Katatonia Discography Discussion: Sky Void of Stars (2023)

[LithoJazzoSphere]

It's easier for me to come up with least favorites for each album, because there aren't many of them.   

[TAC]

Hoping to get to this tonight. Well not really hoping, but planning. 

[TAC]

Free listening today so I made it through The Falls Of Hearts..


Takeover-Doesn't exactly start the album with a bang..Picks up about two minutes in. A couple of cool moments, like around 4:40. No Katatonia song should ever be this long though. They all feel naturally long to begin with.

Serein-Nice and upbeat with a cool groove. Definitely one of the better Katatonia songs that I've heard.

Old Heart Falls-Tomi sent me this in my 2nd Roulette.
It only got a 7 despite this writeup.
"I found this song interesting. It was easy on the ears. I didn't not like it. I'm glad it was only four and a half minutes. I definitely couldn't have taken 8 minutes of this, but it was compact enough. A solid track. A pretty decent tune. I might check something else by them if anyone has some suggestions..."

Decima-I like the intro. I'm kind of dreading what's coming though. It's actually not bad. I like the middle instrumental section. I like the airy orchestration? towards the end.

Sanction-What's with the heavy?? Sounds like of decent. Listening to this, , it makes me think they should incorporate some harsh vocals. Didn't they have them on their earlier albums? This music begs for them. Anyway, I like the uptick at 1:30. The middle musical section, while nice enough, kind of derails the song a bit. 

Residual-In a vacuum, I don't think this song is terrible, but it's another song in a long line of just like this. The brief heavy section is ok.

Serac-Ooh another heavy start. Will it last? ...listening....Wow, this might be the best track I've heard in the thread. Seriously, I never would've thought this was Katatonia.

Last Song Before The Fade-This one is really good too! Even the mellow part in the middle...kinda goes with it. They're actually good in this kind of spot.

Shifts-So I think the pace kind of saves this. I mean, I'd take it a bit quicker, but it stays just above my threshold. Barely, but above.

The Night Subscriber-What a cool title! Starts out with promise, but I can't say I love the verses. It kicks into gear at 1:40. Feels low tuned, but it does rock. The mellow part gets me worried, but it comes out nice with piano?. Gets nice and heavy and progressive. Who is this?

Pale Flag- Should've called it White Flag..

Passer-Another heavy song and it's pretty good. Jeesh.



OK..
This album feels particularly heavy, especially in the back half.
That are three of four songs here that I legit liked.
The singer blows. It's a chore to listen to him, and when the music is just as drab, it ain't my thing.
Didn't they have harsh vocals in the beginning. I feel like this music could use some harsh vocals. The atmosphere would improve with them.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

The first two albums (Dance of December Souls and Brave Murder Day) have primarily harsh vocals.  Jonas is doing them on the former and Mikael from Opeth guest performing them on the latter.  They dropped them on Discouraged Ones, but starting again in the mid-00s Anders will occasionally have a line or two of harsh background ones in a heavier song, but they're used pretty sparingly.  They rerecorded a couple of tracks from their earlier demos with Jonas doing harsh vocals a few years ago, but his voice can't sustain performing them for very long anymore since he blew out his voice doing them decades ago. 

[Lethean]

Wow that's so interesting.  I always think The Great Cold Distance if someone were to ask for a heavy Katatonia album.  I don't think of The Fall of Hearts as particularly heavy or heavier than Dead End Kings, for example.  I still have to listen to Litho's time stamps and maybe I'll keep this reaction in mind too. 

Cool! 

Jonas rules though.

[TAC]

Wow that's so interesting.  I always think The Great Cold Distance if someone were to ask for a heavy Katatonia album.  I don't think of The Fall of Hearts as particularly heavy or heavier than Dead End Kings, for example.  I still have to listen to Litho's time stamps and maybe I'll keep this reaction in mind too. 

Cool! 

Jonas rules though.

We did these albums right? 

The heaviness also seemed to be accompanied by a bit of progressive heaviness in spots. It jumped out at me. And it was generally upbeat musically. That helps especially considering the vocals.

I really don't like the singer's vibe. At all. It's making this more of a chore than it should be. Like I said, I found the music generally atmospheric, and that's where I feel a harsher vocal would be more appropriate than the human drone. 

[Lethean]

We did do those albums; that's why I was a little surprised.  But I completely agree that The Fall of Hearts is proggier.



It's a shame you don't like the vocals.  I was kind of indifferent to his voice at first.  I thought it was fine for their music which I was intrigued by, but if you'd told me he'd become my favorite singer, I would have laughed.  I don't really remember when my opinion changed; I think it was gradual.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Ok, here's my feelings on album rankings at the moment.  I'm going to do it not having looked at my previous ones since last winter.  Should be fascinating to compare to those, and also to the ones I did prior to the start of the thread. 

