''Innocence Is No Excuse'' is the seventh studio album by English heavy metal band

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

, released in September 1985. It was the band's first album for

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

after a falling-out with their previous label,

Carrere Records Carrere Records (, ) was a French record label which specialized in Euro disco and rock music. The record company was sold to Warner Music Group in the early 1990s. Early days Claude Carrere started working with Annie Chancel in 1962 and renam ...

, and their last with original bassist

Steve Dawson Steven "Dobby" Dawson (born 24 February 1952) is an English bass guitarist and a founder of the heavy metal band Saxon (band), Saxon. Dawson started out in 1970 in the band Blue Condition, which became SOB after a few shows only, together wit ...

Release and reception

The song "Everybody Up" was used in the 1985 Italian

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

, ''

Demoni ''Demons'' () is a 1985 Italian horror film directed by Lamberto Bava, produced and co-written by Dario Argento, and starring Urbano Barberini and Natasha Hovey. The plot follows two female university students who, along with a number of rando ...

''. The album was given a generally positive review by Eduardo Rivadavia of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, who awarded it four out of five stars. Although he commented in his review for the band's previous album ''

Crusader Crusader or Crusaders may refer to: Military * Crusader, a participant in one of the Crusades * Convair NB-36H Crusader, an experimental nuclear-powered bomber * Crusader tank, a British cruiser tank of World War II * Crusaders (guerrilla), a C ...

'' that this album "would only lead to greater extremes of personality disorder and leave the group's fan base confused and utterly divided", he praised it for being "their strongest collective set of songs since 1981's ''

Denim and Leather ''Denim and Leather'' is the fourth studio album by English heavy metal band Saxon released in 1981. The album was certified Gold status in the U.K. This was the last album with the classic line up of Saxon, as drummer Pete Gill would leave th ...

''" although acknowledged that some of the songs "rubbed many fans the wrong way". He singled out the songs "Back on the Streets", "Rock 'n' Roll Gypsy" and "Broken Heroes" for praise, the latter of which he described as an "excellent ballad". He also pondered the question of what price the album had to the band's "street-level credibility" and said that "the answer will never be agreed upon".

Jon Hotten Jon Hotten (born in Aldershot, Hampshire, 7 January 1965) is an English author and journalist. He is best known for the books ''Muscle: A Writer's Trip Through a Sport with No Boundaries'' (Random House 2004) and ''The Years of the Locust'' (Random ...

in ''

Classic Rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

'' magazine wrote that the album was "not a huge misstep" and a "response to a glimmer of interest from the US", although "the glossy production lay at odds with Saxons's belt-and-braces take on heavy metal."

Martin Popoff Martin Popoff (born April 28, 1963) is a Canadian music journalist, critic and author. He is mainly known for writing about heavy metal music. The senior editor and co-founder of '' Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles'', he has written over twenty books ...

, author of ''The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal'', reviewed the album negatively which represents for Saxon the return "full-steam to the bastions of metal, without an idea in their dust-clouded heads", as shown in the clichéd titles and in the "old age ineptness on this rule-book headbanging fare."

Track listing

;Notes *"The Medley" consists of "Heavy Metal Thunder", "Stand Up and Be Counted", "Taking Your Chances" and "Warrior." ;Notes *Tracks 13–17: Chapel Studio, Thoresby Demos

Personnel

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 Cha ...

– vocals *Graham Oliver – guitar *Paul Quinn – guitar *

– bass guitar *

Nigel Glockler Nigel Glockler (born 24 January 1953) is an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer for the heavy metal band Saxon, which he first joined in 1981. Career Glockler began his musical career in 1978 as the drummer for the British band ...

– drums

Production

*Arranged by Saxon *Produced and Recorded by Simon Hanhart; additional recording by Keith Nixon *Recorded at Union Studios,

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, Germany *Mixed by Saxon and Simon Hanhart at

Wisseloord Studios The 'Wisseloord Studio'' is a recording studio in Hilversum, Netherlands. It was officially opened on 19 January 1978 by Prince Claus. The studios were founded by electronics company Philips, to enable their PolyGram artists to record in a profe ...

Hilversum Hilversum () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is ...

*All titles published by Saxsongs/

Carlin Music Carlin America is an American music publisher with a catalog of over 100,000 titles. The company, created under its current name in 1995 by its founder Freddy Bienstock, is headquartered on East 38th Street in Manhattan. Bienstock died on Septem ...

Corp.

Charts

References

{{Authority control Saxon (band) albums 1985 albums EMI Records albums