SATURNUS STUDIOREPORT  




The Danish doom metal band, Saturnus, has been through a turbulent passage of time since the release of Martyre in the year 2000. But now they are back with full force on a two-records deal on the Finnish label Firebox. Evilution Magazine was exclusively invited by the band to spend a day together with them in Sweet Silence Studios, where I listened to some of the recordings and got an interview with singer Thomas AG Jensen and guitarist Tais Pedersen about the new album to come, the contract with Firebox and the long break in music since the previous release.

# You are in the process of recording the first album since Martyre from 2000. How does it feel to be back in business and what was the cause of the long break ?

Thomas: “The long break was all natural to us. In 1999/2000 we had the famous break-up that everyone knows about, we were three members back and we had to gather the pieces and form a new lineup for the band, which pretty much covers the time gap. Off course not all the time, but we had a lot of rehearsals with musicians, especially different drummers and bass players, and it has taken a lot of time in the band. At the same time we had to teach the new musicians the stuff, concept of the band and the like, we also had to teach them all the old material before composing new material with them. It required of us all that we understood each other before we could start on any new material and that has taken a great amount of time. That is in short words the reason that the album comes with this delay. It has taken the time that kind of things require to find the right group of musicians, who can play their things on their instruments, and also be on the same level as the rest of the band, and that has not always been that easy. Tais is the oldest of the new members, he has only been in the band for five years yet he is still new [laughs], where Lennart joined on a later time instant, and I think it has been difficult to get in the fray of such a mentally tight knot of members. That has clearly created some problems and contributed to the reason of the delay. It has in fact taken a long time to get to know one another … one thing is to sit at our local pup, Haraldsborg, and drink together, another thing is to create serious material together. It is to very different worlds. It feels like a very great victory for me to be back, and on the other hand it seems very natural to me.”  

Tais: “We all probably had our worries here and there with all those replacements of members and trouble there has been around us. But during the last 1½-2 years there was no doubts about getting the thing done properly. It was all just a question of time and gathering the band that was supposed to do the new album. It is a nice feeling at last to be doing it.” 

Thomas: “I have been standing in the studios with Saturnus before, and it feels just as natural as it was back with the previous members. We just moved on now.” 

# You are back with Flemming Rasmussen in Sweet Silence Studios where For the Loveless Lonely Nights and Martyre has been recorded ? 

Thomas: “One cannot wish for a better producer. I don’t want to try others cause this just works perfect for us. You come down here from the rehearsal facility with doubts about your own performance, just like when you play live; “Does it turn out well ? It just has to be perfect !”. When you enter here its like a free-time club after school where everything is relaxed. There is no pressure from a drill sergeant who whips your back and commands you back and forth, as you sometimes experience in studios.” 

Tais: “He is a genius to check out when you are tired, and then you just stop there. Its not like “Time is Money” in here. He is ice cold and very relaxed, and I think it is very good that way.”

Thomas: “At the same time he is very honest towards you as a musician. He is serious, but he doesn’t make you doubt in your self. He can be serious with a spark in the eye, yet you are not in doubt when he means it and you pull your self together when he points out some things. Something just happens when you start. One cannot do anything else than respect a guy like Flemming Rasmussen. It isn’t peanuts he has produced so far. A lot of Danish artists, but also names like Metallica, Rainbow, Blind Guardian, Morbid Angel are some of the names he has been involved with.”   

# Right now one half of the Saturnus Line-up is new since Martyre. Where is Saturnus seen from a musical style point of view, today in relation to Martyre ? 

Thomas: “If you use Martyre as a reference, I don’t think our style is a development of that record in particular. I would not say we have taken a step back, cause we have in fact not, but the new album is more a new step from Paradise Belongs To You as Martyre was supposed to be. When the new album is released I think Martyre will stand out in the same way as For The Loveless Lonely Nights does today. If  you remove For the Loveless Lonely Nights and says that it stood out because the acoustic material and the live tracks, then I think that in the future Martyre will be the record that stands out as the more radio-friendly and easy listening record that the listener does not want to listen to 10 times to see if it is anything. That was the case with Paradise Belongs To You. That is an album that requires 10-15 times in the player before the music starts to work on you, with exception of “The Fall of Nakkiel (Nakkiel has Fallen)” and “Christ Goodbye” which are more catchy tracks if you like. As a whole product Martyre is more easily accessible since it does not demand that much from the active listener, but the new album will on the other hand.” 

# Has the songwriting changed from Martyre until now or do you proceed the same way as back then – even with the new members ? 

