KATATONIA / The Fall of Hearts (2016)

If I was in need of the post-BMD Katatonia sound but for some reason didn't have any of the better albums to hand, then TFoH would do, but it would be something of a compromise on my part. To be fair, it does deliver the usual mournful, warm, emotional-bandaging that they've perfected, but I often find myself drifting away from its overly-polished charms instead of being carried along with them.
I genuinely like the soft, pastoral moments, but the bulk of the album sometimes feels like it adheres to the established template a little too much. And yet, there are elements within the shifting structures that are wholly unexpected, that exist to break the rules. It's an odd feeling being stirred but still left wanting; it's like eating a heart-shaped cake that sates your taste buds but not your appetite.

Songs of Note: Old Heart Falls; Last Song Before the Fade

3½ residual thoughts out of 5

KATATONIA / Sanctitude (2015)

It's basically the Dethroned and Uncrowned (2013) concept extended to include more of the band's back catalogue, as far back as Brave Murder Day (1996).
The reworking means the mood is changed but it's not compromised; the result is no less beautiful. Their being unplugged could just as easily be described as being uncaged; there's an airy freedom under the dark wings, carrying them to less cloudy climes. Katatonia's evolution has been slower and less extreme than Anathema's, but in this instance they're travelling under similar skies.
Silje Wergeland (The Gathering) joins the sausage factory for a memorable rendition of The One You Are Looking For is Not Here.

Songs of Note: A Darkness Coming; Day

5 memories of things out 5

KATATONIA / Kocytean (2014)

A Record Store Day exclusive E.P. released on 12" vinyl and limited to just 2000 copies. The six tracks on offer were previously available elsewhere, on hard to find E.P.s or as single B-Sides, but they'd never been collected together in such an easily accessible manner before. It's perfect for when you just want a short burst of the bitter-sweet emotion that is the band's forte.
Collectors will enjoy it for its rarity. Fans will enjoy it for its music. Both will benefit because vinyl is, was, and always will be sexier than CD. True story.

Songs of Note:  Why not have it all?

5 gravitations out of 5

KATATONIA / Last Fair Day Gone Night (2013)

If you've been neglecting your turntable lately (shame on you), then you'll need to blow the dust off it if you want to hear the Last Fair Day live album, because it's available on triple heavyweight 180gm vinyl only. But fear not, if you don't even have a turntable, because the Swedes have a habit of re-releasing the same album just a few years after the first release, so I'd bet money that it'll eventually appear on CD, if you prefer your music on shiny discs. It's a decent set recorded at the Koko in London. They deliver the Last Fair Deal Gone Down (2001) album in its entirety, and even treat us to a single track from Brave Murder Day (1996), which is something they rarely offer these days.

Songs of Note: Brave; Teargas

3 passing birds out of 5

Edit: It’s on CD sooner than predicted (Sept 2014) as a 4 disc set containing 2 CD = The Music / 2 DVD = Full Gig + Documentary.

KATATONIA / Dethroned and Uncrowned (2013)

An interesting reworking of the previous year's Dead End Kings album. It's not a typical acoustic album, although there are acoustic guitars heard. Instead, it's an album designed to accentuate the ambient and percussion aspects of the band's sound. It strips away the heavy guitar and bass, but doesn't detract from the paradoxical warm/cold beauty of the originals. Some tracks are almost too close to their source, while others are like new works entirely. It's not as stripped-back and naked as I'd have liked, but it's still a hugely enjoyable experience that I'd be happy to see continued, preferably with material from some of the earlier albums, because the softness of Jonas' vocals is perfectly suited to this kind of thing.

Songs of Note: Hypnone; Buildings

4 songs that make the hours go out of 5

KATATONIA / Dead End Kings (2012)

Dead End Kings is the biggest shake-up in the Katatonia sound since Discøuraged Ønes (1998). It's more mellow than usual - there's even cello and piano.
Don't worry, though, despite the changes it's still unmistakably Katatonia at heart. It has the majestic melancholy and decaying beauty that we've come to expect from them firmly placed, it's just more refined.
New bass player Niklas Sandin gets his sound high in the mix; he fits in well. The swelling guitars are still evident but less predictable than usual. It's the same but different and, frankly, I'm very pleased with that.

Songs of Note: Buildings; Leech

4½ concrete skies out of 5

OCTOBER TIDE / Rain Without End (1997)

October Tide is a side-project of two members of Swedish metal band Katatonia, Jonas Renkse (vocals/drums) and Fred Norrman (guitar/bass). Musically it feels like it fits snugly between For Funerals to Come (1995) and Brave Murder Day (1996). It mixes the brutal power of the former with the mournful melodies of the latter and contains some of the last growls that Renkse performed before he cleaned up his vocals to become the voice of modern Gothic Doom. Production is similar to BMD but the guitars are heavier, more forceful. It's a classic of the genre that was criminally overlooked at time of release. Fans of that early Katatonia sound should definitely seek it out. (The reissue had different cover art.)

