Unleash The Beast

CBH/Virgin, 1997

Since the early 90s, Saxon have made a series of fine albums. The significance of Unleash The Beast is that it was Saxon’s first studio album with guitarist Doug Scarratt, following the departure of Graham Oliver, and also the first album with what is now Saxon’s current line-up.

From the off, Scarratt and Paul Quinn sounded great together. Scarratt also co-wrote every track on the album. And in the best of them – The Preacher, a dark meditation on faith and fear, and The Thin Red Line, another historical battle epic – was the power and glory of old.