Thomas: “I would say that the process is more or less the same as always. There are some suggestions that come up and not everyone is necessary in agreement with it, but we just work through with it to see if we can use it or not. There will always be some coming up with new ideas, and not everyone has participated in everything regarding songwriting, but on the other hand there is no need of six people working on one guitar riff. There are things that Tais did, and things he didn’t participate in, and seen as a whole this is the way we have always worked with and it works for us.” 

Tais: “There are few tracks which were written and presented as whole tracks in the rehearsal facility. “Murky Waters” is one of them. It was more or less a finished track that was presented that we then started working with. Normally someone comes with an idea or a riff that we then consider for a while, takes a bit gives a bit until someone comes with another or new thing … and somewhere in that process the things start to develop.”

Thomas: “I would almost dare to say that 50% of this record came through jamming a riff, where somewhere someone started to add something to it and so forth. Then we said “hey that was cool, could we try this or that ?”. “Empty Handed” started with Peter Poulsen who had to do a sound check on his guitar at a concert on 30 (venue in Copenhagen, Ed.), where he just played some riff that Jesper and Brian then followed up on the drums and bass. That was the birth of “Empty Handed” that we then proceeded working on in the rehearsal facility. It is often coincidence that creates the basis for new things, and in many ways this is the way of the new album.” 

Tais: “But in a very cool manner.” 

# The things I was allowed to listen to here in the studio gives me the impression that the new album will be more melancholic ? 

Thomas: “Yes it is. It is no secret that I personally is more into the melody in melancholy, compared to the development that maybe was on the verge of happening in the “old” Saturnus. If you look at the “Star Rover” album from The Loveless, it could very well have been the next step from Martyre and that is not a development that I would be interested in. Not to discredit The Loveless, but it is just not my type of style seen from a musical point of view. Since the new album is more or less a follow up on Paradise Belongs To You it comes natural that the album is more melancholic. It is on purpose from our side. If you read the lyrics and hold the album title in regard, it all comes together, lyrics album-title and music.”  

Tais: “It is all in all a very somber album. Maybe not that somber from a musical point of view, but it is heavy with a good portion of melody.” 

Thomas: “That is why I think that the new album is more or less a development of  Paradise Belongs To You since that is the atmosphere we would like to recreate with the more pure doom elements in the music. Martyre is also a doom album, but not in the same way since it also has some gothic influences. The new album has definitely not. There are off course some tracks to break the thick surface, else it would sleep, but it will be more pure doom this time.” 

# I know that you don’t want to reveal the title of the new album before it is released, but can you reveal some of the song titles ? 

Thomas: “Yes, there is “I Long”, “All Alone” and “Embraced By Darkness”, that all three gives a good picture of the theme of the new album. We could reveal the title of the album for you but there is no reason to do it before it is released. One reason is also that it is a title we have a rights issue on it in terms of the title existing already. Not on music composition but it’s a title on a book. We have the permission now to use it, but you never know what happens. So no revealing of the title so nothing goes wrong.” 

# There will also be a prominent guest musician on one of the tracks, Michael Denner known from Mercyful Fate and Force of Evil ?

Thomas: “Yes, it was my idea since Michael Denner, as a guitarist,  always was a big icon for me. Especially because I have always been a great Mercyful Fate and King Diamond fan – mostly Mercyful Fate. I have always loved Denner’s guitar solos compared to Hank Shermann’s because Denner was able to make his guitar seem to be crying and melodious where Shermann was more technical in his approach to guitar solos.  So I thought, now that we are working together with a guy like Flemming Rasmussen who is also some kind of idol to us, why not get a god like guitarist inside and contribute to the album with a solo ? It will only be one solo, he is not supposed to do anything else on the album, but it is a great thing for us as fans of Michal Denner. Other than that we have some loose plans about some violin and cello on the album but it is only a loose plan so far. Now we will just have to see how things develop regarding the timeline in the studio. We are under a time pressure and it is not something we would like to compromise. 

# How do you cope with the expectations from outside ? Five years have passed and a lot of Saturnus fans have been looking forward to the next album ? 

Tais: “That’s a hard one … difficult question to answer … “ 

Thomas: “One would be an idiot to say that one didn’t hope that the new album will be well received by people. Everyone who works creatively with music, art or literature has a wish that things work out, and we off course wish and hope that we get good reviews and that a lot of metal fans will buy the album. But I have thought about the expectation pressure, and thought about if it does affect people in a way that may lead to them knifing it because it isn’t just the masterpiece they have been waiting on. A long time has passed and the expectation atmosphere is stirring, but it’s probably mostly here in Denmark. I don’t know … if it gets bad reviews it’s just what it is. I don’t think it will sell less than the previous records taking that into account. It’s not a thing I fear that much. I can vouch for this record as well as for the others so it can’t be that bad. I don’t think we as band are affected by that expectation pressure, were just anxious to people’s reaction when it is released. We all know that it can be beaten in the reviews because there has passed a long time and people expect a lot, but we are prepared. We don’t fear to release it.” 

