Saxon

Denim And Leather

Contains some classics, but not their best work

Review Score:

(6/10)
"Denim & Leather" doesn't typically come to people's lips when you start talking about all the great albums from the British Metal Wave from the late 70's/early 80's. It should, however, and probably only falls short of such classics like "British Steel," "Ace Of Spades" or "The Number Of The Beast" thanks to some .... poor production that reduces the guitar bite down to a nip. And that's a shame too, because there are plenty of great riffs and solos in "Denim & Leather" if you can brave the bark of a poor studio and even worse mixdown. It really is that bad.
With that glaring wound out there, it makes it a tough sell towards the States who like their metal with more Mutt Lange sugar than our G.B. counterparts. But even Lemmy, who was probably around the same payscale at the time, managed to book a decent studio and find a sympathetic producer who had enough brains about mic placement to rock American stereos. Guess that makes the band responsible for pissing out this would-have-been classic instead of standing tall like the title track implies.
Saxon remains as a lofty giant in the minds of many English rock scholars and "Denim & Leather" is a great educational tool for Yanks who want to hear more of the post punk/new British metal wave that changed the landscape of heavy metal forever.

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