"Diamonds are forever", wrote Ian Fleming in 1971. So is the NWOBHM, if we are to believe the recent releases of Iron Maiden and today of Saxon, almost 43 years after their first release. "Carpe Diem" is the 24th album of Biff Byford's band, a number that imposes all the more respect as the band has remained faithful to its principles, to its music and to its fans.
If the band has known many line-up changes, the current formation has been in place for almost 17 years, a duration that would make any heavy metal musician dream. And it's not at almost 70 years old that Byford and Paul Quinn are going to change an ounce of their recipe. It seems old-fashioned but it still works well thanks to the talent of the two guys and their acolytes.
On the program, heavy riffs with a unique and immediately recognizable sound, an always high vocals, sturdy compositions and fast and bouncy tempos ('Living on the Limit', 'Super Nova', 'Dambusters'). The most remarkable are the inaugural and eponymous track with its soaring intro and devastating riffs and the ultra-effective 'Remember The Fallen' and 'Age Of Stream' that Iron Maiden fans will not deny.
But Saxon also offer some less brutal tracks as they have always done throughout their brilliant career with the emblematic 'Wheels Of Steel' or 'Strong Arm Of The Law'. They are here called 'Lady In Gray', a haunting power ballad with languid riffs and a Dantesque solo, and especially 'The Pilgrimage', the main track of this "Carpe Diem" in the vein of 'Crusader', a bewitching mid-tempo with multi-riffs and a haunting chorus, which would almost be worth the purchase of the album by itself. Some tracks at the end of the album are a little less transcendent but do the job melodically and rhythmically anyway.
There is nothing really new nor absolutely original in this new Saxon album. But the quality of writing and composition, the impeccable production and the great interpretation of the band make it a solid, melodic and catchy heavy metal album that naturally finds a place of choice in the immense discography of the English.