"It all starts with the riff,” says frontman and co-founder Biff Byford, "if the riff speaks to me, then we’re on our way. It’s a very intense album, and that’s all down to the fact that the essence of a great metal song is the riff that starts it, and this album has loads of them."

From the title track’s roll-back attack to the incessant speed and power of “Super Nova,” this is Saxon at their purest and most definitive, aggressively parading the pure metal flag and imploring fans old and new to gather and celebrate the very best of both Saxon and the genre itself. “All For One” has the stomp and pure power of a “Princess Of The Night” while “The Pilgrimage” is classic Crusader-era Saxon.

Produced by Andy Sneap (Judas Priest, Exodus, Accept and Richie Faulkner) Carpe Diem strikes the ear as one of the most essential British metal statements of the last few years, one which will ignite the joy in stalwart supporters and attract a whole new legion to the Saxon fold.

“I love that sort of fast metal. I love 'Princess Of The Night' and '20,000 FT' and I try and bring that style of Saxon into the music now but in a bit more modern style” affirms Byford “but it’s the same five guys playing it and singing it, so I think we don’t really sound like an old band on records because we’re not really sitting back on our past success. We’re always trying to make a great album.”