Katatonia Discography Discussion: Sky Void of Stars (2023)

[LithoJazzoSphere]

I feel let down by Leprous not winning the last round.

Months later, "Distant Bells" won't top the round, but it's definitely in an upper tier. 

[billboy73]

Nice to have you back, Lethean!

Glad this thread is making a comeback!

[ProfessorPeart]

I'd just like to know what the deal is with Anders. Still missing, yet is always shown in promo posters and touring with only 1 guitarist.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

In the meantime, TAC, you never commented on Dead End Kings so you should give it another listen - you've got one of the songs in your roulette - and make some comments.

Of course, now he's started his own next roulette, so I don't know if he's going to have the bandwidth to run that and listen and comment on the next three albums at the same time.      On the bright side, he'll probably finish it by halloween.   

[Buddyhunter1]

I'm not a huge Katatonia fan, but I'll pop in to say that Dead End Kings and the album that's hopefully up next are my two favorites. Dead End Kings is the most solid album of theirs I've heard in terms of the songs just being consistently enjoyable - really not much filler like they usually have in my opinion.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

"Filler"?      It's fascinating how many people rank DEK so highly here though, most other places it's considered one of the weakest. 

[Buddyhunter1]

"Filler"?      It's fascinating how many people rank DEK so highly here though, most other places it's considered one of the weakest.

Yeah, The Great Cold Distance and Night Is The New Day have plenty of filler to me. It's kinda easy to fall into that when most of your songs sound and are structured basically the same.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

They're not an avant-garde or experimental band, and are heavily influenced by 90s alt rock/metal formats, so there are certain types of structures they employ a lot.  And each album tends to have a fairly consistent sound.  But with the evolution of their sound over time, over the course of their career there aren't a ton of bands who've covered more ground. 

[Lethean]

Even though Dead End Kings is pretty much my favorite, I think Night Is the New Day is also perfect.  But it probably took me a while - I remember getting into each song separately, or maybe two at a time.  Inheritance and New Night were probably the "filler" songs for me at first, but then I kind of had that Katatonia experience with those songs too and now I love them.

[TAC]

Alright. banged out a listen this afternoon between roulette rounds.

Here are my First Listen Impressions of each song..

The Parting

The beginning sounds like Peter Gabriel. Gets nice and heavy. Wait...back to Katatonia. I like where this goes at 3:47. Ends pretty energetic.

The One You Are Looking For Is Not Here

This song actually got better with each listen in my roulette. The addition of the female vocals gives it a nice contrast. Has a cool hypnotic vibe.

Hypnone

Kind of uneventful, but at the 3:00 mark, it picks up. But then that energy fades behind the vocals but still, the ending is pretty decent.

The Racing Heart

This is a pretty cool song. Has a gothy vibe to it. The slow part in the middle kind of kills it though. At least it revisits the first couple minutes before fading out.

Buildings

Wow, this is pretty heavy. Even when it drops down at 2:10, it still keeps its energy. Yeah, this is pretty decent.

Leech

This is kind of creepy, but it's kind of cool.

Ambitions

Not sure where to go with this one.

Undo You

Can't really get into this one. That bit at 3:29 is nice though.

Lethean

I got this in a roulette. lol
Got a 7.0 with the comment.."This really didn't do a lot for me." 

First Prayer
From 2:45 to the end of the song is pretty good. At 3:08...YES!

Dead Letters

There's probably more here than can be uncovered than I can with a first listen. I'd like to get back to this song when I have some time.

The Act Of Darkening

Can't do it, sorry.



There were some pretty cool parts. The thing is, the vocals are so drab and dreary, when the music is doing the same, it's really tough to get through, but this album had a number of punchy moments that helped offset it.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

The calmness of the vocals for me is one of the strongest selling points.  Prog/power vocalists who belt it out at 11 are a dime a dozen, it's much more rare to see more restrained vocals over heavier music. 

[Lethean]

Hey that's promising compared to some of the other writeups. 