Dead End Kings
The Great Cold Distance
Viva Emptiness
Night Is the New Day
Last Fair Deal Gone Down
The Fall of Hearts
Sky Void of Stars
Tonight's Decision
Discouraged Ones
City Burials
Brave Murder Day
Dance of December Souls

[TAC]

There's a song in my current roulette round that perfectly illustrates the difference of having harsh vocals vs what they have now.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

I hope I linked this earlier, but these are the ones they did a few years ago with new recordings of old demos.  Of course it's a much older style and intentionally more "retro" production.  But it's all harsh vocals.  The lower tunings and more modern playing gives it a more unique vibe though.  Moilanen's drumming on "Sunset Choir" is way out of Jonas' league for what he was capable of in the early 90s. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JpdddQDUW4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTJgF3IIf3s

[nick_z]

I like Jonas' vocals, so there's that...but I also feel in the most recent two albums (not covered in the thread yet) he's branched out a bit, in terms of vocal lines...? Nothing radically different, but perhaps exploring wider ranges (e.g. Lacquer from City Burials - not that Tim would particularly like that one  )

One of us should, you know, take one for the team and send Tim a song from this year's album for the Current Events round in his roulette - they are not banned, since they never score high enough 

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Comparing to my old lists, TFoH has leapfrogged TD now, and TD and DO have swapped.  The difference is so granular it's practically a day to day mood sort of thing though. 

[LithoJazzoSphere]

I like Jonas' vocals, so there's that...but I also feel in the most recent two albums (not covered in the thread yet) he's branched out a bit, in terms of vocal lines...? Nothing radically different, but perhaps exploring wider ranges (e.g. Lacquer from City Burials - not that Tim would particularly like that one  )

One of us should, you know, take one for the team and send Tim a song from this year's album for the Current Events round in his roulette - they are not banned, since they never score high enough 

Considering we are both still in contention for winning, it's probably going to need to be someone else.   

Yeah, "Lacquer" is probably the single best vocal performance he's ever given.  It reminds me of Akerfeldt on "Hours of Wealth" in a way. 

[TAC]

One of us should, you know, take one for the team and send Tim a song from this year's album for the Current Events round in his roulette - they are not banned, since they never score high enough 

Considering we are both still in contention for winning, it's probably going to need to be someone else.   

 

[LithoJazzoSphere]

BTW, did you listen to their Judas Priest cover from the last album?  It's on some of the bonus versions. 

https://open.spotify.com/track/2LbNk4WcQnj30hn5Q0jhzv

[TAC]

BTW, did you listen to their Judas Priest cover from the last album?  It's on some of the bonus versions. 

https://open.spotify.com/track/2LbNk4WcQnj30hn5Q0jhzv

Hmm..that was pretty decent. I'm always going to have an issue with the vocals, but if the music is just as gloomy, it's a tough take. At least with this cover, and most of this last album, the music had some jump to it that makes them a bit more palatable.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

There's one of the tracks on the next album in particular I'm especially curious how you'll react to. 

[nick_z]

BTW, did you listen to their Judas Priest cover from the last album?  It's on some of the bonus versions. 

https://open.spotify.com/track/2LbNk4WcQnj30hn5Q0jhzv

Hmm..that was pretty decent. I'm always going to have an issue with the vocals, but if the music is just as gloomy, it's a tough take. At least with this cover, and most of this last album, the music had some jump to it that makes them a bit more palatable.

Yep, that's a nice cover. I had heard it first from some sampler a few years ago and I was glad they included it in Mnemosynean.

I LOVE the original, and Katatonia does a great job putting a bit of their stamp on it.

[Lethean]

*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. 

OK this is a good description of why I was surprised TAC thought The Fall of Hearts was so heavy. And he didn't (I don't think) have all that much to say about The Great Cold Distance.  Totally not disagreeing with him for liking The Fall of Hearts more though.

*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. 

This was how I felt about Mangini at first.  I had no problem with liking the album - I wanted to like A Dramatic Turn of Events and I did (I know some people don't but to me it's so good it's undeniable).  But when I saw them live I wanted to maybe not like him so much, or not like the band with him too much.  The first couple shows with him were definitely a little disconcerting in that way.  But that didn't last too long, fortunately for me.

*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. 

It was easier for me with Katatonia than it had been for Dream Theater.  I was more concerned by how it would affect the band than how it would affect me.  I *was* a little nervous as I said about replacing Daniel Liljekvist, but I was more concerned just that losing members again would be frustrating or disheartening for them and maybe that would affect the band's future.  But at that point I was pretty convinced that as long as Jonas and Anders were there, it was all going to be just fine.  They didn't miss a beat losing the Norrman brothers.  As for which drummer is better - I dunno, probably neither really.  I think I do find myself noticing and rewinding to hear stuff with Daniel Moilanen more often though.

