The Rock Blogger

Saturnus. Paradise Belongs to You . 1996. 5 stars .

Denmark’s Saturnus have been underwritten in the doom metal world despite crafting what could be one of the genre’s most intriguing albums. Paradise Belongs to You , the band’s 96 debut, incorporates acoutic passages, sorrowful riffs, death metal growls and an expansive atmosphere into beautifully fluid songs.

Aesthetic cousins to Agalloch and Katatonia, Saturnus’ riffs have a distinct, melancholic tone that makes for a dark and enveloping soundscape. Deep growls and sparingly used spoken word verses add to the gloom, contrasting barren despair with poetic romanticism. The use of subtle keyboards and plodding baselines underlie the building tension that runs through every song, leading the listener down shadowy passageways.

The extensive length of this album’s tracks gives the band plenty of room to flesh out their vision which is nothing less than epic. It avoids being overbearing by offsetting the intensity with hypnotic melodies, organic textures and the occasional piano or acoustic interlude. The short bird samples book-ending every track also tightens cohesion to the already seamless arrangements.

While it is difficult to select specific moments that make Paradise Belongs to You so beautiful, the entire album flows together so well that it doesn’t matter. It balances grim intensity with an airy atmosphere that evokes the sublime. A moody and intricately crafted album that represents the finer aspects of doom metal. Essential.

“Paradise Belongs to You”

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 8:13 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.