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...saints and fools* What do the members of the board think of this album? I got this recently and I gotta say I really enjoy it A LOT. Only thing is, it was quite expensive so I was wondering is the other SARACEN stuff worth checking out or did they go very commercial-sounding?

don`t know about their other releases, but this mentioned album is a masterpiece of epic Hard Rock!

Indeed it is! And it's got some very Mike Oldfield sounding keyboards, great stuff! Really epic stuff you can get totally lost in...

Heroes, Saints & Fools is one of my favourite albums from UK. Nuff said.

Good album w/ a strong vocal performance. THey're at their best when doing the longer, epic numbers; their shorter songs tend to be more commercial friendly. The later material does drift more in that arena-rock direction; it's not bad, just different.
HS&F seems to vary a lot in price, at least on vinyl.

Great album with a couple of commercial songs and lots of KILLER ones. Great atmosphere, amazing solos, beautiful lyrics, certainly one my favorites

Piotr Sargnagel wrote:...saints and fools* What do the members of the board think of this album? I got this recently and I gotta say I really enjoy it A LOT. Only thing is, it was quite expensive so I was wondering is the other SARACEN stuff worth checking out or did they go very commercial-sounding?

The second album was more commercial. Their reunion album with their re-recorded classics is IMO even better than the debut. It's heavier and has a great, powerful production. Their latest album is great too. It still has the epic, big key sound and the great vocals of old and the heavy metal of the reunion album. It's a concept album about the Templars/holy grail/bloodline of Christ(yes, White Metal). Higly recommended.

Heroes, Saints & Fools is one of my favourite albums ever! We have arrived follows the typical mid-eighties nwobhm-gone-aor pattern(see Jaguar...), partly listenable but ever so dissapointing. I really liked the Red Sky album (apart for some really cheesy songs) especially the closer Follow the Piper and Red Sky is great (the rerecorded songs were well done also). Sadly Vox in Exelsis didn't do it at all for me - there are some really good songs in there I'm sure, but all those nauseating spoken parts between the songs destroys it all. Epic Hollywoodian Hard Rock at it's worst (Hurriganes - Roadrunner works well as an antidote, mind you).

Maybe the 2nd best 'Melodic' album ever made (after MESSIAH's "Final Warning"). Can't praise it enough. Like hinted on before, the follow-up has 2-3 great songs as well, but as a whole it's a disappointing, commercial mess.

Very partial to it. I enjoy it for all the right reasons (composition, lyrics, performances) and for a few of the 'wrong' ones (cheesy keyboard, rampart AORisms etc)

Helm wrote:Very partial to it. I enjoy it for all the right reasons (composition, lyrics, performances) and for a few of the 'wrong' ones (cheesy keyboard, rampart AORisms etc)

Yeah, I guess we all could do without those "dolphins". Dolphins, great as they may be, are the absolute opposite of Heavy Metal.

No wonder they grace Stratovarious covers.

No wonder they (Str-ous) won't grace my record shelves (well, apart for some early LP with a gravestone/-yard or something like that...).

Stratovarious are one of the early-metalhead staples that I'm glad I haven't even retained a nostalgic appreciation for. Plastic music without any redeeming qualities for me.

But how about that Saracen!

Forward lead the road to freedom
What a price I'll have to pay, I should have known
Even heroes cry yes you've seen them
I think I'll take the road for home

Rock of Ages is one of the best anthems ever. I got the album expecting to hear more up-tempo stuff like that and was slightly disappointed, but have since then come to appreciate it for what it is.