Saxon-Carpe Diem-CD-FLAC-2022-GRAVEWISH

    G R A V E W ISH   
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  Artist...: Saxon                                                 
 Album....: Carpe Diem                                            
 Year.....: 2022                                                  
 Rel.Date: 2022-02-03                                            
 Genre....: Heavy Metal                                           
 Label....: Silver Lining                                         
 Source...: CD                                                    
 Encoder..: FLAC 1.3.1                                            
 Quality..: 44.1kHz, 2 channels                                   
       1.  Carpe Diem (Seize the Day)                             4:42
       2.  Age of Steam                                           4:08
       3.  The Pilgrimage                                         6:28
       4.  Dambusters                                             3:19
       5.  Remember the Fallen                                    5:15
       6.  Super Nova                                             4:21
       7.  Lady in Gray                                           5:12
       8.  All for One                                            3:42
       9.  Black is the Night                                     4:12
       10. Living on the Limit                                    2:55
                                                                 44:14
        British heavy metal icons SAXON have remained venerable vaunted veterans
        through four decades in large part due to their charismatic live
        presence. The band's post-2000 studio output has remained consistent,
        with new albums being reliably released every few years. The majority of
        those records have been made up of comfort-food metal anthems
        re-establishing the group as having a few tricks left up their sleeve.
        And while they are enjoyable when listening, they ultimately end up with
        maybe one or two songs entering the live setlist.
        The band's 23rd studio album, "Carpe Diem", seems destined to join that
        lengthy list of records that provide a few moments of heavy metal
        triumph, showing off what propelled SAXON to their legendary status but
        never fully rising to the level of a truly great record. The
        tried-and-true aspects of the group's blueprint still result in plenty
        of shining moments, nonetheless. Biff Byford's vocal pipes are still
        full of power on the band's first record since his heart attack in
        September 2019. His triumphant shouts and cries propel the album to an
        assertively energetic start with "Carpe Diem (Seize The Day)" and keep
        that energy high on the faster-paced metallic rock of tracks such as
        "Remember The Fallen" and "All For One". Byford's ability to craft a
        chorus that demands a live audience to shout along with him also remains
        intact, most notably on "Age Of Steam" and "Living On The Limit", the
        latter of which also sees the band coming closest to invoking the
        ferocity of early-era SAXON tracks such as "20,000 Feet".
        Paul Quinn and Doug Scarratt's guitar work also does plenty of heavy
        lifting on "Carpe Diem". Even during some of the lesser moments on
        modern-era SAXON records, the duo generates world-class guitar work with
        frequent solos that are busy while never feeling forced and excessive.
        Quinn and Scarratt always seem to have a compelling riff ready to keep a
        song moving. The duo shows the ability to shred melodically like Joe
        Satriani on "Remember The Fallen" and throw down bluesier solos on
        "Black Is The Night", all while maintaining a powerful level of
        heaviness and dropping rhythm passages that encourage maximum
        headbanging.
        That said, Byford's continued vocal prowess and the guitar duo's superb
        abilities are not enough to overcome the overall weakness of the band's
        attempts to slow things down at two points throughout the record. "The
        Pilgrimage" is a very tepid and overlong power ballad grinding the
        momentum built by the first two tracks to a screeching halt. The track
        may have worked better as an album-closing epic and the group wastes no
        time with the subsequent "Dambusters" to pick the energy back up. One
        can't help but wonder if excising that and the equally dull mid-tempo
        slog of "Lady In Gray" to release a tightly packed album of rippers
        would have better presented the strengths of what SAXON brings to the
        table in 2022.
        Thankfully though, aside from those two missteps, "Carpe Diem" overall
        serves as a testament that SAXON still has plenty of bullets left in
        their guns and showcases a band entering their fifth decade of existence
        with fire still burning.

212K	00-saxon-carpe_diem-cd-flac-2022-proof.jpg
4.0K	00-saxon-carpe_diem-cd-flac-2022.m3u
4.0K	00-saxon-carpe_diem-cd-flac-2022.sfv
33M	01-saxon-carpe_diem_(seize_the_day).flac
30M	02-saxon-age_of_steam.flac
42M	03-saxon-the_pilgrimage.flac
25M	04-saxon-dambusters.flac
39M	05-saxon-remember_the_fallen.flac
32M	06-saxon-super_nova.flac
38M	07-saxon-lady_in_gray.flac
28M	08-saxon-all_for_one.flac
30M	09-saxon-black_is_the_night.flac
22M	10-saxon-living_on_the_limit.flac
20K	saxon-carpe_diem-cd-flac-2022.nfo
315M	total