[TAC]

The calmness of the vocals for me is one of the strongest selling points.  Prog/power vocalists who belt it out at 11 are a dime a dozen, it's much more rare to see more restrained vocals over heavier music.

But there's calm and then there's lifeless..

[Lethean]

I get that.  At a certain time I wouldn't really have liked Jonas much I don't think.  When I did start to become a Katatonia fan I thought he was just ok and was more interested in the songs in general.  It took time for him to become my favorite.

And I'm not saying it'll ever happen for TAC, but also, never say never.

[TAC]

No, you can say never..

[nick_z]

Still, curious to hear with Tim thinks of City Burials and Sky Void of Stars...I feel like, regardless of what one thinks of the albums overall, Jonas has "opened up" his singing a bit on the last two

(and yes, Tim, you have commented on every single one so far, so you are technically committed to finishing this up  )

[TAC]

Don't look at me. I've waited 9 months to post in this thread. 

[Lethean]

Yeah but you could have posted about this album 9 months ago...

But seriously, you could blame the delay on me, but we all know it's Litho's fault...

An extra week delay is totally on me though.  I might post it sooner, but I think it will be next weekend.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Yeah but you could have posted about this album 9 months ago...

But seriously, you could blame the delay on me, but we all know it's Litho's fault...

An extra week delay is totally on me though.  I might post it sooner, but I think it will be next weekend.

[Jamesman42]

I had no idea about Dethroned. Listening to The Parting now. Pretty cool!

[Lethean]

Oh that's so cool!  I love having that other side to the songs.

[Jamesman42]

That was a treat. Cool thread guys! I will try and listen to non-DEK stuff once I am done with roulettes.

[Lethean]

The Fall of Hearts (2016)


1.  Takeover            7:09
2.  Serein            4:46
3.  Old Heart Falls         4:22
4.  Decima            4:46
5.  Sanction            5:07
6.  Residual            6:54
7.  Serac            7:25
8.  Last Song Before the Fade   5:01
9.  Shifts            4:54
10. The Night Subscriber      6:10
11. Pale Flag            4:23
12. Passer            6:25

Bonus tracks from various versions:
13. Vakaren               4:54
14. Sistere               4:11
15. Wide Awake in Quietus         4:59
16. Night Comes Down (Judas Priest cover)   4:11

Live bonus tracks from the touring edition:
1.  Last Song Before the Fade   5:27
2.  Serein            5:04
3.  Old Heart Falls         4:46

Lineup:
Jonas Renkse - vocals, guitars, keyboards
Anders Nyström - guitars, backing vocals, keyboards
Niklas Sandin - bass
Daniel Moilanen - drums

Additional:
Roger Öjersson - guitar solos and tracks 1, 7, and 12
JP Asplund - additional percussion

Songwriting is just credited to Katatonia on the album.  Wikipedia lists 1, 7, 9, 10, and 12 as Jonas and Anders and the rest as Jonas.

Lyric videos:
I just wanted to include these because I think they’re the best lyric videos of all time.
Old Heart Falls - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIGBNc2nFZA
Serein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_o_j6v3PGE



The Fall of Hearts was already written and recorded when Roger Öjersson joined the band, and they had him add some guitar solos because they wanted him to be part of the album.  They toured for this album throughout 2016 and 2017 in Europe, Australia, and North and South America.  Including an awesome headlining set at ProgPower USA in 2017.    

As far as technical analysis, I’ll again leave that to Litho.  For me, The Falls of Hearts is a pretty different album for them, while still sounding very much like them.  It features some 6 and 7 minute songs, which they hadn’t done in a long time.  Jonas’ vocal melodies are maybe more unusual (?) but once they take hold, they don’t let go.  There’s a lot of little details in the songs that you only hear after multiple listens.  Also I think the track listing reflects that attention to detail too; it’s not usually something I think about but the song order is perfect and enhances the whole experience.  I think this album is one of their very best, but that might not be fully experienced without some dedicated listening time.  Although Dead End Kings is generally my favorite and I have some personal stuff tied to it, I won’t argue with anyone who considers The Fall of Hearts to be the best Katatonia album.  It’s also one of my favorite album covers, and the album title is perfect too.

