Carpe Diem

Saxon have released two albums which told us something about their inspirations. And about more inspirations, wow! This was a good idea, otherwise we are at risk to jump to false conclusions, because “Carpe Diem” does not give us a lot of chances to find the inspiration that led to the here reviewed result. That’s a pity, because it took many years, but since “Unleash the Beast”, the band has a small but firm place in my metal heart (oh my God, this sounds kitschy). Moreover, Biff Byford is a really likeable guy and a kind of heavy metal gentleman who fills the gap Lemmy (R.I.P.) left. Of course, he plays this role in another way than Lemmy did – and that’s good due to his different nature.

“Carpe Diem” is no bad album, do not get me wrong. It is logical that Saxon do not reinvent themselves and I did not expect something completely different than the material they offer here. Sometimes it is even great to see that they stick to their roots and their tradition. The highlight “Age of Steam” scores with a dense and catchy chorus, the necessary amount of vehemence and especially with the history-related lyrics about the industrial revolution. “Stoke the fires to superheat / Work the mine, thе coal is deep / Feed the beast, the slavе of industry“ – I don’t think one can express the feeling of this time much better than Biff, and no, even he is not a contemporary witness. Little joke... „Age of Steam“ reminds me in the best possible way of “Made in Belfast”. Biff delivers a more than solid performance and I really enjoy this piece. On the other hand, we have the opener and title track. Its more or less only positive aspect is that it evidently gave – now listen – the inspiration (!) for the fantastic artwork. Its chorus sucks, the riffing is heavy, but somehow it does not convince me. The guitars rule, okay, but the “they came, they saw, they conquered” part and the solo fail.

As a matter of course, Saxon also have “Crusader”-like songs up their sleeve. “The Pilgrimage” has an almost meditative guitar work and wants to be an earworm. This mission is not fully successful. But the song is still better than the comparable, also dragging “Lady in Grey”. Don’t be fooled by its heavy, rasping guitars at the beginning. The slow-moving prototype of grandpa rock is a boring filler with weird keyboard notes that fail to give it a bigger sound dimension. Well, in order to stay fair, “Carpe Diem” does not suffer from a lack of heaviness and it goes without saying that it benefits from a flawless mix. Just realize the excellent guitar power. Nevertheless, tracks like “Dambuster” do not give me much, because the melodies are just mediocre and once again: the chorus fails to crown the song. Thus, I prefer an up-tempo number like “Super Nova”, although its riff and lines seem to be recycled from a lot of previous Saxon songs.

Naturally the conventionally constructed songs stand or fall with the quality of their guitar work and their choruses and I am surprised that Saxon miss the target comparatively often. The pretty swift, generic and riff-driven “Living on the Limit” sounds like “All Guns Blazing Part II”, but without reaching the class of its role model. And so “Carpe Diem” goes by, being nothing but just another Saxon album in their endless catalogue. Maybe their next album which does not have the word “inspirations” in its title will show more inspirations.