Sometimes one can describe an album in just a few words. And I could do this with Saturnalia Temple, saying it is hypnotising, sludgy, doomy, psychedelic music…but by doing that, I would do the album very wrong… The band developed their style during the last ten years and it would be fair to go by the songs one by one and do them justice. Welcome on this trip!
Tordyvel: A short introduction to the album;
slowly but surely the band and sound rise up from the depth to overwhelm us
with their music.
Saturnalia Temple: The real start of the album. Introducing psychedelic
heavy rock with sludge style music. The clean vocals sound as though they are
put through some sort of vocal changer. The band did use an old Ribbon
microphone, though. The use of old equipment, like a 1977 guitar and 1970 Fuzz
Wah contribute to the atmosphere and general feel of the album.
Gravity: Dirty screaming growls make this song heavy as hell, whereas
the music still sounds out of any time. The song goes on for nine minutes, and
really works into your entire body. If you have not yet heard the rest of the
album, one could say this is a key song on the album…but after listening to the
rest, there are more key songs then one!
Elyzian Fields: Starting
with a distorted bassline, immediately grapping you by the guts, and the
gorging vocals make it even more smothering. Yet melodically the song is quite
comforting, making it not a punishment to be stuck in this song.
Between the Worlds: The introduction of the longest song of the album
starts with what sounds like a cello, or
a singing saw, but maybe it is just another creative use of the guitar. Anyway,
it sounds great. The song is quite experimental and the band is taking time to
build up the song. After four minutes the vocals come up, more dark than ever.
Whispered growls sound haunted like hell. Another key song if you ask me!
Bitter Taste: The guitars take room for some nice solos and duets,
instead of the heavier wall of sound in the previous songs. The combination of
instruments and vocals make it sounds like a song from the chapel of the
underground.
Once we are in this occult chapel…why not throw in a hypnotising chant as well?
Oannes does this and more. I do wonder what you see when you close your
eyes and listen to this song?!
Alpha Drakonis: In a
different, yet fitting dark way, this instrumental soundscape closes the album.
So…it was quite a trip, this album. The band took their ten year experience and mixed it with all the music they heard over the last five decades. A dark, psychedelic trip is what they squeezed out of it and put together on this great album. It would be quite a thing to see them live as well!