On the new members - Roger Öjersson brings some more technical guitar playing with the solos he adds, but he joined too late to be much of a part of the process.  And Daniel Moilanen is pretty awesome, imo.  I was a little concerned about Daniel Liljekvist leaving because as already covered in this thread, he too is awesome, and he’d been with them for such a long time.  I wasn’t concerned about them finding someone who could cover the material; just about somehow messing with the dynamic of the band.  Aside from just his abilities, on an emotional level it was sad to see him go.  But the music hasn’t suffered for it at all, which is what it’s all about.


Live album:
In 2016, Katatonia also played The Great Cold Distance live in its entirety with an orchestra, to celebrate its 10 year anniversary, and they released the album in 2017:

The Great Cold Distance Live in Bulgaria (2017)


1.  Leaders            4:43
2.  Deliberation         4:16
3.  Soil's Song            4:38
4.  My Twin            4:02
5.  Consternation         4:02
6.  Follower            4:59
7.  Rusted            4:40
8.  Increase            4:40
9.  July               5:00
10. In the White         5:33
11. The Itch            5:20
12. Journey Through Pressure   5:09


Hiatus
At the end of 2017, Katatonia announced that they would be going on a hiatus after performing a few shows in 2018 to evaluate the future of the band.  That statement didn’t make me feel physically ill…no, not at all…  They canceled some shows and were quiet on social media.  Jonas and Anders did perform with Bloodbath during this time, but didn’t say much about Katatonia other than that they were addressing some issues but not really focusing on it at the moment.  Dark dark times for everyone, indeed.  It's truly a wonder we all made it through... Fortunately, all was right with the world when in February of 2019 they announced their return, and that they would be performing Night Is the New Day in its entirety for its 10 year anniversary later that year.



The Fall of Hearts track by track thoughts

Takeover - My initial reaction to this song is so different from how I react to it now.  I remember that first listening experience pretty clearly; I took the album for a walk and had a difficult first listen.  My initial reaction to Takeover was kind of just “Hmm.  Ok…”  A feeling that I wasn’t too sure about it.  (Other songs were more immediate but the whole album needed some time spent with it.)  I don’t remember when Takeover did click for me, but now it’s one of my favorites of theirs and I smile as soon as I hear the beginning.  It’s like magic; it’s like opening the window and feeling the breeze and tasting the night air.  It’s the promise of a long journey with some twists and turns.  Incredible vocal melodies.  I love this song. (Also I really love the drumming here.)

Serein - I like the kind of… quiet intensity of this song?  It’s great right from the start but from the break to the end it’s like you’re kind of set on edge and it builds really beautifully.

Old Heart Falls - I don’t think I would name this song as a favorite when trying to come up with a list, but I should.  Everything about this song is perfect, the vocals, the music, the incredible lyrics, the energy when they play this one live.  I get goosebumps almost every time I listen to this song.  I know I’ve said it somewhere in this thread that for me their songs can be both incredibly sad yet also incredibly uplifting, and this is one of the best examples of that.  I always feel that this song has a very positive effect on me, and if I’m struggling, it’s a great comfort for my misery.

Decima - and this is just a beautiful song.  First impression was that it was a nice pleasant ballad, probably not one of the best tracks. But it didn’t take too long to feel that this song is pretty special.  There are a lot of cool things about it and again I like the drumming here a lot.  But Jonas’ voice is the star here for me.

Sanction - I like how this one starts off heavy; a contrast to the previous song.  And I also like how the verses are almost a little ominous sounding, they ease off on the heaviness but are a little foreboding.

Residual - Usually my favorite song on the album, and certainly one of my favorite Katatonia songs.  The way this song builds is just incredible.  This is another one with imagery that just engages my imagination and I’m in the story somehow.  Step by errant step.  I would definitely encourage everyone to give this track a couple extra listens.

