[5] Saxon frontman Biff Byford stated that the band wanted to "get back to [their] roots," and aimed for a "more working-class sound" with the album.

The reason for the appeal was that the band needed a chorus for the track "Back in '79", and decided to offer its fans the chance to be a part of the recording.

[5] The album artwork is derived from Lord Kitchener Wants You, a World War I-era British Army recruitment poster.

[12] A digipack version of the album for the North American market featured a seven track bonus disc containing most of Saxon's performance at Castle Donington in 1980.

[21] Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles reviewer Mark Gromen commended that Call to Arms "isn't much of a metal record" but rather "[slow], bluesy hard rock" instead.

He also compared Don Airey's keyboard parts on "When Doomsday Comes" to the patterns used on Deep Purple's 1984 album Perfect Strangers.

All songs written by Biff Byford, Paul Quinn, Doug Scarratt, Nibbs Carter and Nigel Glockler