Songs of Note: Ephemeral; Blue Gallery

4½ rainy tomorrows out of 5

KATATONIA / Night is the New Day (2009)

The atmosphere that Katatonia create on Night is the New Day is essentially the same as they always do. but it's harder to pin down, it seems to be constantly shifting. The comforting darkness and encompassing melancholy is both cold and warm, which makes little sense in words but musically is as clear as crystal. The dissonant guitars alongside the soft and dreary lullabies of vocalist Jonas Renkse work beautifully. There's a very slight shift into a more progressive sound; at times it even sounds like their good friends, Opeth. But I hope they don't go as far down that silly road as Opeth did.

Songs of Note: Idle Blood; Day and then the Shade

4 long years of deceit (dangerously close to being emo) out of 5

KATATONIA / Live Consternation (2007)

A live CD+DVD package from the Swedes. Tracks chosen are from the four previous albums only, so there's nothing prior Discøuraged Ønes (1998), which is a shame. However, it was a festival show (Summer Breeze in Germany) and not a full 80-90 min concert, so some concessions had to be made... But cutting Teargas from the set-list was unforgivable! It's a straight-up delivery with little deviation from the studio versions, so is extremely competent but also a little bland.

Songs of Note: Cold Ways; Ghost of the Sun

3½ guiding pulses out of 5

KATATONIA / The Great Cold Distance (2006)

Still exploring the dark and distant aspects of the human condition, the Swedes continue to do it with the same riff-chorus-riff structure as before, with Jonas belting-out in his soft but emotionally pained voice. There's experimentation but you need to listen carefully to hear it; e.g. some new drum techniques give it a new kind of pulse; the crunch of the guitars drifts in and out; and the bass is a little higher in the mix. As usual, the production is flawless. However, the structure is less forgiving for new listeners. For the casual listener it's perhaps formulaic. For fans it can be appreciated as a variation on a theme.

Songs of Note: Deliberation; My Twin

4 oppressive waits out of 5

KATATONIA / Viva Emptiness (2003)

I've already described the Katatonia sound as best I could, without penning a short story about it, in a previous review, so I won't go over it again here. I'll just add that Viva Emptiness is more of the same and is hailed by many in the metal press as one of the finest gothic metal albums ever made. I prefer the previous album, but I can't fault VE in any way, despite the band's misgivings about the production. The atmosphere of uplifting sadness is uninterrupted, as is the formula they created and perfected. I also love how, since their musical reinvention, each one of their album covers is like a self-contained story waiting to be written.

Songs of Note: Criminals; Omerta

5 dreams of violence coming true out of 5

KATATONIA / Last Fair Deal Gone Down (2001)

On first listen, LFDGD sounds the same as the previous two, but give it time to saturate into your psyche and you'll maybe begin to understand why I believe it's the best gothic metal album I've ever heard. Jonas Renkse's vocals are better than ever, which is saying something, because they were fantastic before. A new drummer gives a more pounding delivery than on previous releases, which forces Blakkheim to play harder to keep up, to the betterment of the overall composition. It's still filled with haunting melodies and 90% of the time sticks to the established Katatonia formula, but it's the absolute pinnacle of that formula.

Songs of Note: Teargas; Sweet Nurse

5 melancholy is the new black out of 5

KATATONIA / Tonight's Decision (1999)

Tonight's Decision is one step closer to perfection for arguably the best melodic doom/goth metal act ever. It's almost perfect, the next album would be, but TD suffered from being a little too similar to the previous one (which also means that everything I said about Discøuraged Ønes (1998) is relevant here). It's once again a celebration of the melancholy that rests deep inside all of us, performed with passion and, despite the sadness is a strangely uplifting experience. Jonas Renkse on vocals and Blakkheim on guitar complement each other at every turn, and there's a new drummer, but you'd maybe never know, because he fits right in.

Songs of Note: For My Demons; In Death, a Song

4½ letters never sent out of 5

KATATONIA / Discøuraged Ønes (1998)

Katatonia gave us their first really successful foray into the melodic goth metal genre when they unleashed Discøuraged Ønes. The pattern of slow rhythms broken by a soaring chorus became their method of working for many years thereafter. It's a record filled with pathos; and despite being almost happy and upbeat at times, the lyrics deal with a fractured persona and a deep ingrained loneliness. Vocalist Jonas Renkse, who also performed drums, has an amazingly powerful voice that works in tandem with Blakkheim's guitars to produce a template that was copied by everyone and their dog but never equalled.

Songs of Note: Deadhouse; I Break

5 Mikael Åkerfeldt cameos out of 5

KATATONIA / Brave Murder Day (1996)

A transitional album that sits between the harsh death metal of previous works and the dark gothic majesty of later works, best described as a combination of the two. Driven predominantly by repetitive drum patterns and Blackheim's achingly melodic guitars, it'll alienate a lot of people. You'll notice the same guitar riff repeated a lot throughout the album with slight modifications, making it seem almost like a film score with repeating character cues.
If you have the purple cover (pictured), it's the original unmastered pressing. If you have the black + white cover, it's the remastered Peaceville edition. There's a significant difference in sound quality. I like them both for different reasons.

Songs of Note: Brave; Day

5 gloomy days in Sweden out of 5