After being dropped by EMI following a number of commercial and critical stiffs in the late ’80s, the boys in Saxon signed with Charisma for their tenth album, Solid Ball of Rock. The record saw another stylistic U-turn, but for once it was an improvement. The songwriting was still largely unimpressive, but the addition of new bassist Nibbs Carter seemed to inject some new life into the group, which recorded its most aggressive batch of songs in a decade, including “Altar of the Gods” and the scorching “Baptism of Fire.” – Eduardo Rivadavia