I also like the dotted 8th note delay under the other guitar melody at 5:18 in "The Night Subscriber". 

I probably never noticed this before - at least not consciously. 

*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. 

I always assumed this was a sample, but it's possible it's just an uncredited quick vocal part.

*"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. 

I like the mysterious descriptor.  Takeover kind of feels like you're starting an adventure (which of course, you are...). 

*"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.

Interesting.  I can hear it now... and I certainly love both songs a lot, but they feel really different to me.  Different moods maybe.

*"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. 

OK, so, what's the 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.

Yes - it's relaxing, it's poignant, it's kind of light and dark at once, and it's kind of driving in a way - maybe the swirling feels like it's moving you forward a little.  If that makes any sense.

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

As someone who knows little about any of this, I was happy I knew exactly what you were referring to here.

*"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. 

I'm glad this one has grown on you so much.  I feel like it look a little time to become a favorite of mine as well, but not this long.  When they played it at ProgPower I was sad it was in place of Residual, but the replacement being Serac made it totally OK.

*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. 

That's exactly what I was doing, since can hear Journey Through Pressure on the whole The Great Cold Distance live album. 

[Lethean]

Rankings of the albums we've done so far.  This thread is probably responsible for The Fall of Hearts switching with Night is the New Day.  But really any of my top 3 could be #1, I'm just probably always going to give it to Dead End Kings because of my history with it.

Dead End Kings
The Fall of Hearts
Night Is the New Day
Viva Emptiness
The Great Cold Distance
Last Fair Deal Gone Down
Tonight's Decision
Discouraged Ones
Dance of December Souls
Brave Murder Day

[Lethean]

One of us should, you know, take one for the team and send Tim a song from this year's album for the Current Events round in his roulette - they are not banned, since they never score high enough 

Considering we are both still in contention for winning, it's probably going to need to be someone else.   

 

Maybe Jamesman should do it.  I feel like TAC participating in this thread is reason why I probably shouldn't.   Plus he's going to hear the whole album anyway.  But, if the band I'm planning to send (which is probably not going to score very well either but that's the way it goes) gets banned between now and then, I might do it.

There is a song I might send in my EP that this thread make me think would be a good idea.  I haven't started on that though.

[TAC]

If it's an upcoming song in this thread, I may not hear it. I'll likely spend my Free Listening between rounds getting a jump on the EPs that I've been sent.

[Lethean]

If it's an upcoming song in this thread, I may not hear it. I'll likely spend my Free Listening between rounds getting a jump on the EPs that I've been sent.

Well you're going to hear it eventually - there are two albums to go, and unless you want me to haunt your roulettes for all time, you'll listen to them at some point.

[TAC]

If it's an upcoming song in this thread, I may not hear it. I'll likely spend my Free Listening between rounds getting a jump on the EPs that I've been sent.

Well you're going to hear it eventually - there are two albums to go, and unless you want me to haunt your roulettes for all time, you'll listen to them at some point.

Just two albums left? Including the most recent one?

[Lethean]

If it's an upcoming song in this thread, I may not hear it. I'll likely spend my Free Listening between rounds getting a jump on the EPs that I've been sent.

Well you're going to hear it eventually - there are two albums to go, and unless you want me to haunt your roulettes for all time, you'll listen to them at some point.

Just two albums left? Including the most recent one?

Yep - one from 2020 and one from 2023.

[nick_z]

If it's an upcoming song in this thread, I may not hear it. I'll likely spend my Free Listening between rounds getting a jump on the EPs that I've been sent.

Well you're going to hear it eventually - there are two albums to go, and unless you want me to haunt your roulettes for all time, you'll listen to them at some point.

Just two albums left? Including the most recent one?

Yep, as far as studio albums go...City Burials (2020) and Sky Void of Stars (2023)

[LithoJazzoSphere]

They didn't miss a beat losing the Norrman brothers.

I never had the attachment to them that I did to Liljekvist for whatever reason.  As I've admitted a number of times in this thread I don't even necessarily know what Anders is playing vs. Fredrik vs. Per vs. Roger vs. Jonas.  Maybe if I had seen them live a lot more or rewatched the various live performances more times I would have a better sense of it, but I don't.  But for me I've thought of the core of them in the golden era as Jonas, Anders, and Liljekvist arbitrarily, so breaking that trio up was a blow for me for awhile. 

OK, so, what's the Rhodes riff?

It literally opens the song.  Although listening to it again right now it might be a Wurlitzer.  Being a keyboard player I feel like I should know the difference, but there are so many different models of each they all blur together.  An electric piano of some kind anyway. 

I'm glad this one has grown on you so much.  I feel like it look a little time to become a favorite of mine as well, but not this long.

