixture of rock and roll and heavy metal, as always. Some tracks are going to be brutal and other tracks are going to be about driving motorcycles and having sex and fun. So it’s a mixture again.

“We can’t seem to make our minds up what we are. We’re either a classic rock band or a full-on metal band. So I think it’s good. We’re one of the unique bands in that position.”

He continues: “We’re looking at maybe a summer release – it just depends whether it’s ready or not. We’re looking at finishing the album by the end on April. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.”

Saxon are lined up to play at the TeamRock-sponsored Ramblin’ Man Fair in Kent this July, and will appear at Hard Rock Hell in North Wales in November.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.