ALBUM REVIEW: City Burials – Katatonia

You could be forgiven for thinking that KATATONIA are two bands with the same name. For some the name is indelibly attached to a pair of highly influential melodic death/doom albums from the mid-nineties; late and important artefacts of the diminishing Swedish death metal scene. Nowadays KATATONIA are better known for having created a particularly bleak species of the progressive rock and metal genera. Their steady ascent towards mainstream credibility mirrors the success of countrymen OPETH and IN FLAMES, but KATATONIA’s upward journey has been characterised by evolution rather than revolution. Their last two albums, Dead End Kings and The Fall Of Hearts, at last secured the commercial success and critical acclaim which their transitional releases had been working towards. Following a brief hiatus, KATATONIA have returned with their eleventh studio album City Burials.

The band’s aesthetic is deeply intertwined with Travis Smith’s distinctive style, who has produced the artwork for each album since Tonight’s Decision. The artist’s haunting, avian–themed work is notably absent, however. Instead a photographic portrait, ostensibly a representation of the ‘Dead End King’ himself, graces the cover of City Burials; an aged figure, crowned with a mirror’s shards, and bearing the burden of all things abandoned and forgotten. These conceptual misgivings belie an album which is decidedly not conceptual. There are no characters or stories to follow through City Burials. Rather the album depicts vignettes of suburban sorrow, realised through lyrics attempting poetic ambiguity, and accompanied by competent but restrained musicianship.

There is a cinematic quality to KATATONIA’s music. The interplay of imagery and instrumentation is skilfully deployed by songwriter Jonas Renkse, and City Burials feels deeply personal and cohesive as a result. While the atmosphere is a tad earnest, verging on adolescent melodrama, City Burials generally achieves the drab melancholy KATATONIA have become known for. In spite of the gloom, there is a pop-accessibility to the melody and structure of songs like Lacquer, The Winter Of Our Passing and City Glaciers, which are mitigated by moments of radio-friendly intensity in Behind The Blood and Rein. To accuse KATATONIA of failing to excite misses the point. Their strengths lie elsewhere in moments of quiet serenity and despondent beauty. Tracks like Vanishers and Untrodden successfully reiterate on this formula, which worked so well on The Fall Of Hearts. In places City Burials is able to up the ante with some visceral emotive passages, but taken as a whole, it all feels rather subdued and very familiar.

Those expecting a refreshed approach following the band’s hiatus might be disappointed, but for their throngs of devotees, KATATONIA have delivered more of what is expected of them. City Burials feels like the concatenation of a series of safe choices. It’s hard to lavish praise on something so conceived, even if it excels at what it does: moody, atmospheric and progressive (with a small ‘p’) – KATATONIA are operating well within their comfort zone here.

Rating: 6/10

City Burials is set for release April 24th via Peaceville Records.

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