It has some punch!

1995's DOGS OF WAR is their best album since 1983's POWER AND THE GLORY. It runs close with 1984's CRUSADER. The only album that got closer to it is their recent release, KILLING GROUND. Both 1997's UNLEASH THE BEAST and 1999's METALHEAD are inferior to DOGS OF WAR.

Biff has the help of drummer GLockler in writing the lyrics (Glockler is no longer in the band, since after UNLEASH THE BEAST- Fritz Randow is ints place). Also, this is the last alum featuring founding member guitarrist Graham Oliver. It's such a shame that Oliver, ex-bassits Steve Dawson and drummer Pete Gill would come to fight bitterly against Biff and Paul Quinn for the right of using the name SAXON!!

Not Their Best But...

...there are a few gems. some i consider are saxon's best songs on this release. let's take a closer look:

dog of war: title track. hard punching, a true saxon classic. should be considered one of their best efforts.

burning wheels: above average. plenty of kick, nice guitar work

don' worry: doobie/allman brothers mix?? repeatitive chorus lines, biff sounds like he's singing through is nasal passages. not one of their best songs.

big twin rolling: is good for about 3 minutes, then it gets repeatitive. needs to be edited/shorter

hold on: this song is proof why saxon should never explore their feminine side (and have it put on vinyl). yuck!

the great white buffalo: yes!! now this is the saxon i remember in high school, when listening to wheels of steel, the eagle has landed, etc. GWB should be considered one of their best efforts. i really enjoy the live version of this song on the eagle has landed part 2.

demolition alley: not bad, not bad at all. nice pace on this tune. not their greatest, but would definitely find a spot on a cd boxed set if i were moderator...

walking through tokyo: decent. not a favorite of mine, but nice guitar work from graham and paul makes up for the rather simplistic main riff of the song

give it all away: reaching for the american market with this one? where's my remote...

yesterday's gone: yes!! now this song has some kick and plenty of crunch!! although biff sounds like klaus meine, going for a kinder sounding voice to attract the ladies perhaps: it still doesn't deter this song from being one that deserves a redo with the new lineup of players in Saxon's current arsenal. i'd love to hear biff sing this one like biff!! rearrangement of the lyrics would be nice as well...nice ending track!

if you want to experience this band and the "full circle" phase of their career, check out Heavy Metal Thunder and Killing Ground. absolute gems! trust me, those two releases are superb in everyway.

Slightly better than previous records

This is surely an improvement for SAXON, after albums like the obnoxious ROCK THE NATIONS, FOREVER FREE and SOLID BALLS OF ROCK. Anyway, we still can hear glimpses of utterly awful and mean pop metal songs like "Hold On". On the positive side, SAXON tried a lot of differente ideas here. Some worked, some not. It's an album worth to have, if you're a Saxon fan.