Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
What is beyond our field of vision is always fascinating, always alluring, the only issue is keeping people interested in the object that cannot be seen; Space, like art, needs to be constantly visualised, identified with and when it is, it can stimulate the imagination and take it to places that it never would have believed.
If it isn’t pictured, if it isn’t to be seen for the wonder it is, then the point of existence is only fit for paying bills and the utter waste that comes with demoralisation, that those who covet the more insidious pursuits, money, wealth and power, will surely ground the artistry of the Universe down and reduce it pounds, shillings and pence, the greed of Capitalism at its most disheartening.
For the Rings of Saturn, the Universe is a consuming passion, and regardless of the mainstream’s thoughts on the genre they happily reside in, the band’s offering of Death Metal poise and growling creative howl is to be admired, it is the hum of space at its most volatile, most energetic and beautiful; space is not a realm for the symphony and the tactile of the gentle violin, it is the kingdom of the loud, the technically strident and like the Gods of old, a sphere in which battles are fought with ferocity, rage and intensity.
Ulta Ulla is the group’s offering to that which we cannot see with the naked eye but which is in our dormant dreams, the sphere in which a great Death Metal album can emulate the sincerity of Progressive Rock and allow the listener to dream, to understand that there really is more beyond our field of soften weak and certainly short sighted vision.
For Lucas Mann, Ian Bearer, Aaron Stechauner and Miles Dimitri Baker, Ulta Ulla represents a strength in purpose fulfilled, a sense of vicious blows but one not aimed at the innocent, but at those who would otherwise have art capitulate to money’s demands, the rage of an old order displaced by more meaningful avenues of passion.
In tracks such as The Relic, Harvest, Prognosis Confirmed, Servant of this Sentience and the short dramatic pulse of Unhallowed, Rings of Saturn truly offer a glimpse into the outer reaches, a place where some dare not look and in which some refuse to explore, yet for the enlightened, it is a venture worth giving your soul and your life too. Ulta Ulla is an offering of great Death Metal at its most imaginative.
Rings of Saturn’s Ulta Ulla is released on July 28th via Nuclear Blast records.
Ian D. Hall