Serac - Another incredible song.  I like the way it starts a little on the heavier side and the "ghost of different shade" verses are just so beautiful and descriptive.  I love the really slow guitar part and then how it shifts into "steel made wall."  I feel like I'm flying when I listen to this section - I'm the one ascending through the air, above said wall.  It's a combination of the lyrics and then Roger's guitar solo.  (Other bands don't really do this to me, and least not so consistently, and feelings like this are a large part of why Katatonia is my favorite band.) 

Last Song Before the Fade - A little heavier (especially live), a little more (musically) upbeat.  Again I love how they transition; from that to “How could I ever…” and then getting heavier again.  (Also yay Daniel again).  Then we get to “Sick days behind me now…”  I remember reading a youtube comment that the bass player was opening a portal to hell.   Then the song bleeds into…

Shifts - I think this is a really special song.  The siren effects work well.  I like the sample vocal after "I can still hear you singing." The verses are awesome and the chorus is just chill inducing. 

The Night Subscriber - I love the piano intro on this song.  And the beautiful verses.  And how it gets heavy.  And the drumming.  And how it ties in The Racing Heart.  Jonas' vocal melodies are incredible on this song.

Pale Flag - This is a beautiful track. The hand drums are cool. The vocal melodies are also fantastic here.  And so is his voice.  And the overlapping vocals at the end…  A very haunting and again for me, somehow uplifting song.

Passer - This song starts with a great guitar solo, then into a kind of twisted and creepy piano.   This is another song that takes you on a journey.  And the last minute and a half is really beautiful and closes the (main) album spectacularly.

Vakaren - Their only song with Swedish lyrics.  Like Norwegian, I like the way the language sounds when sung.  Jonas’ voice is again perfect, and the song is pretty magical.

Sistere - This song makes winter a little more bearable.  So beautiful and maybe bittersweet.

Wide Awake in Quietus - yet another bonus track that’s just as good as anything else.  I do think it was a good bonus track choice as it doesn’t seem like it fits in with the main album quite as much.

Night Comes Down - I *love* this cover.  I don’t at all object to covers that play it straight; sometimes it’s fun.  But I really enjoy Katatonia putting their own spin on this one.  It feels very natural and not forced at all.

[TAC]

Dammit..snuck in a new one before my next round.

[Lethean]

Some lyrics I like for those interested:

Takeover
You wait by the river
Days are long and melt right into nothing
You wait for my eyes
And who else is waiting for the summer sky


Serein
I am shade
And essence of corroding time

So pale next to my love
In every way
Meaningless scar

Through the evening
Where our wisdom turns to rust
Fill the gap with lost integrity
I become the one you haven't seen for years


Old Heart Falls
(giving you the whole song this time)

The weighted clouds coming by
Has me looking
Right here under the sky
And I left my home,
Passed the evening fires
In the blink of an eye
I had closed the door behind me

The vapour of old love
Will transfigure through a veil of clarity
I sense my grave way below the mire

Sorrow will find you
Its voice has given way to mine
Heart pumps death into our heredity
Who wants to come with me

For every dream that is left behind me
I take a bow
With every war that will rage inside me
I hear the sound
Of another day in this vanishing life
Returned to dust
And every chance I've pushed away
Into the night

Time won't let go
It's got you in debt now
And it's got me crawling all the way back to the start
I swear that I saw you there
Your hands were reaching out for mine


Decima
A dream of truce behind my eyes
A life of journeys will unwind

Emerge through idle air

Map of nowhere is in my hand
The roads are blurred
Sojourners land
So take however long you want
But don't forget my love
You've pledged yourself to come along

Lost in a memory you're holding my hands
One heart is in the ground
The other is veiled in silver all around


Sanction
Sever the ties
That were once unyielding
Packed my money
Under night's neon curtain


Residual
Rid my mind of residual thoughts
Until knowledge will arrive
They closed my eyes
And cold stars would align
In the city the lights are many
But I can't find it amusing anymore
I watch the night unfold and vanish
Stood on the highway

