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Saxon's commercial heyday was in the early '80s, but the pioneering New Wave Of British Heavy Metal band has been making quality music for over 30 years. Their 18th studio album is Into The Labyrinth.

Saxon alternates between soaring power metal, radio friendly arena rock, and gritter blues based songs. It's a fine line between diversity and dilution, but Saxon has the chops and experience to pull off just about anything.


The best songs on Into The Labyrinth are ones like "Crime Of Passion" that have an edge to them, but also plenty of melody and a memorable chorus. I've always like Biff Byford's voice, and ballads like "Voice" show that he still has power and range in his distinctive pipes.

The album ends with "Coming Home." It's a bluesy steel guitar version of the track that originally appeared on 2001's Killing Ground. Although not a spectacular album, Into The Labryinth has a lot of quality songs and is a solid addition to Saxon's extensive discography.

(released January 13, 2009 on SPV Records)