2022 CD Reviews - Saxon - Carpe Diem

Saxon
Carpe Diem
Silver Lining Music - 2022
http://www.saxon747.com

Up until just a few short years ago, if anyone asked me to talk about Saxon, the NWOBHM band still firing up audiences all these years later, the sum total of my knowledge would've been the song "Denim and Leather". The band's career was already well underway by the time I got into metal and other than that song (and the accompanying video that played on the various video outlets at the time), I just never really explored the band's catalog.

But back in 2018, a funny thing happened. The band released the album Thunderbolt and I ended up hearing a couple of tracks. I liked what I heard and then started listening to a few other songs (via Youtube). And top off this "new" musical experience, I got to see the band opening up for Judas Priest. And Saxon was incredible...and so very very loud!

My love of their live performance not only convinced me to go out and buy Thunderbolt but I started buying the reissues of the band's early albums. I haven't gotten everything yet but the deep dive I'm doing is sure to make me a huge, albeit late-to-the-party, fan.

And that brings me to Carpe Diem, Saxon's brand new studio album which I knew I was going to pick up as soon as I heard it was being released. While the band may be getting up their in terms of age, they are finding what seems to be a late career surge with their material because this album (produced by Andy Sneap) pretty much rocks from start to finish!

The album opens with the nominal title track "Carpe Diem (Seize The Day)" and while there is a brief slow mood building intro, the song focuses mostly on a driving anthemic musical soundtrack. Singer Biff Byford unfurls a lyrical portrait of the life of Legionairres back in the day. It makes for a brief and compelling storyline which gets stronger as you tie the music and vocals together.

One of the things I liked most about the album is the way the songs are built to fit the song titles (at least on a few of the tracks). The title cut fits perfectly with the lyrics but that's just the start.
On "The Pilgrimage", the more drawn out and deliberate pacing seems to coincide with the song's title and definition of the word. And on "Age Of Steam", there's a pounding rhythmic sound to the speedy uptempo pace that fits what the band is describing in the lyrics. This is emphasized even moreso with the way Nigel Glockler's drums play into building the foundations of the song.

Proving they won't shy away from a real world topic, the song "Remember The Fallen" is Saxon's look at the continuing Covid pandemic. Now, I will say that the song is pretty good but if you are suffering from pandemic fatigue, I think the song works best without watching the video for the song. When you (and I) are dealing with the thing every day, there's just so much extra one can take. So I watched the video once but when I listen to the track via CD, I don't feel like skipping it because I can at least imagine that the lyrics are talking about something other than its true meanings.

While Saxon's music focuses more on the harder and faster side of the metal genre, the Carpe Diem album is far from one dimensional. Besides that "The Pilgrimage" song, there's the track "Lady In Gray" which starts off in more of a darker midtempo style. It gets more powerful over the course of the song but there's a kind of gothic style to the proceedings at the same time. It's completely different of course, but the first time I listened to the track I found myself thinking of the Queensryche song "The Lady Wore Black".

But for all the variations in song style, I think Saxon is at its best on Carpe Diem when they are blowing your ear drums out with the harder intensity songs. You've got speed demon pacing on songs like "Dambusters", "Black Is The Night" and "Living On The Limit" which are practically guaranteed to get your heart pumping faster than ever. But then there are songs that exceed even those winners.

I think "Carpe Diem (Seize The Day)" and "Age Of Steam" are two of the best songs on the album but they are joined by "All For One", a crackling energetic number that deals with life as a musketeer in France. And as for causing a sonic explosion, Saxon absolutely kills it with the song "Super Nova". The track is relentlessly paced and the lyrical picture painted about such a destructive universal force is so well done that each time I listen to the album, I can't wait for this song to start.

I know that there was a period of Saxon's career where there albums weren't quite so well received (by fans or critics, if articles I've read are to be believed) but right now, the band seems to be so completely on fire creatively that is no doubt Saxon is seizing the day quite magnificently. Carpe Diem is the album that proves that fact rather spectacularly!