Saturnalia Temple – Gravity

Saturnalia Temple is a Swedish Doom Metal band that has spent the last fourteen years since their inception creating and releasing their own Stoner version of the genre, culminating in Gravity, their third-ever Full-length release which saw the light of day earlier this year.

Now, being a Stoner/Doom Metal band, the eight tracks present upon this record are, unsurprisingly, very slow, meticulously simplistic and with quite a few roughened edges – Personally, early Black Sabbath springs to mind, especially when it comes to the title track (a link to which can be found below).

Gravity seems to be focused around, much like most other Stoner albums I have been able to get my hands on, being albums that you feel more than albums you listen to; Which explains both the heavily simplistic nature of the records build-up, as well as the fact that all instruments (the bas in particular) are either greatly distorted or otherwise made to reverberate as much as humanly possible. An interesting approach, one that most definitely marks the band as one you sit down and listen to in the comfort of your own home, not while driving to and from work, since you lose much of the appeal of the band when you strip down immersion and the ability to sit down and let the chords rush over you.

And while I will admit to not being a particular fan of this specific sub-genre of Doom Metal, I will concede that it does have its appeal – The ability too physically feel the music and the near-droning approach most certainly has its merits, as far as musical expression is concerned – And the fact that I happen to be a fan of early Black Sabbath probably helps a bit too.

Make sure to grab it if you are ever in the mood for a slow night in and have nearly an hour to spare.

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