Lionheart is the sixteenth studio album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 by heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 band Saxon

Saxon (band)

Saxon are an English heavy metal band, formed in 1976 in Barnsley, Yorkshire. As front-runners of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, they had 8 UK Top 40 albums in the 1980s including 4 UK Top 10 albums. Saxon also had numerous singles in the Top 20 singles chart...

 released in 2004 (see 2004 in music

2004 in music

See also:* 2004 in music Record labels established in 2004-January:*January 1**The Vienna New Year's Concert is conducted by Riccardo Muti.**Kurt Nilsen wins World Idol....

).
The album title is inspired from Richard Lionheart, King of England. "Beyond the Grave" was released as a single and a video. The album was re-released on 17 February 2006 in digipak

Digipak

Digipak is a patented style of CD, DVD or BD packaging, and is a registered trademark of AGI World Ltd., an Atlas Holdings company.-Features:...

 format (limited to 10,000 copies) with a bonus DVD-Audio

DVD-Audio

DVD-Audio is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio is not intended to be a video delivery format and is not the same as video DVDs containing concert films or music videos....

 featuring previously unreleased material, videos, rough mixes and a new 5.1 / 96 K mix of the whole album, as well as a Saxon keyholder and a patch.

Track listing

Personnel

• Biff Byford
  Biff Byford
  Peter Rodney "Biff" Byford is an English rock singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Saxon. Byford formed Son of a Bitch with guitarists Graham Oliver and Paul Quinn, bassist Steve Dawson and drummer Pete Gill in 1976...
  
   - vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Paul Quinn
  Paul Quinn (guitarist)
  Paul Quinn is an English lead guitarist, and the founding member of the NWOBHM band, Saxon. Other than Biff Byford, Quinn is the only remaining member of Saxon's original line up, and is present on every Saxon release...
  
   - Guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  
• Doug Scarratt - Guitar
• Nibbs Carter
  Nibbs Carter
  Timothy 'Nibbs' Carter , British born bassist for heavy metal band Saxon. He is the most enduring bass player in Saxon history, appearing on thirteen of their albums...
  
   - Bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  
• Jörg Michael
  Jörg Michael
  Jörg Michael is a German drummer. He is well-known for his time in the Finnish power metal band Stratovarius and several other bands....
  
   - drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  

• Keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
   on "Lionheart" - Chris Stubley

Lyrical Concept

1. "Witchfinder General" is about persecuting witches during the Inquisition
   Inquisition
   The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
   
    times. The song also mentions methods of interrogation and execution favoured by 'Witchfinder General' Matthew Hopkins
   Matthew Hopkins
   Matthew Hopkins was an English witchhunter whose career flourished during the time of the English Civil War. He claimed to hold the office of Witchfinder General, although that title was never bestowed by Parliament...
   
   .
2. "Lionheart" is about Richard the Lionheart
   Richard I of England
   Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...
   
   , King of England from 1189 to 1199.
3. "Beyond the Grave" is about death and afterlife.
4. "To Live by the Sword" is about the way of life of medieval warriors.

Production

• Producer and engineer: Charlie Bauerfeind
  Charlie Bauerfeind
  Charlie Bauerfeind is a German sound engineer and producer who has worked mostly with power metal bands such as Angra, Blind Guardian, Helloween, Primal Fear, Rage, HammerFall and Saxon....
  
  
• Executive Producer: Biff Byford
  Biff Byford
  Peter Rodney "Biff" Byford is an English rock singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Saxon. Byford formed Son of a Bitch with guitarists Graham Oliver and Paul Quinn, bassist Steve Dawson and drummer Pete Gill in 1976...
  
  
• Cover Design: Paul R. Gregory
• Booklet Design: Sandra Hiltmann, SPV graphics
• Recorded at Gems 24, Boston, Lincolnshire
  Boston, Lincolnshire
  Boston is a town and small port in Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England. It is the largest town of the wider Borough of Boston local government district and had a total population of 55,750 at the 2001 census...
  
  

Charts

Album

Year	Country	Position
2004	Germany	44
	Sweden	57
	Switzerland	62
	France	103
	Greece	44