Band:	Forgotten Tomb
Album:	Under Saturn Retrograde
Style:	Melodic black metal, Doom metal
Release date:	April 22, 2011
A review by:	KwonVerge

01. Reject Existence
02. Shutter
03. Downlift
04. I Wanna Be Your Dog [The Stooges cover]
05. Joyless
06. Under Saturn Retrograde Part I
07. Under Saturn Retrograde Part II
08. You Can't Kill Who's Already Dead
09. Spectres Over Venice

Boom boom, piñata! Four years after Negative Megalomania we've got visitors again! Forgotten Tomb are here once again with Under Saturn Retrograde being the fifth part of their legacy to date and for the first time we can see some color on the cover artwork! The black n' white era is over and a septic yellow/brown portrait having its origins in Asian horror films has taken its place. Well, don't tell me that the girl in the cover doesn't look like Sadako?!

The Katatonia references are still here, they couldn't be missing, after all they are part of Forgotten Tomb's sound "personality", they never were that personal anyway. But, they made some fabulous doom/black metal releases filled with intensity and all the negative emotions that start with "d". This time they present a more rocking attitude, tones of melody compared to their previous releases and some kind of castrated artifact of what they used to be. Could this be bad? If you're searching for another Songs To Leave or Springtime Depression, then yes, it probably won't please you enough. The tormented days are over and the band tends to give a more melancholic vibe in their music, with some hallucinating harmony and a will to enjoy their sadness through the more rocking attitude that I already mentioned. The cover on the famous Stooges tune "I Wanna Be Your Dog" says it all. I know, it's been covered a thousand times before, so another one wouldn't hurt. Early Forgotten Tomb hurts, this one doesn't.

If you're a Paradise Lost fan you will also witness here and there some riffs that refer to the Shadowkings through the whole duration of the album. But this isn't the only reference to the aforementioned pioneers of the gothic metal scene, the not so many but apparent clean vocals have a Nick Holmes essence, without his renowned hoarse edge though. As for the rest, the guitars due to their more melodic aura or more upbeat attitude evoke the predictable ambiance, well-accompanied by the rhythm section. But still, they couldn't leave behind totally their dissonant accent, which is good. And last but not least, Herr Morbid's howls are still in good shape and depict properly the band's intentions in terms of interpreting, after all he's the soul of the band.

Concluding, Under Saturn Retrograde is a pretty solid and good release for what it is. The rest lies in your own personal ambitions of what to expect from the band in 2011, a band whose members have been together for quite a long time and work well as a vehicle.