SAXON Heavy Metal Thunder – Live Music Reviews by Rob W - May 15, 2012May 16, 20120 Saxon have well and truly cemented their legend status over the last decade or so. After battling through the dark ages for ‘proper heavy metal’, otherwise known as the 90’s, they have seen a resurgence in popularity and form of late. Of course on the Continent, proper heavy metal never went anywhere and that’s why Wacken Open Air is rightly described by Saxon frontman Biff Byford as “the greatest heavy metal festival on the planet”. It is indeed Wacken where this DVD is filmed and the band look very much at home in front of the metal masses. The epic 31 songs on display here are actually taken from 3 Wacken shows. Dubbed as the best of Wacken 2004, 2007 and 2009, you certainly get value for money in this package. As all three sets are filmed on the famous Wacken stage, the fact that it’s a highlights package doesn’t really take much away from the experience. In fact apart from the bands clothes changing between songs as it switches year, you’d be hard pushed to realise it’s a highlights package. It just seems like one great show, a great long show… You get the greatest hits and a whole lot more. Saxon have an endless supply of classic metal songs and in amongst the obvious tunes like ‘747’, ‘Wheels of Steel’ and ‘Denim and Leather’ you get some gems that you may have forgotten about too. ‘Metalhead’ and ‘If I Was You’ sound just as necessary as the staple greatest hits songs. It’s a hell of a collection that you may not be able to watch from start to end every time you play it but it’s great for having a flick through and shows Saxon at their best, playing to a mass of hungry metal fans. Great Stuff 8/10