Saxon - Thunderbolt

At album number twenty-two, Saxon at the very least earn themselves commendability for their grind and their continuous dedication to their craft. Yet, I also think of bands like Overkill and Anvil when I think of bands who put out continuous, unchanging material like clockwork, and unfortunately for Saxon, who clearly have no interest in even the slightest ambition that might alter their sound, their cheesy, on-the-nose lyrical approach and proto-power metal structuring that held them to the lower tiers of the NWOBHM does them no favors here, not even for nostalgia points. Thunderbolt isn’t entirely a trainwreck, but not even in the 1980′s could I see this album making much of an impact. With its predictable twin guitar attack, which shows itself to be the most thrilling part of the music, its summary-level lyrics, and its easily expected track about playing rock and roll, Thunderbolt seems almost unaware of its own being a walking cliché of heavy metal’s more distant years. It’s not that they need to get with the times and make some djent or blackgaze or something; I think a well-crafted classic heavy metal album would be a breath of fresh air in 2018. Thunderbolt just isn’t that album. It’s certainly a convincing display of the band’s experience in the style, but ultimately it just plays like a band under the notion that they’re chained, perhaps happily, to their sound of old.