Wow….for a moment I thought I was the victim of a time warp which brought me back to the late seventies, listening to a new record on dad’s record player.
But no, it is 2014 and I am listening trough the headphone which is hooked to a laptop…hope this helps to make it clear that Saturn are not what one could describe as a band treading new ground. Au contraire, mon ami, is what a French speaking native would reply. Saturn, gives us with Ascending a slab of hard rocking/ metal as it was planned to be around 1978 -1981 in the UK. And the Swedes do it well, really well. Opener “So, you have chosen death” could very well be a leftover of the very early work from metal gods Priest and clearly bands like Budgie, Diamond head – listen to “Peasant” -, UFO and…well, you name ‘em, are omnipresent across the album. Not in the form of blatant rip-off of songs, but more in the vibes, musicianship, and the obvious honest love for NWOBHM and late seventies Rock genre.