Rings of SaturnUltu Ulla

For some reason, I had my heart set on this being some kind of spiritual sequel to Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds. This doesn’t show my age, though. If you have a dad of the nerd calibre, he probably has this LP in his collection. Rings of Saturn are also in space, and play death metal in space with the technical expertise one needs to launch oneself in space. Light speed arpeggios give the shining, shimmering, splendid quality of the stars twinkling above in Servant of this Sentience and one begins thinking these guys are rather good at guitar.

Light speed arpeggios give the shining, shimmering, splendid quality of the stars twinkling above in Servant of this Sentience and one begins thinking these guys are rather good at guitar.

Cementing their being-good-at-guitarness is off-kilter fret blasts radiating from the crater of Immemorial Essence, which also demonstrates their palpable good-at-keyboarding. Middle-order track Margidda marries the two in all their blinding goodness and light, approaching Dream Theater levels of being good at instruments. Harvest is a lesson in being good but also being different, sort of like how Mattias ‘IA’ Eklundh (Freak Kitchen) or Devin Townsend are. The carnival “breakdown” is also a breather from the sheer chaos of notes being tossed about, too.

The Macrocosm is a wink at us, because it’s a track showing us all the different styles in which Rings of Saturn excel (at guitar.) Polyrhythms, wrist-melting tapping, long flowing leads inspiring a frozen face resembling the point of climax; it’s all there. It’s chaotic, it’s guitar played to pornographic extremes, and it’s about space. If you can’t bear that, you won’t stomach this.

STANDOUT TRACKS: Margidda, Servant of this Sentience, Immemorial Essence
STICK THIS NEXT TO: Meshuggah, Periphery, Atheist