Saxon not trying to recreate Wheels Of Steel

Saxon frontman Biff Byford says the band avoided trying to recreate their Wheels Of Steel sound on their upcoming new album.

The British metal heroes release Battering Ram October 16 and Byford previously said the album harks back to their 80s sound. But he insists they didn’t set out to lean too heavily on their 1980 hit Wheels Of Steel when they recorded the latest work with producer Andy Sneap.

Byford tells Metal Rules (via Blabbermouth): “We love the album. It’s a clash between the retro Saxon and the modern Saxon. It’s a massive sound. Andy Sneap’s done a great job for us. Andy loves the 80s bands as well, so he’s a great producer to get the best of both things going.

“We’re not trying to recreate the Wheels Of Steel album. We’re trying to move on a bit, but still have the essence of Saxon there. He engineered Sacrifice and mixed it. And I wanted to spend a bit more time on my vocals other than producing, so I knew everything would be safe with Andy.”

Saxon previously issued a video for Battering Ram’s title track. They are currently on a world tour.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.