''Lionheart'' is the sixteenth studio album by heavy metal band

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

released in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. It is the only studio album featuring drummer Jörg Michael. The title is inspired from

Richard the Lionheart Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...

, a 12th-century

King of England The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiw ...

. "Beyond the Grave" was released as a single and a video. The album was re-released on 17 February 2006 in

digipak Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage. Jewel case A ...

format (limited to 10,000 copies) with a bonus

DVD-Audio DVD-Audio (commonly abbreviated as DVD-A) is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio uses most of the storage on the disc for high-quality audio and is not intended to be a video delivery format. The sta ...

featuring previously unreleased material, videos, rough mixes and a new 5.1 / 96 K mix of the whole album, as well as a Saxon keyholder and a patch.

Track listing

Lyrical concept

* "Witchfinder General" is about persecuting witches during the

Interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one monarch and the next (coming from Latin '' ...

era. The song also mentions methods of interrogation and execution favoured by 'Witchfinder General'

Matthew Hopkins Matthew Hopkins ( 1620 – 12 August 1647) was an English witch-hunter whose career flourished during the English Civil War. He claimed to hold the office of Witchfinder General, although that title was never bestowed by Parliament, a ...

. * "Lionheart" is about

, King of England from 1189 to 1199. * "Beyond the Grave" is about death and afterlife. * "To Live by the Sword" is about the way of life of samurai.

Personnel

Biff Byford Peter Rodney "Biff" Byford (born 15 January 1951) is an English singer best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Saxon. Early life Byford was born in Skelmanthorpe, West Yorkshire, the youngest of four children to Ernest Ch ...

– vocals * Paul Quinn – guitar * Doug Scarratt – guitar * Nibbs Carter – bass guitar, keyboards * Jörg Michael – drums * Chris Stubley – keyboards on "Lionheart" ; Production *

Charlie Bauerfeind Karl Rudolf "Charlie" Bauerfeind (born 30 May 1963) is a German sound engineer and producer who has worked mostly with power metal bands such as Angra, Blind Guardian, Helloween, Primal Fear, Rage, HammerFall and Saxon. Works Production ...

– producer and engineer *

– executive producer * Paul R. Gregory – cover design * Sandra Hiltmann, SPV graphics – booklet design

Charts

References

2004 albums Saxon (band) albums SPV/Steamhammer albums Albums produced by Charlie Bauerfeind {{2000s-metal-album-stub