And I'm ready to go
If you're already there
Saw your trail in the snow
Did you find the way to freedom
It's the last day I'm here
Can you hear the sky fall down
Collapsing over ravaged ground

The dents in all that I had
The tidings from our fading sun
Made me wiser


Serac
Ghost of different shades
Cold day up ahead
I glide away into the dark
Two hours till morning's due
And I wait here for you
to see you rise like the tide

Steel made wall
See the barrier stand tall
Ascend through the air and find
A heart yet undefined

Source of withering code
Of dust, of deceit
Can't proceed without a guide
Intuition abandoned you
I'm clouding the view


Last Song Before the Fade
My memories like
Deleted film
Awareness of this fire
Kerosene
Ignite the trial of my mind
Above the horizon now
Upon the freezing tracks
Grasp for the embers of my life
You came back but so did I


Shifts
Spiraling nights in the void
Weathered coat and a dagger
If I dream back my youth I can still hear you sing
A voice that will die on a mountain

The shifting earth beneath us
The clouds at our feet
The sun was made a jewel
When at night it did sleep
Nothing to observe

Cast in a trench of fire
I can see the sky is a ceiling
And when my heart dies down
I am long gone on the fields of summer's green
Away from fall and famine


The Night Subscriber
Cut out and resign
Overtaken and left behind
It's in our racing hearts
The things we never let go of
They spill into my love

I'm thinking
If torpor had left my soul
Voices would sing
I would submit my heart
To the sentiment within
And let go of the night that is abiding here

Old songs lost their grace
Send some light back to this place


Pale Flag
Winter winds take flight
Circling over my grave
A haunting voice amidst the trees
Rising up across the sea

Survival
It was destined for your name
Compassion
Brings you here when the rain falls on mine


Passer
Ascend now
As your chain of rust has swayed me
Observing dead air
So worn out

You took your gear and hit the trail
I was there by the runway
Above spires and buildings now
You have passed the horizon
In time another star will rise
Dissimulation
On the wind comes the message now
You have passed the horizon

Divide like wings


Sistere
The sunset is shattering
Time waits for no one

A winter song inside the heart
Won't you hear me when I call
It's time for you and me to fall


Wide Awake in Quietus
This time I'm taking your words
And recreating a scene where endings are unclear

[Lethean]

Dammit..snuck in a new one before my next round.

Very thoughtful of me, isn't it.

[Lethean]

Dammit..snuck in a new one before my next round.

Very thoughtful of me, isn't it.

And I just saw that it's your birthday.  Happy birthday - glad I could post this today to make your day especially special...

[nick_z]

I was revisiting this yesterday (perfect weather for it, I guess, rainy and dreary  )...was using Amazon Music as it's handy and, weirdly enough, Serein and Old Heart Falls were the live versions from Dead Air instead of the actual album versions. Not sure what's going on there...

[Buddyhunter1]

I really like the progressive rock elements they utilized on this one. The longer, more varied song structures are a welcome change of pace for them, and the mellotron sounds amazing on this album. I would have liked them to continue experimenting with longer-form song structures, but judging from their two albums after this that wasn't meant to be, sadly.

[Evermind]

I wasn't too fond of the album when it came out, but I've grown to appreciate it over time. Decima and Residual are the stand out songs for me.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Just to keep this from falling too far, I haven't forgotten about it, I did a fresh listen to this a few nights ago and made some notes, turned it into something more readable tonight, and I'll edit and post it tomorrow. 

[LithoJazzoSphere]

*So as I was doing before, I wrote all of this before looking at comments from anyone else just to see what happy coincidences occur. 

*Honestly I put off getting back into this for a few days because I wasn't quite ready to go back into heavy analysis mode so soon, but I enjoyed it once I started working on it. 

