Although Saturnus is a known band, I admit I had not until recently listened to them. A couple of months before this concert a friend of mine urged me to attend their forthcoming show. "Saturnus? What sort of music do they play?" I answered and he gave me all their releases. I got shocked!!! Such an important band and to be in my ignorance?

Before describing what happened at the show, I will refer some preliminary details, which indicate that this concert had some tiny unique characteristics. First of all it was organised by a small company named "Project Forest", at a small club "Ston Aera", which means "In The Air" in a distant but nice suburb of Athens, Petroupoli, which means "Stonecity", not in the city center as most of the concerts and the most important, the ticket price of 20 Euros was very reasonable for such a event.

Distance was a minor problem since Petroupoli is at the northwest of Athens, and normally most of the attendees should have made a long distance route, which could possibly have avert some others from coming. Personally I didn't enjoyed much, but I was compensated by the nice view because Petroupoli is located on the foothill of a mountain.

Ston Aera is a small but very cosy Club with nice wooden decoration. All 3 supporting bands were Greek. The concert begun at about 8:30 with "Sense of Loss". As far as I know they have also played as a support band to Antimatter and Anathema last year. Their music is something like Anathema of the latest period but somehow "flaccid”. There was also something at vocals that didn't fit with the band's style. After having played 2 songs a cute young girl named Chrysa entered on stage to assist at vocals. She sang with the singer one song and she sang exclusively the next one. This resulted these 2 songs to be of slightly different style, more dynamic, something between late Anathema and Lacuna Coil.

Next band was the very promising "Hedon Cries". Personally I like them a lot because they play an early Anathema style with strong doses of My Dying Bride. Their music starts from the point that Anathema have reached before their cultural, progressive, "Pink Floyd" style, turn. All musicians were good performers and played with passion and very dynamically but the indubitable frontman was the singer Andreas, who sang with all the power of his voice like a Death Metal singer. They also played a My Dying Bride cover: "My Hope, The Destroyer", which met a hot approval by the audience. They played for only 30 minutes leaving the best impressions by their passionate performance. Of course time was restricted but I think they should have played more songs from "Hate Into Grief" album and above all the best song according to my opinion: "My Hedon Cries".

Last supporting band was "On Thorns I Lay". They exist long time ago and have participated in many festivals in Greece and abroad. I remember them at least once at Rockwave. There have been some members and music style changes since late 90ties. They played many songs from the late releases and the new forthcoming one. The new material resembles in a way to Lacuna Coil and many among the audience seemed to enjoy it. Personally I prefer the older stuff before 2000. The only new song that I distinguished was "Feed Her Lust". Concerning their setlist that I write below, their fans should forgive me if it is not 100% accurate since I haven't listened the new tracks. For some reason the drummers of all 3 bands were amazing.

After a necessary break "Saturnus" appeared on stage to install and regulate their instruments and amplifiers. Even by this preliminary appearance the audience started to approve them with loud cheers. Their show begun at about 11 o'clock with "Empty Handed". The audience burst into headbanging and "metal" jostling. The same high spirit continued with "I Long" and the next dynamite "Inflame Thy Heart". The band slowed down speed but not enthusiasm with the "Rain Wash Me". In general I could say Saturnus are influenced mainly by Anathema and My Dying Bride and secondly by Opeth, Paradise Lost and others. The first release is a “bit difficult to digest” and sounds more like “My Dying Bride”, while the second one (personally I prefer it more) is faster with more early Anathema influences. At this show they played songs from all releases combined both styles. No matter how fast or slow the songs were, Saturnus performed all of them equally well. Of course the audience had the opportunity to express easier its enthusiasm mainly during the faster songs. The stage was very small and the 6 member group couldn't move so comfortably but this didn't prevent them from playing with passion, enthusiasm and high spirit.

On the other hand they derived power from the ardent response of the audience. The singer Thomas ("Brad Pitt") Akim Grønbæk Jensen was the main frontman and exciter of the audience. Something that surprised me was that he was reading from time to time the lyrics from some huge A3 size papers lying on the floor. He apologised that he couldn't remember the lyrics but this was a secondary matter because he sang with such a passion and aggressive mood that he made everybody happy. Anders Ro Nielsen at keyboards should be the "intellectual guy" of the band, the "silent mastermind power" providing the supporting atmosphere. Tais Pedersen and Peter Erecius Poulsen hurled lethal guitar riffs, which were the base of the sonic attack, while Lennart E. Jacobsen at bass and Nikolaj Borg at drums were holding the necessary aggressive rhythms. All songs were performed excellent, however apart from the first 3 ones I would also distinguish the vivid live performance of "Murky Waters" which sent their fans to the sky.

The concert finished at about 1 o'clock. Saturnus satisfied fully our expectations and they respected absolutely their fans by playing continuously for almost 2 hours. It is a shame that such an important bands played in a small club with the presence of 150-200 fans. Given their music magnitude they should play at least in front of 1000 -1500 people. On the other hand the stage and the club might have been small but very friendly and the fans had the opportunity to speak with the band members at the breaks, which doesn't usually happen at bigger clubs. Saturnus were very friendly, talkative and receptive with the fans. The whole organisation was very good and the sound extremely satisfactory for such a small place. I wish to see Saturnus more times and to become known to a broader audience because they deserve it.

Hedon Cries Setlist
A Different Psychedelic Flower
Beyond The Sea Of Seance
A Tear...My End
My Hope, The Destroyer (My Dying Bride cover)
A New Realm Approaching

On Thorns I Lay Setlist
Life Can Be
One Day
Angeldust
Breathing
The Threat Of Seduction
Future Narcotic
Precious Silence
Mistakes
Feed Her Lust
2 Faces
Life Without You

Saturnus Setlist
Empty handed
I long
Inflame thy heart
Rain wash me
Paradise Medley (featuring: Astral dawn / The underworld / I love thee)
Starres
Lost my way
Descending
Softly on the path you fade
Murky waters
In your shining eyes
Drown my sorrow
Christ goodbye