Carpe Diem

Carpe Diem was released by Massacre Records on November 29, 2000, the band's ninth studio album. Twelve songs makes it one of the longest records of this period. It opens with "Violent Tribe" and moves through the title track and "Tortured Spirits" with a clear division of speed and weight. The middle section — "Clay," "Poisoned Pleasures," "Until It Dies" — changes temperature song by song, and wider vocal features such as "The Unwritten Pages" and "For Once in Your Life" are spaced through it before "Invisible Chains" closes. The sequencing reads as a deliberate answer to the length. "Tortured Spirit" was re-recorded for Louder Than Ever in 2014 and stayed in the band's working repertoire. The album itself did not fare as well: as of 2026 it appears on no streaming service — not Spotify, not iTunes, not Deezer. It documents Ronnie Atkins and Ken Hammer reaching twenty years as the band's two constants, and it cannot be heard by ordinary means.