We have been keeping our eye on this rising UK outfit and were very pleased to discover that they had been signed to Indie Records recently. The group come from a number of versatile outfits including amongst them The Rotted, Beneath The Decay, Imperium, Pagaea, Aklash and the natural precursor to this band Traces. As Traces they released the very impressive Reflections Of A Forlorn Sun on Siege Of Amida Records before changing name, honing their sound and playing various dates and getting some glowing attention. The day after this album landed in our inboxes we were watching the band playing tracks from it as they opened proceedings at Bloodstock Open Air Festival. With this and the signing to the respected Norwegian label things are looking very promising for the band. The album itself illustrates just why they deserve such accolades.
Musically the sextet play a focussed sounding futuristic style of symphonic and orchestral black metal. ‘Construct Illusion’ takes us into their realm with an austere sound over chanting, giving it a very soundtrack like feel. This short intro already has you pumped before the full might of ‘Into Etheria’ crunches in. The Russ Russell production job gives the sound full body and as the weighty gleaming riffs and melodic keyboards joust you are well aware the album is going to take you on a formidable trip. Singer Wilson’s vocals are suitably gruff and at times come across as both robotic and demonic. Some clean parts are also utilised but these flow along well with the music and are not delivered in any commercial sense whatsoever. It is a slight surprise to hear some female soprano vocals come in on next track ‘Aphotic’ they had been noted much fainter in backing chorals but here really make their impression felt before but rather than being overplayed only really feature on this track.
It would be somewhat impossible not to review this without mentioning the likes of more recent Dimmu Borgir especially with the furrowing cosmic weave of tracks like the spiralling ‘Eternal Eclipse’ but this is no bad thing as Dimmu are undisputedly top of their game within this specific sub genre and with tracks like this Saturnian are very much snapping at their heels. This track went down particularly well at Bloodstock recently, and it is an incredibly dramatic listen.
Overall it is a long album and you need to be prepared to completely immerse yourself in it. Future listens will gain hidden treasures be it sudden powerized metal croons, trippy prog noodlings and attacks of swarming Galaxian keys. For me the album really comes into its own in the last third with epic and incredibly memorable ‘Origins Of The Future’ the chorus of which will stay with you for an age. Like a black spectral mass at a doomed end of time civilisation ‘The Immaculate Deception’ at almost ten minutes in length takes you right off into space and time but as the rest of the album does so in an impressive fashion without being overblown and pompous. A nice classical sounding piano harmony allows you to grab a quick snatch of breath as things build up into a fitting conclusion. Last track ‘Wreathed In Flame’ literally sparkles with icy glistening keyboards and a heavily melodic gravity behind it, somewhat striking as a perfect sound checker if you want to get a good idea of a band on the one number, here it is the album’s end piece and a solid one to finish on.
Keep a watch on this lot, for a debut ‘Dimensions’ has the scope to send Saturnian out the stratosphere!
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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