The Inner Sanctum

For the 1960s New York rock folk band, see The Golden Screw.
The Inner Sanctum
Studio album by Saxon
Released 5 March 2007
Recorded Recorded at Gems 24 Studio, Boston, Lincolnshire, UK, 2006
Genre Heavy metal
Length 47:48
Label SPV/Steamhammer
Producer Charlie Bauerfeind
Saxon chronology
The Eagle Has Landed – part 3
(2006)		 The Inner Sanctum
(2007)		 Into the Labyrinth
(2009)

The Inner Sanctum is the seventeenth studio album by the British heavy metal band Saxon, released on 5 March 2007. It is the first album by the band to feature drummer Nigel Glockler since 1997's Unleash the Beast. A limited edition with DVD is available too.

Songs

  1. "Red Star Falling" is about the end of communism in Soviet Union.
  2. "Atila the Hun" is about Attila the Hun, who almost destroyed the Roman Empire.
  3. "If I Was You" is about gun culture.
  4. "Let Me Feel Your Power" is about festivals like Wacken, which Saxon have headlined twice.
  5. "I've Got to Rock (to Stay Alive)" is about rock n' roll and life. The single version features guest appearances by heavy metal musicians Lemmy Kilmister, Angry Anderson and Andi Deris.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Jukebox:Metal[2]
Metal Hammer

The Inner Sanctum has received generally positive reviews from critics. Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic gave the album three and a half out of five stars, and commented that Saxon continued "to do their legacy proud as they move through their third decade of recording activity." He described the album's first three tracks as "frantic" and the third, "Let Me Feel Your Power" as "jaw-dropping", and also praised the "majestic" "Red Star Falling", comparing it to the band's earlier songs "Dallas 1PM" and "Broken Heroes", although he was critical towards the single version of "If I Was You", advising the listener to "make sure your CD contains the album version". Rivadavia concluded his review by saying "although it's certainly not perfect by any stretch, The Inner Sanctum is welcome addition to this band's sizeable discography, and, pound for pound, might just take the crown as Saxon's best album of the early 2000s."[1] The album was also awarded an 8/10 in the UK's Metal Hammer magazine.

However, Andy Lye of Jukebox:Metal was more critical in his review of the album, giving it three out of five stars, and criticising its opening track "State of Grace", calling it "derivative and largely boring", and also "Let Me Feel Your Power" commenting that "a great, grooving mid-section can't quite save it from its appalling lyrics and tired riffs." He went on to call "I've Got to Rock (To Stay Alive)" "as bad as you'd expect" and criticised "If I Was You" for sounding "exactly like all metal singles sound". He concluded by stating that "Against the wider metal market this is an average album (hence three stars), but against recent Saxon output it is comfortably below average."[2]

Track listing

(All songs written by Byford, Quinn, Glockler, Carter, Scarratt; all lyrics by Byford)

No. Title Length
1. "State of Grace"   5:37
2. "Need for Speed"   3:08
3. "Let Me Feel Your Power"   3:29
4. "Red Star Falling"   6:16
5. "I've Got to Rock (To Stay Alive)"   4:40
6. "If I Was You" (Album Version) 3:27
7. "Going Nowhere Fast"   4:15
8. "Ashes to Ashes"   4:52
9. "Empire Rising"   0:41
10. "Atila The Hun"   8:09
11. "If I Was You" (Single Version) 3:06*

(*) Only in the standard edition

A Night Out with the Boys (DVD)

  1. "To Hell and Back Again"
  2. "A Night Out with the Boys – The Idea"
  3. "A Night Out with the Boys – Not Really"
  4. "See the Light Shining"
  5. "A Night Out with the Boys – Now It Started"
  6. "Redline"
  7. "Suzie Hold On"
  8. "Stand Up and Be Counted"
  9. "Frozen Rainbow"
  10. "Never Surrender"

Credits

References

  1. 1 2 Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Saxon The Inner Sasnctum [CD/DVD]". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2011-06-29.
  2. 1 2 Lye, Andy (2007). "Saxon - The Inner sanctum". Jukebox:Metal.com. Retrieved 2011-06-29. External link in |publisher= (help)
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