Saxon's Call To Arms

Sometimes I'm pushed to by new vinyl simply because the price is too good to pass up. This is typically the case only with Metal, because as the blog history will show, I have no problem throwing cash at Hardcore records. But these days, I'm making a more conscious effort to buy vinyl for Metal releases as opposed to falling back on the cheaper, more accessible CD format. I still collect CDs for Metal and Hard Rock releases, but now that I'm fully taking advantage of my iPod, I have very little reason to buy new releases on CD when there is a vinyl option.

I recently downloaded the new Saxon album, Call To Arms, and I was really impressed with what I heard. Out of curiosity I wanted to check to see if it had been released on vinyl, so I started searcing around the internet to see what I could find. I found it, but at the time it looked like the vinyl was only released in Europe. I wasn't excited about having to pay import prices for the vinyl, but when I stumbled upon a copy at deepdiscount.com with a very reasonable price, I jumped on it. Of course now when I check, I can find the album from a few other US sellers, all with decent pricing. I guess I didn't need to rush to purchase right away.

Saxon were major players in the early 80's with the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, and I would say that Call To Arms can hang with Saxon's classics like Denim and Leather and Wheels of Steel. Yes, it is that good. I'm impressed that a band that has been around for over 30 years, and released 19 albums can still produce a records that stands up next to some of their classic material.