''Sacrifice'' is the twentieth studio album by British heavy metal band Saxon. It was released on 1 March 2013 in Europe, 4 March in the United Kingdom and 26 March in the United States.

Background and production

In late January 2012, drummer Nigel Glockler revealed on

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that the band was getting ready to write a followup to the previous year's '' Call to Arms''. About a month later Glockler revealed, again via Facebook, that he and guitarist Doug Scarratt were convening in Glockler's home studio to write before a band meeting in March. On 30 March 2012, vocalist

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 ...

issued an update stating that the band have a few ideas, and that he had started writing and arranging melodies. Additionally, in July 2012, two short videos were released via

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that show band members jamming in the studio. In mid-August, the band released an update regarding the album. It was revealed that only a few vocals and other small things had yet to be completed. It was also announced that the album would most likely be produced by

Andy Sneap Andy Sneap (born 18 July 1969) is an English guitarist, record producer and composer with over 100 albums to his name, most of which have been produced at his Backstage Recording studios in rural Derbyshire. Some of the most critically acclaime ...

. By the end of August, it was announced that the recording had been completed, and Andy Sneap was getting ready to mix the record. By October, the mixing process had been completed. On 30 October 2012, the band had announced, via their official website, the UK leg of the ''Sacrifice World Tour'' which would support the new album, whose title was revealed to be ''Sacrifice''. The track listing and album artwork was announced on 15 November 2012.

Release and promotion

The album was originally due to be released in several formats starting on 22 February, but due to production issues, the date was pushed back one week to 1 March. The album was released as a CD, deluxe edition, which included a bonus CD of re-recorded versions of older Saxon songs, and a

picture disc Picture discs are gramophone (phonograph) records that show images on their playing surface, rather than being of plain black or colored vinyl. Collectors traditionally reserve the term picture disc for records with graphics that extend at lea ...

. In addition, the iTunes release featured an exclusive bonus track, ''Luck of the Draw''. A world tour followed the album's release. The tour started in the US, and involved an appearance on the

Monsters of Rock Monsters of Rock was an annual hard rock and heavy metal music festival held in Castle Donington, England, from 1980 to 1996, taking place every year except 1989 and 1993. It later branched into other locations such as the Netherlands, Poland, ...

cruise, followed by South American dates. A UK tour followed in April, and European dates followed, including a headlining appearance at the Bang Your Head!!! festival in Germany and an appearance at France's

Hellfest Hellfest (), also called Hellfest Summer Open Air, is a rock festival focusing on heavy metal music, held annually in June in Clisson, France. Its high attendance makes it the French music festival with the largest turnover. It is also one o ...

. To help with promotion for the album, a music video for the album's title track was released on 25 February 2013.

Reception

Mark Gromen, reviewing ''Sacrifice'' for ''Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles'' contrasted the album with its predecessor by calling the effort more metal than 2011's ''Call to Arms''. Gromen noted that the band had increased the intensity of their songwriting and that the guitars were heavier and faster. He gave the album an 8/10 rating. ''Sacrifice'' was also positively reviewed by Blabbermouth.net, who granted a score of 8/10.

Track listing

Personnel

Charts

References

{{Authority control Saxon (band) albums 2013 albums Albums produced by Andy Sneap