Out of Denmark, Saturnus are one of Death Doom Metal’s most underexposed entities. With roots that go as deep as 1991, they earned plenty of positive attention with the release of 1997’s debut album Paradise Belongs to You; regarded by those in the know as the perfect Doom Metal album. From this point on they continued to impress a growing following with albums such as 2000’s Martye, the pinnacle 2006 offering, Veronika Decides to Die, before 2012’s Saturn in Ascension. All engaging, deeply emotional collections of songs, unfortunately Saturnus went silent in the decade to follow.
Where did they go? Well, those may be for various personal reasons, but the light at the end of the tunnel is that they are back in 2023 with new music. An unexpected surprise to many of those who have known of Saturnus from their past triumphs, but may have lost track of them since, they now return with the album entitled The Storm Within. Eleven long years after Saturn in Ascension, they harness all of themselves into this new record… and it is nothing less than intense.
Consisting of 7 tracks, The Storm Within arrived on June 16th through Prophecy Productions with long-time members Brian Pomy Hansen (bass), Thomas Akim Grønbæk Jensen (vocals), and Henrik Glass (drums) joining up with newer additions Mika Filborne (keyboards), Indee Rehal-Sagoo (guitars), as well as Julio Fernandez (guitars). As a collective unit they create an album full of darkness, sorrow, and heavily emotional feelings that flow through you like water. What this means is Saturnus takes something negative festering within, and transforms it into something extremely beautiful in the form of melodies that are like toxicities leaving the soul.
Rather stunning, the album truly requires undivided attention to grasp the beauty and cathartic energy it holds. In truth, this is something fans of this type of music will absolutely devour. It breathes, it develops, and sometimes even leaves you on the brink of tears. Almost impossible to put your finger on just selecting songs to listen to, The Storm Within, as a whole, is a journey you need to take from start to finish. With this, Saturnus offers you something immensely atmospheric both with guitars, but also sometimes with just keyboards and clean vocals sprinklered throughout.
Without exaggeration, Saturnus’ The Storm Within is an essential 2023 Doom Metal release. Real, effective, and extremely thoughtful, it is a gift to those who have followed this style of music for many years. That all taken into consideration, it does require a particular mindset to fully absorb. So, go into it willing to transcend into darkness, but only with the hope of coming out feeling freer on the other end. An epic return from Saturnus, Cryptic Rock gives The Storm Within 5 out of 5 stars.
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