Initial General Thoughts:

*Overall this album seems to continue the trend of softening their sound a bit from the peak sonic intensity of The Great Cold Distance (though there are arguments for the first two having a greater intensity in a different way as well, but the late 90s/early 00s albums are generally considered milder by most).  The metallic moments are still there, they just gradually seem more infrequent compared to TGCD.  And TGCD was pretty inarguably a prog metal album to me, whereas I could certainly see at this point people just calling them some flavor of progressive/art/atmospheric rock with some heavier songs and moments in others. 

*Listening to TFoH had a black cloud over it for me, because I knew Liljekvist had left the band, and I wasn't ready to accept a new drummer for them.  It felt like the start of a new era that I wasn't mentally prepared for, having just seen them on the previous tour. 

*Nevertheless, I listened to it a ton when it came out, probably more than Night Is the New Day and the next one City Burials, hoping to get into it more.  I did quite like it, but didn't want to like it in ways, so it was kind of a discombobulating feeling for me. 

*It's also kind of fascinating to come back to reevaluating these now, having had a lengthy hiatus.  On one hand, the break in flow means that a lot of intricacies of their style and evolution are a bit lost for the moment, since I haven't been immersed in their discography like I was for the first few months that we did this.  On the other, it's rather refreshing to get a new perspective on the last few albums, having had a nice breather and also having done so much else tanentially in-between to gain additional insights. 

*One thing that immediately leapt out to me now is how great this album is - I like it now more than I ever have.  I'll do my album rankings later, but my feeling is that it could be closer to their golden era (for me '01-'12) than I used to think it was. 

Drumming:

*The other is that with the passing of time and more familiarity, I've warmed up a lot to Daniel Moilanen's drumming (he already made my honorable mentions for the top 25 drummers ranking thread we did a few months ago).  Even before first hearing TFoH I'd been a pretty big fan of Engel, and heard a bit of his work in Runemagick and The Project Hate MCMXCIX, but from what I could recall it was pretty straight-forward metal drumming and I didn't realize he had the finesse to pull off the more intricate work needed for modern proggier Katatonia.  Honestly he's probably a more technically competent drummer than Liljekvist.  But it is a bit of a similar situation to Axenrot replacing Lopez in Opeth, where even with both replacements growing on me over time, there's still an ineffable je ne sais quoi and feel to Liljekvist's (and Lopez's) playing that might not ever be overcomeable to me.  It's hard to say how much is "objective" and how much is just from both bands being pretty inextricably tied to more formative years of my life. 

*What really stands out to me about Moilanen's playing is that he has a great command of rhythmic variety in fills, both to differentiate them from each other, and of fluidly changing rhythmic subdivisions to give more variation in certain fills within themselves.  "The Night Subscriber" is a great track just to listen to Moilanen alone for a good sense of his style of playing. 

*5:22 in "Passer" has a variation of the famous Neil Peart beat from "La Villa Strangiato". 

*I also really love how they bring back more hand percussion (this time supplied by JP Asplund from the Decrowned recordings) to quite a few of these tracks, which I associate with a number of songs from Viva Emptiness, and they didn't use as much on the albums in-between. 

Guitars:

*This is the first album since their debut (!) that they haven't been a two-guitar team, since the departure of Norrman and then Eriksson.  Although, Roger Ojersson provides solos on three songs, and Jonas is also playing some parts, so it's still hard to say for certain who recorded what.  Ojersson still throws me from time to time when I haven't listened to certain songs in awhile, like with the shred solo at the beginning of "Passer", which is still quite a novelty musical element for Katatonia at this point. 

*Nevertheless, there are some more great guitar tones here.  The high sustained tone at 2:44 in "Takeover" is one of my favorites, or the chorused sound at 2:25 in "Sanction".  The lighter gain lead style they'd developed on the prior two albums continues to be excellent, like on "Decima" or "Serac".  I also like the dotted 8th note delay under the other guitar melody at 5:18 in "The Night Subscriber". 

*I also love how while they're generally quite electric guitar-driven, they make room for acoustics at times like on "Decima", "Pale Flag", and "Sistere". 

