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Saturn: Ascending (Live in Space)

Heavy Rock/Metal

4.0/5.0

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Rise Above Records / Sony Red
Words: Craig Hartranft    Added: 30.07.2014

Here's another young band reaching beyond their youth to the annals of heavy metal past. Sweden's Saturn travels back to the era of proto-metal, think late Sixties and early Seventies, for their classic melodic heavy rock/metal sound and debut long player Ascending (Live In Space), borrowing from Sabbath, UFO, Budgie, Deep Purple, Rainbow and very early Judas Priest.

Saturn: party on, dudes.

Though not necessarily old school, nor typically modern in this auto-tuned generation, excepting the vocals, all the songs were recorded live in the studio at the same time. This lends the sound to a more natural, earthy, feeling, but also, even with meticulous rehearsal time, the potential for some audio warts. There's also an audible clarity to the instruments, notably in the rhythm section where the bass comes through.

Musically, while you'll recognize those early heavy rock and metal sounds, Saturn adds some interesting nuances that twist things even more. There's a natural blues groove lingering underneath, but most explicit within Over The Influence. With Last Man In Space bits of psychedelic space rock turn up. Yet, other songs like Rokktori and Peasant, work from a deliberate rock groove, and some speed. Then more traditional metal comes with So, You Have Chosen Death and Tower of Terror, the former might remind of Sin After Sin Priest, the latter has a slow burning pace at times, reminding some of stoner rock. Moonstone is largely different from anything else here, light electric guitar with vocals. With little doubt, Saturn is on to something good here. Their music heralds the past without necessarily cloning it and, with enough creativity, makes it intriguing for our modern times. Recommended.

Saturn - So, You Have Chosen Death

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With Ascending (Live In Space), Sweden's Saturn revisits early proto-metal without necessarily cloning it and, with enough creativity, makes it intriguing for our modern times.

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Three years have passed since Sweden's Cruzh dropped their second long-player, Tropical Thunder, also introducing their new singer, Alex Waghorn. Now the band returns with The Jungle Revolution ... [ Read More ]