Saturnus

History

Formerly known as Assesino.

SATURNUS came into being when singer Thomas A.G. Jensen started looking for fellow musicians in the area of Denmark's capital Copenhagen to form a death metal act in 1991. He soon found a kindred spirit in bass player Brian Hansen. Once a guitarist and drummer had joined, at first the band ASESINO was formed. Following a number of changes during the next few years, the name was finally switched to SATURNUS in 1993.

SATURNUS released their first album "Paradise Belongs to You" in January 1997. On the remarkable strength of the debut full-length, the Danes were invited to perform at the famous Roskilde Festival the same year. The show was recorded by Norwegian Radio (NRK) and ended up being broadcast all over Scandinavia, which firmly established the band as a death doom household name in Northern Europe.

SATURNUS hooked up with producer Flemming Rasmussen to record their sophomore album at his Sweet Silence Studios in early 1999. In January 2000, "Martyre" was finally released after a series of strange events caused a delay. This became a pattern.

The third studio full-length "Veronika Decides to Die" hit the stores in 2006 after more unfortunate events resulted in another hiatus in the Danes' activities. After the release, SATURNUS embarked on a small tour with AGALLOCH and NOVEMBERS DOOM, which was followed by a more extensive European circuit with Chileans MAR DE GRISES and THURISAZ in 2008. More dates happened in 2011, but it would take until November 2012 before the acclaimed fourth album "Saturn in Ascension" was released, which was once more produced by Flemming Rasmussen.

Celebrating their 20th anniversary, SATURNUS got back on the roads of Europe and also performed at prestigious festivals such as Brutal Assault (CZ), Copenhell (DK), and ArtMania (RO) among many others. The Danes continued touring with occasional breaks from 2014 until 2017, which got them as far as Russia and to the Middle East.

After several difficult changes in the line-up, SATURNUS were joined by guitarists Indee Rehal-Sagoo (formerly CLOUDS and EYE OF SOLITUDE) and Julio Fernandez from AUTUMNAL in 2020. Despite more obstacles created by the pandemic, the band finally started working on their next album and also continued their collaboration with Flemming Rasmussen.

"The Storm Within" took a long time in its creation and along the way demanded painful sacrifices from SATURNUS. All the blood, pain, and sweat have left their marks on this record. Yet in the end, the brutal honesty and the baring of the soul emanating from each note is what makes "The Storm Within" such a brilliant piece of music.

(source: Prophecy Productions, March 2023)