Katatonia are a Swedish metal band formed in Stockholm in 1991 by Jonas Renkse (vocals) and Anders Nyström (guitar). They released their debut Dance of December Souls in 1993. After many line-up changes, today the other current members are bassist Niklas Sandin, drummer Daniel Moilanen and most recent recruit, guitarist Roger Öjersson. For nearly 30 years the band has been bringing melancholic progressive rock/metal to the fans. Katatonia came a long way from the humble beginnings when they already sounded melancholic but much more death/black metal than today's atmospheric Gothic/Doom sound. I've been a fan of the band since 2012's Dead End Kings which left a lasting great impression. The following and latest album 2016's The Fall of Hearts was also generally well received by critics and fans.
Now City Burials, the eleventh studio album, comes on the hills of those latest successful aforementioned albums . Jonas Renkse has written the vast majority of music and all of the lyrics. The album displays 49 minutes of sorrowful melodies, fantastic instrumentation and arrangements. The 11 tracks are generally shorter and more direct than in previous albums. The opener "Heart Set To Divide" already sets the tone. After a slow tempo, beautiful and melancholic intro with vocal harmonies over keys, the drums and guitars kick in with just enough energy to get us pumped without compromising the sorrowful vibe. And that's the feeling throughout the album: Peaks and valleys of more upbeat moments followed by typical Katatonia melancholy. This time around, Renkse also looked to recapture their old school heavy metal roots. The best example is the single and second track "Behind The Blood". Take it as a compliment, it captures a similar vibe that we hear on latest Ghost albums. Not a surprise since their roots are the same. This track is one of my favorites from the album. It's up tempo, features a guitar solo as intro (not very common these days) before dropping into a heavy metal riff and a catchy melody and chorus. Instant classic. While never reaching the same parallel to classic metal as this track, still there are other moments of more up tempo songs such as "Rein", the super catchy and third single "The Winter Of Our Passing", "City Glaciers" , "Flicker" and "Neon Epitaph".
But of course it gets also very slow and gloomy. "Untrodden" being my favorite within this side of the album. The remaining songs didn't work well for me. "Vanishers" (featuring a guest vocal from Anni Bernhard from Full Of Keys) is my least favorite as it gets way too soft. The single "Lacquer" with a electronic beat is a bit too pop. And the short "Lachesis", while OK, doesn't add much.
Katatonia is not the band you think first when you think guitar solos, but Roger Öjersson delivers some amazing ones, my favorite being on "Untrodden". He laid down couple of solos on the previous record , but this is his first record with the band for the entire production process and the result is outstanding. And it's only the solos, the riffs and guitarwork is overall very interesting. The riffs on the bridges on "Neon Epitaph" as an example. A very nice return is of Frank Default who performed keyboards, strings and loops on the Katatonia albums "Dead End Kings" and "Night Is The New Day". His return brought back a new layer to City Burials arrangements.
While I enjoyed the album , I couldn't find an overall direction and coherence. Which path will they take forward? A popier sound? classic rock? or will they re-focus on the doom and gloom realm?
Katatonia built on their foundation but also added some interesting elements leading to great songs such as "Behind The Blood", "Heart Set To Divide" and "Untrodden". City Burials is not perfect but still a very good album with moments of high-level song writing and melancholic catchiness. The production and delivery are excellent, it sounds beautiful. A suitable soundtrack for 2020.
SCORE: 80/100
Genre: Gothic Metal
Released by Peaceville Records on April 24th, 2020
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Rating System
96 - 100 Perfect
88 - 95 Excellent
84 - 87 Great
80 - 83 Very Good
75 - 79 Good
69 - 74 Mixed
58 - 68 Bad
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