Genre - Doom/Death Metal
1. Litany of Rain
2. Wind Torn
3. A Lonely Passage
4. A Father's Providence
5. Mourning Sun
6. Call of the Raven Moon
7. Forest of Insomnia
8. Between
9. Limbs of Crystal Clear (Bonus Track)
There
are some bands that just completely transcend their perceived genre
confines they're that far ahead of most of their peers in sound and
stature that no matter if they were to release a shitty album
tomorrow you still have to sit back and admire the sheer magnitude
and impact their influence has had in a certain corner of music. It's
been nigh on twenty years now since their momentous debut Paradise
Belongs to You; the
dismal Danish doomsters Saturnus
are back with a full length after a barren six years with their gloom
ridden soul siphon and
believe you me, they're just
as fucking miserable as before. I'm not going to lie when I say I
wasn't holding out a considerable amount of hope for this release
when I heard about it, I mean I wasn't expecting it to be bad,
there's just only so many times you can release nigh on perfect album
after nigh on perfect album, you've got to slip at some point surely?
Their
previous three albums have all been astounding slabs of melancholic
doom/death and each different in their own unique way and straight
from the opening notes of “Litany of Rain” I just knew this was
going to be another classic. For those who're none the wiser as to
who Saturnus are, they're one of
doom metal's relatively
unsung heroes with their
heavily melancholic and gothic stylized brand of death doom, think of
something along the lines of Angel and the Dark River era
My Dying Bride, Winter and
Skepticism if you're looking for a close comparison as to what they
sound like. Paradise... is
widely regarded as one of the genre's finest examples of this style
and not without good reason, it's
easily one of the top ten doom/death
albums of all time. Saturn in Ascension swings
stylistically back towards the aforementioned album yet still
incorporating elements from both the excellent Martyre and
Veronika Decides to Die for
a release which while extremely melodic and gothic in design, is
still absolutely crushing in it's execution.
As
I sit here with that
familiar
telling chill in the air, I can't help but feel that Saturn
in Ascension
is exactly the perfect soundtrack to these portentous nights. “Litany
of Rain” begins with some tasteful choral vocals before the guitar
comes crashing down to slowly lumber through agony wrought riffs
interwoven sporadically with those angelic chorals for ten minutes
giving the impression of
a black draped funeral procession, shorn by wind and lashed by rain.
Simply put, if you were in a positive 'life is great' mood before you
listened to this, you'll be knocking out the Prozac afterwards.
Thomas' vocals are as impressive as ever, his death guttural a grave
shaking growl while his clean vocals emotive if a little awkward at
times. The new recruits on axe (or shovel) duty, Rune and Mattias
play with such
a
conviction and familiarity that
you'd be
forgiven for thinking they'd been in the band from day one. The
atmosphere which is compounded through their skull crushing, heavily
encumbered
riffs and forlorn, meandering leads is second to none and where the
similarity to Skepticism comes to mind, though don't be mistaken as
this isn't funeral doom, it's a tad more upbeat and dynamic than
that, though it's inarguable that
in the past
Saturnus has certainly lent their sound to such bands.
Such
bands like Agalloch owe
a great deal to
these guys as well, again just listen to the debut and you'll hear
what I'm talking about. Those delicate acoustic melodies and
reflective, autumnal guitar passages present
there return and
are vividly present on “Wind Torn” and it bears a more than
passing resemblance to Agalloch indeed. If
ever a song threatened to tear your very soul out and nail it to a
weather beaten cross then here you go, the guitar passages are
mesmerizing and just welling in emotion and the vocals embracing a
disconsolate abandon. It's entering the season of death and decay,
and fuck if there's a song out there as fitting as this then I don't
want to hear it. Depressing doesn't even cut it. “A
Lonely Passage” and “Call of the Raven Moon” provide the non
metal tracks this time around with the former a
heart tugging soliloquy layered with acoustics and gentle piano
passages. The latter is a good track also but comes close to being
the only one here I would come close to calling filler material. The
addition of the flute in along with the acoustics at the start was a
nice idea but ultimately the song ends up being rather uneventful,
not helped by the fact the spoken vocals sound a bit awkward and
indifferent to be honest.
When
your shortest track is still over five minutes, the quality and
diversity which each track must contain becomes exceedingly important
especially through a release this dauntingly intense and expansive,
and something which Saturn in Ascension
does well to
maintain. The relatively brief “A Father's Providence” is a
behemoth
of a track with the most energetic rhythm here, a head-banger of
sorts with more huge crunching riffs which gives us a slight glimpse
to the bands primitive early roots with it's crude death gutturals
interspersed with some tasteful piano work dancing underneath like
droplets of water. As far as the second half of the album goes
“Mourning Sun” is the standout track here, another with such an
emotional burden that it'll bring you to your knees with
it's
overbearing riffs weighing a tonne, slowly inching forward.
Again I have to state how amazingly sublime the lead/solo work here
is, just as it was all those years ago with Kim Larsen; the guitarist
has the tone down to a tee so much so that the album would be a lot
less memorable without, and guitar leads were never really a focal
point with doom metal. Just listen to “Forest of Insomnia” and
you'll know what I mean, the guitar work in it is similarly
enthralling in the way it builds up to the climatic solo at the end.
Saturn
in Ascension is pretty much a
doom metal masterpiece, but then Saturnus are apparently only able
deal in masterpieces as this
is now their fourth. It's standalone in it's utterly agonizing
brilliance, an emotionally draining, sprawling and pious journey of
desolation laying clear all one's woes and grief for all to see, and
another doom/death monolith in the genre to file alongside an
untouchable legacy. Saturnus are finally back guys and they're here
to show a new generation of pretenders just how the fuck it's
supposed to be done. A
hopeless, shining paragon of modern doom metal and one that'll you'll
undoubtedly be hearing more about further down the road. Can
these guys ever do wrong? It doesn't seem likely. A
certain contender for album of the year. Buy or die.
9.5/10
Sounds like - My Dying bride, The 3rd and the Mortal, Shape of Despair
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