Album Review: Saturn – Ascending (Live in Space)

Saturn – Ascending (Live in Space)
Release Date:
Rise Above Records

Joining the ever growing roster of Bands the Brainfart loves is Saturn. Yet again, a good friend of mine reaches out to me and says, “I have a band you’re going to love.” We all know how this could end. I’ll either love it or I’ll fucking be like, “What the fuck were you thinking?” As I put on Saturn’s latest release Ascending (Live in Space) and the first track “So, You Have Chosen Death” kicked in, I thought two things: These guys must be Swedish. This fucking rules my goddamn face.

Saturn is another band to join the Swedish Invasion unleashing a riff factory that churns out nothing but solid, psychedelic, blues (and booze) infused heavy metal. Where their Swedish compadres such as Blues Pills and Graveyard tend to dip more into the psychedelic blues, Saturn delivers some righteous NWOBHM style heavy metal much like UFO, Tygers of Pan Tang, and Diamondhead on songs like “Roktorri”, “Leadersheep”, and “Peasant.” What I really love is the fact that Saturn can break things up a bit and keep things interesting on songs like “Over the Influence” and “Tower of Terror” by infusing just a touch of the blues to stretch their influences just a bit out of the box. The album closes with “Moonstone” which sounds kind of like something Led Zeppelin would’ve recorded after a very long night of drinking and dosing some blotter sheets. It’s a really cool song that is oddly off key but the beauty and realness of it really pulled me in and had me wanting to hear it again.

 

Saturn has taken my favorite kind of music and truly created something uniquely beautiful. A true diamond in the rough, Saturn is imperfectly rough around the edges but much like an unearthed gem the beauty lies below the surface. The music and performances on Ascending are truly touching and they are so authentic and real that at times I felt like they were in the room with me just running through their songs. This was a fantastic listening experience and at only eight songs long proved that without a doubt less is more. A truly great album is one that leaves you wanting more and doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. Saturn had me wanting more so much that it had me going in for a repeat listen.

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