SAXON: 'Into The Labyrinth' First-Week Sales Revealed

January 21, 2009

"Into The Labyrinth", the new album from British heavy metal legends SAXON, sold around 1,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The CD debuted at No. 29 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

"Into The Labyrinth" has registered the following first-week chart positions in Europe:

Austria: #53
Germany: #23 (Media Control)
Germany: #8 (Media Markt)
Sweden: #44
Switzerland: #61
UK: #119
UK: #6 (Rock)

The CD was recorded at the Twilight Hall in Krefeld, Germany, under the direction of Charlie Bauerfeind. SAXON laid down 13 new songs at BLIND GUARDIAN's studio, starting with monumental opener "Battalions Of Steel" through "Demon Sweeney Todd" and "Valley Of The Kings", which both cover historic events, to the final slide guitar blues track "Coming Home" (fans are already familiar with the electric version of this track from SAXON's "Killing Ground" album).

"The new material was written in England and at my house in France," singer Biff Byford explained. "Stylistically, I would describe the album as an even balance between 'Lionheart' and 'The Inner Sanctum', a mix of powerful, in-your-face rock songs and pure heavy metal tracks. We're very happy with the production and proud of 'Into The Labyrinth'."

SAXON vocalist Biff Byford was IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson's guest this past Friday night (January 16) during Bruce's weekly BBC 6 Music radio program, dubbed "The Bruce Dickinson Friday Rock Show". The program is now available for streaming at BBC.co.uk.

"Live To Rock", the new video from SAXON, can be viewed below. The clip was helmed by Aestheticom's Bill Schacht, who has previously directed music videos for DIO, KING DIAMOND, AMON AMARTH, FATAL SMILE, LIBERTY X/REV RUN, ZAKK WYLDE and SISTER SIN, among others.

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