Katatonia: A Deeper Kind Of Darkness
Few bands have come to define a particular mood as well as KATATONIA. Whether through the medium of doom-death, shoegaze-tinged alternative or, latterly, dark progressive metal, Sweden’s kings of darkness build soundscapes of haunting melancholy and atmospheric gloom. Each album offers something different, but unmistakably them, and their latest creation Sky Void Of Stars – twelfth in their catalogue – is no exception.
The genesis of the record happened during the dead air that followed 2020’s City Burials, an album whose April 2020 release made it an early victim of the pandemic. “I feel Sky Void Of Stars is really close to City Burials in most aspects,” says guitarist and founding member Anders Nyström. “It has Jonas‘ unique touch all over it. The songs carry his typical choice of notes, preferential vocal phrases and words.” Lead singer Jonas Renkse has been the primary songwriting force of the band for the last few album cycles, and Sky Void Of Stars continues this pattern. His expressive palette is broader than ever – ranging between his controlled baritone in Colossal Rains, all the way to poignant falsetto on Author.
Musically as well, Renkse grabs influences from sources as varied as power metal, trip-hop or even shades of djent. “There’s some serious prog stuff as well as some very commercial pop stuff, but always having a deeper kind of darkness embedded within,” relays Nyström. The radio appeal of Birds can testify to this, one of the most energetic songs the Swedes have ever recorded and an obvious choice for a single. Throughout the album, there is a strong sense of the familiar, unmistakable sound that defines KATATONIA, rendered fresh through new inspirations. Nyström admits that this is no less than they set out to do. “To me, it’s just a new KATATONIA album trying to push some boundaries without going out of our style. That’s the objective we’ve set for ourselves.”
After some lineup turbulence in the early 2010s, the five-piece have settled into a steady lineup for the third consecutive album, beginning with 2015’s The Fall Of Hearts. Perhaps the greatest musical change since then can be traced behind the drum kit, with Daniel Moilanen ramping up the technicality into full-blown prog-metal territory, as exemplified in the intricate toms and cymbals juxtaposed against the otherwise sparse arrangement of Drab Moon. “He’s a machine! You could throw almost whatever you want at him and he’ll figure it out and play it.”
Nyström contrasts this to the more direct approach in albums like Last Fair Deal Gone Down or Viva Emptiness: “Whereas [former drummer Daniel] Liljekvist had some technical limitations, he was a great drummer to play with and put more emphasis on ‘raw feeling’ that suited our older stuff incredibly well.” Despite the increased focus on complexity in this latest iteration of the band, there is a renewed directness to Renkse’s songwriting on Sky Void Of Stars. The songs possess instantly-inviting hooks, and unpeel further layers through multiple listens, such as the sublime orchestra of dark synths in Opaline.
There are yet more links between the new offering and its predecessor City Burials. “Both albums were mixed by Jacob Hansen [who has also mixed for VOLBEAT and ARCH ENEMY], so obviously his defined signature sound as an engineer is connecting them together like a couple of sonic siblings.” As one has come to expect of a KATATONIA release, in Sky Void Of Stars the heavy moments hit with great impact, whereas the subtler instrumentation is allowed to breathe. The image of the city, a constant dark presence in KATATONIA’s soundscape, echoes in lyrical references to traffic and skylines, whereas the haunting Impermanence (featuring guest vocals by SOEN’s Joel Ekelöf) sounds like a companion piece to the funeral dirge of City Burials’ closer Untrodden.
In the face of such continuity, there is perhaps a slight sense of unfinished business with City Burials. “We kinda sacrificed that album entirely into the jaws of the pandemic,” Nyström reflects. “While most bands held back and postponed their releases, we stuck with the plan to offer something brand new in a time where there was absolutely nothing going on. People were sitting locked up at home and just waiting for something to happen, so at least we gave them City Burials while being reluctantly aware that we were also not gonna be able to promote it properly.”
While they may have undergone numerous sonic evolutions over time, KATATONIA remain a band with a keen appreciation of their legacy. In the last few years they have toured a full-album playthrough of 2009’s Night Is The New Day, headlined Netherlands’ Prognosis Festival with a fan-voted setlist, and released a compilation of B-sides and rarities, as well as a deluxe cassette box-set of their early doom-death material. If given the choice, Nyström knows how he’d like to pay tribute to their history: “It would be nice to play a real old school set sometime and just focus on the style we did between 1992-1997, but Jonas just ain’t into that old stuff anymore.” When it comes to the doom-death era of the band at least, it is likely to remain a case of respecting, but not reliving the past.
As we speak, KATATONIA are in the middle of a 25-date North American tour, supported by THE OCEAN and CELLAR DARLING, following on from a string of festival dates. For Nyström, returning to live performance carried with it a mixture of joy and strangeness. “But we just needed a gig or two to find our feet. We have been doing this for 30 years after all, this is our second nature.”
While much of Sky Void of Stars promises to sound majestic live, this energy wasn’t consciously sought. “We always try to imagine what works well in a live environment,” says Nyström, “but we don’t dictate a whole album to meet those criteria. Ideally, we just try to let the songs write themselves and take on whatever approach that feels the most natural and organic for the album.”
Unlike its predecessor, Sky Void Of Stars is set to receive a full touring treatment, kicking off in January with a lengthy European tour with co-headliners SOLSTAFIR. Nyström promises “a long setlist and a variety of songs, with an emphasis on the new album.” As we are about to bid farewell to 2022, we finally turn to what Nyström hopes that the new year brings. “Health and sanity, first of all. Everything else is secondary.” However the rest of the year pans out, it has already brought KATATONIA’s most complete work in a decade. Sky Void Of Stars is a worthy entry to their gallery of dark melodicism.
Sky Void Of Stars is out now via Napalm Records.
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