Review by Daniel for Saturnus - Paradise Belongs to You (1997)
The 1997 debut album from Danish doom/death exponents Saturnus is an interesting one because, while I have a long history with it & can see why people seem to regard it so highly, I’ve always struggled to connect with it on the same level as my counterparts. My first exposure to it came way back in the late 1990’s in the tail end of my tape trading days as a couple of my local Aussie traders were doom/death nuts & made sure that I was across it. I gave it a couple of spins & found it to be mildly enjoyable but it didn’t really stick so I didn’t feel like it warranted return visits. Many years later I would hear Ben waxing lyrical about “Paradise Belongs To You” & it made me wonder whether I hadn’t given the album enough time to sink in. I again returned to it for a quick glance & was left with similar impressions to before so this is technically my third crack at Saturnus’ much acclaimed debut.
Right from the offset it becomes very clear that Saturnus are a quite professional & fairly ambitious extreme metal outfit. There’s a high level of musicality about their sound with lots of different melodic elements at play in their layered arrangements. There’s also a real openness in the way the album is produced & it soon became clear to me as to why. The drums & vocals are way forward in the mix with the bass & keyboards also dwarfing the rhythm guitars which are sitting too far back & lose some of their heaviness as a result in my opinion. I guess I just prefer a darker, heavier sound & it leads me to think that Saturnus have missed an opportunity here as the record sounds a bit light-weight with the piano & synth work being afforded a more prominent position in the mix than the key ingredient of any doom metal release. This isn’t a deal breaker by any means but it’s certainly worth mentioning as it’s definitely effected my overall enjoyment of this release.
“Paradise Belongs To You” is also a highly melodic example of the doom/death subgenre with the band regularly incorporating lighter gothic atmospherics, clean folk guitar work, Celtic new age elements & even the sound of birds singing on a Spring morning at times. The super-deep Septicflesh-style death growls attempt to keep things aligned with the darker side of metal but I don’t feel that they’re all that successful in that regard as this still feels like a more melodic & unintimidating record than I’d ideally like it to. The album cover probably doesn’t help in that regard as, despite the image being a portrayal of death, it’s got a lighter feel about its colour scheme. Saturnus’ logo kind of annoys me too as the reversed “s” on the end looks a bit silly & cheapens the overall effect.
Don’t get me wrong though, this is still a pretty good record. The tracklisting is without fault with the fairly lengthy 68 minute run time possessing a consistent level of class. I just don’t think there are any genuine highlights to speak of & the best moments don’t appear until the last few tracks with “I Love Thee” (the darkest track included & my personal favourite) & the final proper track “The Underworld” being a step up from the earlier metal songs. As usual with me, these two seem to be the least popular of the proper metal tracks on the album which shouldn’t surprise anyone. I also really enjoy the short folk interlude “As We Dance The Paths Of Fire & Solace” which offers some beautifully executed finger-picked nylon-string guitar work.
Look, there’s no doubt a big audience for this type of stuff & I have a lot of admiration for Saturnus’ approach but I still can’t quite get into “Paradise Belongs To You” to the same level as Ben. It just comes down to taste really with some of the best parts of the album sitting much too close to My Dying Bride plagiarism than I’d like. I certainly enjoy the experience while I’m sitting through it but I can’t say that I ever feel like returning to this album & would even go so far as to say that it offers me less appeal than it did on my previous visits.