Saxon burst onto NWOBHM wave with an intensity born from the steel mills, baptized in motor oil, and roaring out of Barnsley like a Vulcan bomber with a Marshall stack. They weren’t pretty, they didn’t write fairy tales, and they didn’t care if you thought they were “less refined” than Maiden or “not theatrical” like Priest. Saxon was the people’s metal—loud, honest, stomping, and real. Between 1980 and 1990, they carved out slabs of sonic granite that could crush skulls and still leave you humming the chorus. So here’s the top 3 Saxon albums from that fire-breathing decade, counted down like the final seconds before a power chord detonation.

3. Power and the Glory (1983)

This album is the equivalent of running face-first into a bulldozer—and loving every goddamn second of it. The production, handled by Rainbow/MSG veteran Jeff Glixman, gave Saxon a thicker, sleeker sound without neutering the grit. “Power and the Glory” is a war cry, a headbanger’s mantra, and “Redline” feels like drag-racing a jet engine. But it’s “The Eagle Has Landed” that steals the show—epic, brooding, and more majestic than a leather-winged Valkyrie on a fog-shrouded mountain. Saxon weren’t just keeping up—they were lapping the field with a juggernaut made of molten riffs.

2. Strong Arm of the Law (1980)

Only a few months after Wheels of Steel, Saxon came back swinging with this bruiser of a record, and it hits like a riot cop’s baton to the temple. The title track is a grimy ode to police-state paranoia, and “Dallas 1 PM” reimagines JFK’s assassination with a cinematic sneer and a barrel-chested groove. This isn’t metal trying to be philosophical—it’s a street-level brawl with authority, a riff-chugging Molotov cocktail tossed through the windows of the fucking establishment. “To Hell and Back Again” pretty much sums it up. The album is tight, pissed, and unstoppable. And Biff Byford sounds like he gargled diesel fuel and declared war on silence itself.

1. Denim and Leather (1981)

This is the gospel. The manual. The fucking Rosetta Stone of working-class metal worship. Saxon took the sweat of the front row, the stink of rehearsal rooms, and the roar of Kawasaki engines, and pressed it into Denim and Leather. The title track is the ultimate metal hymn—not just about the fans, for the fans. “Princess of the Night” rolls in like a freight train with a galloping riff to flatten cities. “And the Bands Played On” is a singalong paean to festival camaraderie that feels like beer-soaked communion. Every track is a salute to those who live by the riff and die by the volume knob. This album is the heart of Saxon beating in stereo.

Saxon had a commitment to the metal call. No eyeliner, no dragons, just pure riff-driven gospel from the church of British Metal. These three albums are monuments to a time before hairspray and high kicks, when heavy metal was still dangerous and not yet mainstream. Listen to them, and you’ll hear the clank of chainmail, the roar of twin exhausts, the scream of Marshall stacks summoning gods. Denim and Leather wasn’t a fashion choice—it was a battle uniform. And Saxon were the generals. If you’ve never shouted “Wheels of Steel” in a beer can covered parking lot at midnight, it’s time to fix your life.