SAXON Announces March 2023 European Tour

British heavy metal legends SAXON have announced more tour dates in Europe for March 2023. Support on the trek will come from German metal titans RAGE (all shows except Luxembourg).

The dates are as follows:

March 08 - Luxembourg, Luxembourg - Den Atelier
March 09 - Germany, Mannheim - Capitol
March 10 - Germany, Köln - Essigfabrik
March 11 - Germany, Markneukirchen - Musikhalle
March 12 - Germany, Hamburg - Grosse Freiheit 36
March 14 - Poland, Warsaw - Progresja
March 16 - Germany, Rostock - Moya
March 17 - Germany, Dresden - Alter Schlachthof
March 18 - Austria, Linz - Posthof
March 19 - Germany, Ulm - Roxy

SAXON's latest album, "Carpe Diem", came out in February 2022 via Silver Lining Music.

Produced by Andy Sneap (JUDAS PRIEST, EXODUS, ACCEPT) at Backstage Recording Studios in Derbyshire with singer Biff Byford and Sneap mixing and mastering, "Carpe Diem" strikes the ear as one of the most essential British metal statements of the last few years and not lacking in pace or bite, an album which will ignite the joy in stalwart supporters and attract a whole new legion to the SAXON fold.

Sneap, himself a guitarist and producer of some metal repute, ensures that "Carpe Diem" does not lack one ounce of grit or sharpness. "Andy's obviously a very good guitarist," said SAXON frontman Biff Byford, "but he's not a blues-based guitarist like our guys are; he's more of a modern-style player. And that means the boys (Paul Quinn and Doug Scarratt) love working with him because, again, it's all about the intensity. Andy's always pushing the envelope; he doesn't let them get away with anything. They have to play it for real, full speed. He gets great sound, and we want that Gibson/Marshall '80s sound even if they’re not Gibsons and Marshalls. We try and retain that British metal guitar sound that we created for SAXON, and he's definitely an '80s child."

The genesis of "Carpe Diem"'s fierce intensity lies in two extremely significant life events.

"It's been a difficult two years," offered Biff with considerable understatement, "because I had the heart attack back in September 2019, so things went a bit pear-shaped for the band. And then COVID hit two or three months later, but luckily, we started writing and recording this album before COVID. We did the drums in Germany and we did the guitars in various places. I was doing a lot of writing while I was in the hospital bed, and we spent quite a long time writing and arranging the ideas that we all had. I do think it's a very intense album, and maybe some of that intensity comes from the frustration of not being able to do anything in the COVID period."

Regarding his expetcations for "Carpe Diem", Biff said: "We want every album we make to go platinum. We never make an album that we don't expect to be fantastic because there are no laurels around here, and as a band, we're always trying to do something a little bit new, a little bit daring. I love fast metal like 'Princess Of The Night' and '20,000 Feet', and I try and bring that style of SAXON into the music now, but in a more modern style. We don't sound like an old band on records because we're not sitting back on our past success; we're always trying to make a great album."