Forgotten Tomb – Under Saturn Retrograde (2011)

cover

After gives us four very bleak and depressive first full-length releases, Forgotten Tomb returns with an equally melancholic release but with a different sonic effect under the name of “Under Saturn Retrograde”. In this album the band moves forward to lands charted by Agalloch, Fen, etc. and creates a very rich listening experience while maintaining some of the dark emotions from the past.

The opener track “Reject Existence” is both brutal (great harsh vocals) and very melodic due to the majestic guitars and overall pace of the song. The band is not slowing down, and you can hear their earlier influences but they are now polishing their sound in a very interesting way. “Shutter” starts off very aggressive but near the middle of the track the experimentation begins and there are some excellent Doom Metal inspired sections.

“I Wanna Be Your Dog” cover of The Stooges, feels like a Gothic Rock song that got hit by a Black Metal snowball at 90 miles per hour, this creates a very interesting sound to this song and makes it one of our favorite tracks. “Joyless” has even more Gothic Rock influences with the clean vocals, but the guitar assaults never deviate from the strong and aggressive sound of the band.

The two-part song “Under Saturn Retrograde” starts off with a very Melodic Black Metal sound and it quickly evolves into a very interesting voyage with acoustic passages and a very powerful and emotional ending. This two-part song is our favorite ‘track(s)’ of this release due to the energy that it emits. The closer “Specters over Venice” is for us the perfect closing track since brings things down a notch and creates a very somber atmosphere.

Overall, while “Under Saturn Retrograde” might not be what hard-core fans of the band expected, we think it’s a nice evolution of their sound and shows the band’s metamorphosis into a more dynamic sound. If you like your music to be melodic and hard enough to scare your neighbors this is the perfect album for you.

Band: Forgotten Tomb Album: Under Saturn Retrograde
Label: Agonia Records

Release: May 10th, 2011

Oficial Site myspace
Genre: Doom/Gothic Rock/Black Metal

Country: Italy

Rating: 88/100
Year: 

Recent Image Galleries