Veronika Decides to Die

This album was in my life for more than 10 years already. It's been with me for such a long time and in that time I listened to it so much I memorized it. Every line, every riff, every note. I stop listening to it sometimes, sometimes for a year or more, but I always come back to it. It's just that amazing for me. So it's kinda hard for me to have a objective perspective since I love everything about it.

Every album this band has released has an amazing atmosphere. That's why they're so loved by the fans, all their music, their shows, have really great atmosphere. It always feels honest, especially in this album. It's all about the basic emotions of every human being, starting right from "I long" where it goes exactly like it feels when you long for your loved one. That's all you feel, like just growling I loooooooooooong.. Sometimes you have to "Pretend", just like on the track. Sometimes you're "all alone", and sometimes you find hope going "to the dreams". This album captures it all.

Every sound is clear. You can hear every single instrument really well. I guess it's called crystal clear production. Every note sounds. And sounds well, nothing seems out of place. Every word, every riff and drum fill just is in the right place. Bass is amazing too. And guitar work, just amazing. The growls are so deep they just pierce you. And they play it as good as if not better when they play live! They are great musicians, and you can tell when listening to this album. Songs feel composed well, they flow within themselves and one into another really well and smooth. Music never rushes, never really goes full death metal, it steadily flows instead from melody to melody, always on the melancholic side. Sometimes it gets exciting and contrasts between fast and slow passages just make it so full of sound, content.

Overall this album captures a lot of feelings every human that has emotions has. It's a well constructed music piece. It's thought through and felt through. It's great regardless of what genre you like. It's definitely metal, and there's definitely a lot of doom there. It's worth giving a try for anyone who likes good music, cause this is what it is.

10/10 would listen to it again

I've been always asked about my favorite doom death metal album of all time, and the answer has always been "Veronika Decides To Die" for so many reasons. The Danish group Saturnus has kept the spirit of the melodic doom metal alive within a wide range of doom death metal influences, and this fascinating touches have been alive through the discography of the band. The debut album "Paradise Belongs to You" was a huge masterpiece for the fans of the old school doom death metal fans around the world, and a lot of people thought that the band wont have the ability to produce another masterpiece then, but the two following albums "Martyre" and "Veronika Decides to Die" have just satisfied every single doomer in the world, making this Danish group at the top of the best doom death metal acts in the world today.

Paulo Coelho must be really proud of this piece of work, because every single track in this record has a very special atmosphere. These eight tracks have been stuck inside my head for more than five years, and it was so hard for me to describe all of my feelings toward this amazing album. The tune of the lead guitars in the tracks "Descending" and "Rain Wash Me" are really touching, especially if you're listening to this album in the winter while the sound of the rains is capturing a small size of the total sound around your speakers. Thomas Jensen and his powerful growling vocals are the source of all energy and life in these tracks, and his great abilities to make theatrical spoken vocals style inside the calm guitar sections made some tracks like "I Long" and "All Alone" memorable and catchy.

The album has been mixed and produced perfectly to leave a big trace in the history of the doom death metal music, the genius production is really obvious in the tracks "To The Dreams" and "Pretend". The sound of the bass is waving upon the beach of the grainy distorted guitars , and the keyboards float in a marvelous way behind the total wall of sound that the guitars create. The drumming sections in this record are one of my favorite elements, and I am sure that these beats will be the main influences for a lot of bands in the future.

And now its winter time, that means there is another piece of art will be released by this grand Danish group, as I am still stuck in the melodies of "Veronica Decides To Die" I hope the band will have the ability to pull me out of this record and get me stuck again into the melodies of the new anticipated album. I recommend this album for all the fans of good music around the world, not only for the doom metal fans, because the musical elements in this record are enough to capture the ears of mankind at once.

Originally written for:
www.jorzine.com

I noticed improvement in their latest album. I especially like the vocals; the mixture of very deep growl, agonized vocal and spoken voice which makes wonderful atmosphere. A tempo is bit slower and melodies are beautiful combinations of mol chords. The guitar and piano parts are very enjoyable to listen to. It's very melodic album full of despair and tragedy.
The album starts with piano solo of the song I long. It's a good beginning and it makes listener slowly fall into guitar riffs of the song. Love the tempo, love the lyrics (expressing yearning for solution and sadness for not finding it, trying to escape from own existence), love the emotions put into the song/whole album.
All alone is one of my fav. It starts with the sound of thunderstorm. You can just feel the disappointment, very atmospheric... simply beautiful. It makes you fly away ;).
It is followed by another great song called Embraced by darkness. Love the melody. It' s like continuation of All alone. In my opinion songs on this album are like chapters of the novel (the irony ;)). They are not alike they are just so strongly connected between each other so that they can form unity.

Saturnus has once released a wonderful album - 'Paradise Belongs To You'. Unfortunately, their third full-length CD isn't that good.

The album has one great advantage - its romantic, melancholic and sorrowful atmosphere. You can just feel that overflowing sadness. But that's not enough for the listener to fully enjoy the music. While 'Paradise Belongs To You' was very interesting, 'Veronika...' is just monotonous and a bit boring. One scale was used to write most of the songs (except 'All Alone' and partly 'To the Dreams'). Furthermore, most of the songs are played in a similar tempo (except 'Murky Waters' and partly 'Pretend'). That's why the whole album sounds alike. There are some memorable moments, however, but they hardly affect my overall opinion. The same as things like quite good lyrics and sound of the guitars - they won't make me stop considering 'Veronika...' a letdown.

However, every single song, especially 'Pretend' or 'Murky Waters', could be quite enjoyable. So if you want an album which is a lot of pretty good depressing, melancholic and romantic songs (not masterpieces!), 'Veronika Decides To Die' is probably for you. But if you prefer enjoying the WHOLE release (with a similar atmosphere), choose, for example, their debut 'Paradise Belongs To You', My Dying Bride's 'Turn Loose the Swans' or The Fall of Every Season's 'From Below' instead of this one.