Saxon: A venerable Brit metal institution of near-fifty year vintage. An adamantine bulwark of traditionalism in the face of ever-quickening change, a reminder of the true greatness of traditional heavy metal…

All this is true, of course, and all these facts are repeatedly underlined over the course of the band’s latest full-length album, Carpe Diem. And, as British fans of the band who saw the quintet’s triumphant stage return recently will attest, the band are as spritely now as ever they have been in the live arena. As their close associates Iron Maiden and Judas Priest both lurch towards the end of their respective (and more gilded) careers seemingly ever more bereft of ideas and inspiration, it would seem to be Saxon, the true purveyors of heavy metal thunder down the years, who have the most staying power…

Seriously – it’s hard to see Maiden, especially, in their Shirley-facilitated dotage coming up with anything as gung-ho as the second track here, Age of Steam; in itself seemingly a throwback to one of the band’s enduring classics, Princess of the Night, the song rattles along the rails on the back of some thunderous Nigel Glockler percussive brilliance in absolute defiance of the band’s combined age of three hundred and twenty seven. Similarly the following track, The Pilgrimage (which in a less historically-sensitive time might well have been better named The Second Crusade) encourages the listener to cast the mind back to the band’s halcyon early days in a manner this band hasn’t always done in the past. The key to Saxon’s late-career renaissance has always been to embrace the past whilst setting a stern-faced course into the wind of the future; here, the band seem a little more willing to take a few fleeting glances backwards, with uniform success.

Consequently, the heads down mania of Dambusters is nothing if not trad British metal in excelsis, with the only concession to modern mores being Glockler’s deft footwork, whilst the opening riff for Muskateer-inspired romp All For One will cause a smile to spread across the fizzogs of long term fans immediately transported by it’s familiarity back to the days of Denim and Leather and Strong Arm of the Law.

The guitar work from Paul Quinn and Doug Scarratt – now, almost remarkably, in their twenty seventh year as a partnership – is praiseworthy throughout, with both providing thrillingly scything solos as required and both coming up with some of the most vital riffs of the band’s later years on tracks like Remember The Fallen and rampant closer Living on the Limit.

And then, of course, there is the inimitable Biff Byford… At seventy one and post heart attack the man’s performance here is beyond reproach as he powers through every track in his own inimitable style. He may be helped out a little more by bassist Nibs Carter in the live arena now – and why not? he’s a septuagenerian! – but all over Carpe Diem he stamps an authority over the record most vocalists half the man’s age could only dream of.

Great stuff all round then – Of course, Saxon don’t really make bad albums, but this is certainly one of their best in recent memory and perhaps even going right back to those mid-eighties halcyon days. Seize the day indeed…

Carpe Diem is out now