Search - Samson :: Refugee

Samson's melodic rock return

Justin Gaines | Northern Virginia | 05/29/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"1990's Refugee was (I believe) the eighth studio album from British rockers Samson. Samson, of course, was part of the influential New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) movement earlier in the decade and once featured Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson on vocals.



Samson had gone through a ton of lineup changes by 1990, with founding guitarist Paul Samson (RIP) the only constant. He actually tried out a couple of new bands (Paul Samson's Rogues and Paul Samson's Empire) prior to regrouping as Samson for this album. Refugee had little in common with the band's early NWOBHM albums, and with Gary Owens on vocals (replacing the gruff Nicky Moore), the sound was a bit of a departure from the bluesy Samson albums as well.



Refugee is a straightforward melodic hard rock album along the lines of Uriah Heep and the later Demon albums. It still has a decidedly bluesy flavor due to Samson's guitar work, but it's a more polished, melodic offering than earlier releases like Joint Forces. A lot of that is due to Owens' cleaner vocal style, which is really striking (in a good way). There are also a couple of very sweet instrumental tracks where Samson really shines.



I haven't heard a bad Samson album yet (OK, 1993 wasn't exactly thrilling), but Refugee is probably my favorite post-Dickinson Samson album. If you're a Samson fan, you won't want to miss this one. If you're new to the band, you should probably start with Shock Tactics or Survivors and then come back around to Refugee.



NOTE: The version of Refugee I have was released in 1996 on the Magnum label. To be honest, everything about this release practically screams "bootleg". It's definitely a far cry from the Samson reissues released by Sanctuary Records."