# Has it been a heavy burden to carry for the new members, when you had to replace Kim, Jesper and Brian ?

Tais: “Absolutely, one could say that [laugs]. Off course it is. It is always a big pressure to be supposed to replace another person, who plays on some records which have been highlighted by the reviewers, as it is. To fill it out playing live as well as what regards the future is clearly a pressure. But it is only to hang on and try to do it as best as you can. But it was a big pressure in the beginning, I felt like a target when we were out some places.” 

Thomas: “I must be honest. When I first met Tais at Tex (defunct venue in Copenhagen, Ed.) and he offered me to help us out, I didn’t have any basis to say whether he was a good or bad guitarist, judging from the things I had seen and heard with Gothic Domain (now Usipian, Ed.), but we had nothing to loose back then. We could try and if it went wrong we could part again, no more no less. But with Tais I absolutely don’t feel that it was a loss loosing Kim. Kim is a very good guitarist I will not vouch against that. He is a brilliant guitarist. But I haven’t felt any decrease on the performance regarding the instruments since the new people came in the band. The band has off course developed a new sound and another flow, but that is what you have to expect since it is new people behind the instruments. But seen with Saturnus eyes there haven’t been the slightest difference. 

# After three releases on Euphonious Records you have now signed in for two albums on Firebox. How did that deal come into your hands and what are your expectations ? 

Thomas: “It wasn’t a secret via the internet that we were looking for a new deal. One of us had written that we were looking for a deal and asked if anyone could help with addresses etc.. On the forum of DoomMetal.com a thread was created where it stated that Saturnus was missing a record company to strike a deal with. People then began to talk about Firebox and shortly after there was a specific post from Firebox who stated that they had not heard anything from us but they didn’t want to decline anything. So I wrote Firebox a mail about that we would send some material their way, which we then did. They were very pleased about it and shortly after the simply mailed a deal that just had to be signed. That was the short version of how it all went along. I had for some time thought about Firebox before that since they have some killer releases, it is a doom label and it is a label that is not that big but in my opinion they have a very good way of representing their clients.” 

Tais: “They put their forces the right places.” 

Thomas: “Yes they do and at the same time it is a label who loves the doom metal genre already. They don’t really have anything else so they know where to place their things to make it be seen. It is not a coincidence that Swallow The Sun lies #8 on Finland’s Top Chart 100 with the newest release. That’s because Firebox are able to do something for sure. We don’t expect that Saturnus will enter that Top Chart 100 but it is nice to see that Firebox has a foot in the right spot. There have been interests from Spinefarm, which our previous manager had established some contact with, and the same goes for Peaceville. But seen from a very egoistic point of view we aren’t ready for Spinefarm. Maybe Peaceville but not Spinefarm. We have to newly become daddys in the band, and some of us are in the midst of some education. In the choice of Firebox we are our own masters. If we wish to tour in only 14 days or part a tour up in two periods we will surely work something out, where it would have been more difficult on a bigger label. We would risk to get on a large tour for two months and that would lead to some left children, mothers, jobs and education which would be rather sad. We off course give our music top priority, but we are in need of being covered in on the home front as well. Now the new Saturnus album will be released in 2006, and I can say that I am almost 100% sure that there wont be a next record in 2007 but maybe in 2008. We’ll take it from there. Maybe the kids then are that big that they can live without their fathers for a longer period … if things explode, they will also explode at Firebox, but we’ll have to take it from there. I have never ever before met a record company that were that forthcoming in the negotiations of a deal. We got what we pointed on this time. Of course we knew that we could not demand 10.000$ in studio budget, but we got what we asked for with no spare comments. There hasn’t been any small details that we had to negotiate either, so far it seems very promising. They care about us and we as a band can clearly feel that. It is also cool for us to be wanted and liked at Firebox.” 

# The album will be released in February or March 2006 ? 

Thomas: “Yes that is the deadline we work towards, unless something goes wrong. 

# Do you have any thoughts or plans for live jobs in 2006 as to promote the release ? 

Thomas: “What we will work on, when we are able to present the new album, is to see if we could be so lucky to get some festival jobs during the summer. Eventually see if there is some club jobs, and then after the summer see if we can get something more structured and planned like a tour perhaps. It will be to stressing to tour before the summer festival jobs but then everything is still fresh for a tour after the summer. It wont be that exciting to see us at a festival if you already saw us in a club or something maybe. We prefer that you get the big experience on the festival first, then the intense experience on a club after.”

-->> Conducted and written by Bo.

Pictures by Lennart E. Jacobsen