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SAOR - Interview with Andy Marshall
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SAOR — Caledonia

SAOR

Caledonia (2026)

Label: Season of Mist
★★★★½ 9/10
By Scorpio

Track Listing

  1. Aura MMXXVI
  2. The Awakening MMXXVI
  3. Carved in Stone MMXXVI
  4. Hearth MMXXVI
  5. Tears of a Nation MMXXVI

SAOR started in Glasgow in 2013 as Andy Marshall's solo project, and in the thirteen years since he has put out six albums, from Roots to Amidst the Ruins. I own every one of them on vinyl. When I talked to Andy in April, he hinted that something new would come out this year. "I've already recorded something that I'm hoping to release later this year," he told The MetalList. I guess this is it. Caledonia, out November 6 on Season of Mist, is a compilation of five songs from the first three albums, each one re-recorded and tagged MMXXVI.

The title makes sense. Andy named his style after the old Latin name for Scotland. "I thought it was cool to call it Caledonian metal — which basically just means Scottish metal," he told us. "Caledonia was the Roman term for Scotland, and I kind of like that." Naming a set of his early songs after that tag fits. "Carved in Stone" comes from Roots, "Aura" and "The Awakening" from Aura, and "Hearth" and "Tears of a Nation" from Guardians.

Some of these songs have been reissued before. Aura came out remastered in 2020, and Guardians was remixed and remastered in 2021. Those reissues reworked the old recordings. The songs on Caledonia were played and recorded again. Andy handles vocals, guitars and bass, with Carlos Vivas on drums, Ella Zlotos on vocals, whistles and Uilleann pipes, and Àngela Moya Serrat on violin. I approached the record as an engineer. I built a playlist of the same five songs as they appear on the albums, streamed it, and compared it side by side with the promo.

The first thing I noticed was the length. The five album versions add up to 60:06; on Caledonia they run 51:28, almost nine minutes shorter. "Carved in Stone" loses the most, going from 13:33 to 10:19, and the other four each give up somewhere between 45 seconds and two minutes. For me the biggest improvements in the sound are the drums and the vocals. The drums sit better in the mix. They sound more organic and fit the music better. Andy's vocals come through brighter and crisper, and they're easier to pick out. All five songs sound great.

Caledonia is excellent. Andy went back to his old songs with everything he has picked up since then in technique, playing, composing and producing. The ideas on those first three albums were already strong, and now he has the knowledge and technical ability to get the most out of them. For anyone who loves these songs as much as I do, these are my favorite SAOR songs in better quality.

★★★★½ 9/10

SAOR - Carved in Stone MMXXVI (official video):

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Promo provided by Season of Mist.