Forgotten Tomb - Under Saturn Retrograde
I once worshipped this Italian Black/Doom outfit with the same fervor that they worshipped Brave Murder Day-era Katatonia. Their full-length debut, 2002’s Songs to Leave, is an essential classic, completely flawless in its melancholic misery. Not much the band have done since then has hurt quite as much, save for the suicidal anthem “Alone” from Love’s Burial Ground (2004), which I still listen to religiously to this day. After the Cock Rock travesty that was 2007’s Negative Megalomania, I had pretty much given up on the band. I just figured they’d either break up after realizing how gay the album they had made was, or that performing the songs live would give them AIDS. But here they are back again four years later, new album, new label. What to expect? Riffs from the album opener “Reject Existence” expose that they still owe quite a bit to Katatonia, and believe me I’m not complaining as this is easily the best song. Other highlights include a surprisingly decent cover of The Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and the 2-part epic title track. If I could offer one piece of advice to vocalist Herr Morbid: you can’t sing. Your clean vocals are terrible and they ruin songs. Stick to the Black Metal voice, it’s fucking awesome. Half the battle is finding out what you can’t do and then not doing it. So, while not a complete return to form, Under Saturn Retrograde is still a massive upgrade from the pure shit that was Negative Megalomania. Maybe the next one will be even better?
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