Keyboards:

*I think I had forgotten that Frank Default is no longer involved on keyboards on this album.  I think in retrospect his presence is part of what had given the prior two albums a bit of a unique feel as a pair in their discography.  Jonas and Anders it seems are handling them by themselves here, and it's surprising how much of the atmosphere they retain from earlier albums, but it definitely feels a bit different. 

*I love some of the moments with piano like 4:17 in "Takeover", 3:55 in "The Fade", the intro of "Last Song Before the Fade", various bits in "Shifts", or the eerie pitch instability of the piano on "Passer", which is reminiscent of the piano at the ending of Nine Inch Nails' "Closer".  The synth arpeggios in that song are also fun.  And then the chromatic percussion at 1:49 in "Old Heart Falls" is also nice.  Perhaps my favorite keyboard moment in the whole album is the Mellotron strings and flutes harmonizing at 2:30 in "Serac". 

Vocals:

*Jonas' voice seems to have stabilized to my recollection at this point.  And yet I don't know if it's just a minor novelty effect of fresh reexposure, but his harmonies seem to sound better here than I recalled they did before.  The ones in "The Night Subscriber" are a particular standout. 

*There seems to be at least one uncredited guest - if you listen to 0:38 in "Shifts" the backing vocal there doesn't sound like anyone in the band.  Maybe it's a Silje cameo from the prior album, or an unlisted sample. 

Song-Specific Thoughts:

*"Takeover" has one of the more unusual and unique intros they've done, in that it starts out more relatively major and happier than they normally are (though still a bit mysterious because it's in lydian mode there), and gradually gets darker over the first couple minutes. 

*"Old Heart Falls" feels like a song that could have been on Dead End Kings, with the tremolo guitar effects, octave leads, ambient swells - it's a bit like a "Racing Heart" sequel. 

*"Residual" was my first favorite track on the album.  It's difficult to explain why I like it so much, though a lot of it centers around the interaction of the vocal line and the sustained guitar melody in the chorus.  I also love that Rhodes riff. 

*"Shifts" opens with a similar feeling to "One Year From Now" from Viva Emptiness with the moodiness of the guitar arpeggios and piano melodies.  And then the light synth brass at 2:21 foreshadows the opening of "Opaline" from Sky Void of Stars this year.  This has to be one of the more relaxing full-band tracks they've done - essentially no distorted guitars in sight, at least from a riffing or traditional soloing perspective.  I love the ambiance of all the swirling synth and guitar textures throughout. 

*I love the section at 5:01 in "Passer" with the synths and tremolo-picked guitar melody. 

*"Serac" is the song I've realized that in spite of listening to dozens of times since it came out, I've been underrating it the most.  I already mentioned the keyboard moment, but just in general, this is a monster track for them, one of their more epic tunes in recent years, with some killer guitar riffs, and some more conventional soloing in addition to the mellower lower-gain solos I mentioned earlier.  The ending feels particularly climatic with the restatement of the more unusual chord changes, plus the higher-range keyboard arpeggios adding a fantastical element.  It might be my favorite on the album now, and now also one of my overall favorites of theirs. 

Bonus Tracks:

*"Vakaren" is kind of an even more Swedish-flavored revisiting of the more electronic tracks they do on occasion, I like that type of vibe from them.

*"Sistere" is the opposite for a more traditional and folky acoustic feel.  I just love how seamlessly they can combine and alternate between them.  Most bands struggle to balance acoustic and synthetic elements, but Katatonia are one of the best at it. 

*Katatonia's heavy alternative influences tend to strongly distinguish them from 70s/80s metal bands, but "Night Comes Down" is fascinating to hear them musically be in conversation with those artists. It's pretty remarkable how well it fits - I suspect a lot of people who didn't know it was a cover just assumed it was another original and didn't give a single thought to it sounding different for them.  There was a period of a few months a couple decades ago where Judas Priest was functionally my favorite band, and though I've cooled down from that over time, they're still one of the better bands of that era that I probably undervalue at this point, so this was a good selection for them. 

