Saturnus - The Storm Within (2023)Release ID: 45193
Those crushing Danish doomsters Saturnus seemed to have disappeared for a decade between this album and the last. Their comeback album can also mark my solid return to one of the most depressive genres around, doom metal, specifically death-doom. A couple years ago, I decided that I was not up for the slow sadness of this band and the Peaceville 3, but maybe this album has a glimmer of hope (ironic, right?) in my rediscovery of the genre. Saturnus has proven themselves to be the Danes' response to My Dying Bride and the early/mid-90s eras of Anathema and Paradise Lost with their first 4 albums, each with an average 5-years interval in between.
Fast forward through a decade of silence, an EP of Evinta-style remakes of earlier songs and demos of new ones were made, hinting at something big coming up... And finally came album #5, The Storm Within! As usual, vocalist Thomas A.G. Jensen and bassist Brian Hansen lead their emotional gothic death-doom group through the modern harshness of our world. Will they still carry the storm?
The title opener is one of two 11-minute epics, and it displays the band's haunting darkness from the start. Soft piano and acoustic melancholy make a sweet opening buildup in the first 3 minutes. Then the storm begins as the death growls and guitar heaviness pour down like massive rain. Jensen's cavernous vocals have strong potential, along with dramatic spoken passages. The slow pacing allows the guitar shines in stellar chords and heavy doom riffing. A massively effective opening piece! "Chasing Ghosts" is the second 11-minute epic here blends in bleak atmosphere with soft guitar air, almost like both the early and late eras of Anathema combined, together with traces of My Dying Bride's doomy sound. It's so monstrous yet beautiful, especially in the death growls and guitar that any of the darker metalheads can be up for. Just from those first two tracks alone, you're already getting a lot of dark doom and gloom!
Adding more of the northern European melodeath-doom into the mix, "The Calling" stands out with a more upbeat rock-like pace similar to the mid-90s albums of Katatonia and Amorphis. It's a nice change of pace after those slow epics, that's worth total replay value. The upbeat guitar shines like a warm sun over the cold world. The soft ode "Even Tide" has clean singing by Paul Kuhr of Novembers Doom. Perhaps the darkest song I've heard in a long time is "Closing the Circle".
Focused on mid-paced melody again is "Breathe New Life" that once again keeps things animated (not like a cartoon of course). It's shorter than all the other tracks at just 5 minutes in length, yet it seems to go downhill a bit. The final track "Truth" reaches a searing intense climax before a gentle ending.
Honestly, I've forgotten all about Saturnus until I found out about this album that I didn't expect would come but I'm glad it did. It's a very good accomplishment to continue this band's dark journey. The more depressive metalheads can dwell for eternity in the nice melodic bleakness. Doom metal fans should definitely get chase this great storm. I don't know if I'll be up for a sequel in the future (hopefully not too distant), but it's great to hear the Danish death-doom masters strike again....
Favorites: "The Storm Within", "Chasing Ghosts", "The Calling", "Closing the Circle"
