On that typical Dooms pace these Danish veterans in melodic Doom/Death have been working on their fourth album. Over the years they have finally saw the recognition they always deserved.
Six long years after their ‘Martyre’-album (2000) they managed to put the band on the map definitively with their most majestic work up to that point: ‘Veronika Decides To Die’. Not only was this album the impulse the band needed in case not to drown in oblivion (and great memories) but it also came at the right point. The perfect zeitgeist so to say, at this point the gothic-tinged melodic Doom/Death genre was the most booming and the album hit the scene as an instant hit with the opening song as the soundtrack of that era.
It was also that time when the band was able to play some shows outside Kopenhagen. But Doom did shine over the band, though the album should’ve opened doors to many possibilities the opposite happened. Bad luck and questionable decisions were made and the band was blown to bits and pieces. Again the way back up had to be found and again it took another six years before we saw a new Saturnus album. Something that we have clearly been looking out for so eagerly.
Now we do have ‘Saturn In Ascension’ which is the first release for Germany label Cyclone Empire, so that means the first release with a propper distribution (and hopefully promotion). More changes are appearing in the line-up, as only vocalist Thomas AG Jensen and bassist Brian Hansen are left of the classic line-up, so what can be expected? After having heard the album a few times I can say that fans can rest assured, the band didn’t chance that much musically (at all), but it did loose some of its initial glance to be honest. Where the band used to be really to the point and used all their musical espects to reach the highest result possible. They seem to be easily distracted and loose focus which results in songs that are overly long and lack cohesion.
The best example is the third song ‘A Lonely Passage’ which is very much alike ‘For My Demons’ (off their 1998 mini CD ‘For The Loveless Lonely Nights’) but suffers from seriously inferior lyrics (“I’m so tired…”) and the lack of propper songwriting. But fortunately, there is much to feast upon as well. Take the majestic and catchy ‘A Fathers Providence’ for instance which is a classic dancefloor tune instantly and I’ll be damned if this would not end up as a standard song on their setlists. It has all that’s typical Saturnus: heavy riffing, overly melodic piano tunes and Thomas’ trademark kind of wailing works best at this song.
Something that definitely needs to be credited is the heavy and clear production of no-one less than legendary Flemming Rasmussen (know for his works on albums like ‘Ride The Lightning’ and ‘Master of Puppets’ and with bands like Morbid Angel, Artillery and Blind Guardian). He was able to give the perfect balance in Saturnus’ sound, real heavy when necessary but always with the focus on the details which ends up in a rich and almost organic sound. In retrospect, when I happened to see one of the very first shows of the band right after the release of ‘Veronika Decides To Die’ and saw the band at its best I saw actually convinced they were up for something much bigger.
With their new album they have delivered another great album of high quality gothic Doom/Death metal but it is not able to live up to the big expectations. I hoped they were able to take their own blend of Doom/Death metal to the next level, instead of doing that they made a step sidewards and let some of their peers, like Finnish Swallow the Sun, pass.
Saturnus
- Country: Denmark
- Style: Death Metal, Doom Metal
- Links: Homepage, Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp, Spotify, Youtube
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Cyclone Empire
- Country: Germany
- Style: Death Metal, Doom Metal, Thrash Metal, Other
- Links: Homepage, Facebook, Bandcamp, Youtube