*"Wide Awake In Quietus" is a bit more straightforward for them particularly in this era, but is just an excellent and infectious song. 

Final General and Random Thoughts:

*Fun fact - the digital copy I downloaded first had "Vakaren" mistagged as "Wide Awake In Quietus", so it actually took awhile for me to realize that I hadn't heard the proper latter track. 

*A random silly note is that for some reason this has been one of the more common go-to albums for shopping at Costco for me.  I think I shared this earlier but I'm not quite sure, that fairly early on in my Katatonia listening history a couple decades ago I remember playing the half-dozen songs I had from them while shopping there on a number of occasions, with "Passing Bird" particularly standing out. 

*A minor technicality - some of the touring editions of TFoH also list "Journey Through Pressure", but maybe Lethean was only counting live tracks from the album itself, and that one's originally from The Great Cold Distance. 

*So overall I feel like the passage of time and the quality of Sky Void of Stars earlier this year has rebuilt more good will for me towards the current incarnation of them post-Liljekvist and raised my opinion of this album over what it was a year or more ago.  This is undoubtedly the most I've ever liked this album. 

*Also, having lost the freshness of hearing all the earlier albums more recently, it's making me want to revisit all of those as well, which I will undoubtedly do at some point. 

Favorite Songs:  "Residual", "Serac", "Takeover", "Sistere", and then almost everything else. 

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Hiatus
At the end of 2017, Katatonia announced that they would be going on a hiatus after performing a few shows in 2018 to evaluate the future of the band.  That statement didn’t make me feel physically ill…no, not at all… 

I had momentarily completely forgotten about this.  It's also the lengthiest gap between albums they've ever had (4 years until City Burials). 

[billboy73]

I wanted to give The Fall of Hearts a couple of spins before commenting too, as it's been a bit since I've listened to this one.  Here we have another solid outing from Katatonia.  Sonically, it doesn't feel too far removed from Dead End Kings.  The big difference is the longer and proggier song structures, which I happen to enjoy.  It also feels a little more organic to me, and doesn't have quite as much of the atmospheric electronic elements of Dead End Kings. It's still moody as ever though, as Katatonia are masters of this.  I do love the guitar tones on this record.  The acoustics sound absolutely beautiful on Decima and Pale Flag.  I also love that slightly dirty electric tone they use in places.  Takeover, Residual, the opening of Serac, and The Night Subscriber are examples of this.  While on the subject of guitars, I'm glad they gave Roger a few spots on the record to start integrating his style into the band.  He is obviously a great player, and I love what he does and adds to the band.  I was definitely sad to see Daniel L move on, but Daniel M came in and put his stamp all over this record.  He shows his chops on Passer for sure, and I agree that The Night Subscriber is a great showcase for his rhythmic style.  On to the songs...

I really like how Takeover just kinda abruptly opens the album, and it sets the tone for the proggier style found on this album.  Old Heart Falls and Serein are 2 of the shorter more standard tracks, so I can see why they were the singles, as both are great songs.  Decima is a beautiful track, and I mentioned I love the acoustics on this one.  Residual and Serac are an epic 1 2 punch, and they are my favorite songs on the album.  Awesome twists and turns on both of these songs.  The Night Subscriber is another highlight for me.  I love the rhythms and drumming on that one.  Passer was clearly the track I was drawn to at first, as it opens with an epic solo and has the faster double bass sections.  It's an interesting choice to put this as the album (proper) closer, but I love it.  Those are the highlights for me, but I do enjoy everything on the album.  I have written this in every review, but they really are a great b-side band.  What's here is no exception.  It just shows how great their b-side and ep collection albums are in their own right. 

[Lethean]

I think for the previous albums, without reading back through the thread, that we had more variance in our favorite tracks.  This time Residual seems to be a favorite of everyone who's commented, with Serac and Takeover being mentioned a few times too.  I generally think those are my favorites too but then I hear any number of other songs and think they should be in the running too.

Will go over the timestamps and stuff from Litho soon - I've enjoyed that for each one.