It's really quite an unusual phenomenon.  I've always liked it, but a week or two ago if you'd asked me my favorites on the album I would have mentioned "Residual" and "Takeover".  I haven't listened to the bonus tracks quite as much, so "Sistere" went up a level or two in doing these relistens, but "Serac" soaring was rather unexpected.  Sometimes songs will take off somewhere between half a dozen and 20 plays for me (part of why I wanted to get more listens in for my roulette and things took a bit longer was getting everything somewhere in that range) - but I'd say usually once I've hit 20 plays or so my feelings are generally fairly solidified (years of distance and discovering other artists and styles inbetween can sometimes shift things over longer stretches of time).  So for a song I'd already listened to well over that level to suddenly go up was rather serendipitous. 

That used to happen more often when I was younger and had a much, much smaller library of music.  It's really a whole separate thread of discussion, but so much more music being available and spreading myself thinner means I less commonly get that many listens in to "lesser" songs on albums to even give it a chance to happen. 

[Lethean]

They didn't miss a beat losing the Norrman brothers.

I never had the attachment to them that I did to Liljekvist for whatever reason.  As I've admitted a number of times in this thread I don't even necessarily know what Anders is playing vs. Fredrik vs. Per vs. Roger vs. Jonas.  Maybe if I had seen them live a lot more or rewatched the various live performances more times I would have a better sense of it, but I don't.  But for me I've thought of the core of them in the golden era as Jonas, Anders, and Liljekvist arbitrarily, so breaking that trio up was a blow for me for awhile. 

That makes total sense.  For me, the core Jonas and Anders, so that probably made it a little easier. 

I'm glad this one has grown on you so much.  I feel like it look a little time to become a favorite of mine as well, but not this long.

It's really quite an unusual phenomenon.  I've always liked it, but a week or two ago if you'd asked me my favorites on the album I would have mentioned "Residual" and "Takeover".  I haven't listened to the bonus tracks quite as much, so "Sistere" went up a level or two in doing these relistens, but "Serac" soaring was rather unexpected.  Sometimes songs will take off somewhere between half a dozen and 20 plays for me (part of why I wanted to get more listens in for my roulette and things took a bit longer was getting everything somewhere in that range) - but I'd say usually once I've hit 20 plays or so my feelings are generally fairly solidified (years of distance and discovering other artists and styles inbetween can sometimes shift things over longer stretches of time).  So for a song I'd already listened to well over that level to suddenly go up was rather serendipitous. 

That used to happen more often when I was younger and had a much, much smaller library of music.  It's really a whole separate thread of discussion, but so much more music being available and spreading myself thinner means I less commonly get that many listens in to "lesser" songs on albums to even give it a chance to happen.

Yeah, that topic has come up from time to time, and I think there's probably been at least a couple threads about it.  I don't constantly listen to new stuff, so I'm not generally spread too thin.  It means there's probably a lot of stuff I miss out on, but I'm OK not knowing what I don't know.  

[Lethean]

Working on the next album, City Burials, and wow do I love this album.  I don't usually get much from album reviews, but every so often I come across one and it's like "wow, I can't wait to hear that album, it sounds incredible."  (And it may or may not be, but the review is that compelling).  I wish I could do something like that for City Burials, but that's just not really my gift I suppose.  Nonetheless, I'm sure I'll mention how awesome it is at least a few times.

[WardySI]

Working on the next album, City Burials, and wow do I love this album.  I don't usually get much from album reviews, but every so often I come across one and it's like "wow, I can't wait to hear that album, it sounds incredible."  (And it may or may not be, but the review is that compelling).  I wish I could do something like that for City Burials, but that's just not really my gift I suppose.  Nonetheless, I'm sure I'll mention how awesome it is at least a few times.

Behind The Blood was or at least was close to my 2020 song of the year.  Honestly my only minor complaint with this band is wish they would rock it up like Behind The Blood a little more often.

Great album though and awesome coverart too.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Yeah, that's the song I really want TAC to hear. 

[TAC]

Yeah, that's the song I really want TAC to hear.

We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

[Lethean]

Geez, don't overhype the song guys.

[Lethean]

City Burials (2020)


1.  Heart Set to Divide         5:29
2.  Behind the Blood         4:37
3.  Lacquer               4:42
4.  Rein            4:21
5.  The Winter of Our Passing   3:18
6.  Vanishers            4:56
7.  City Glaciers         5:30
8.  Flicker            4:45
9.  Lachesis            1:54
10. Neon Epitaph         4:32
11. Untrodden            4:29

Bonus tracks:
13. Closing of the Sky         5:24
14. Fighters (Enter the Hunt cover)   3:38


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


Additional:
Anni Bernhard - guest vocals on track 6
Anders Eriksson (Frank Default) has credit for “co-production of keyboards, programming, and editing”

Songwriting and lyrics are credited to Jonas.


This is the first album with the current lineup.  Roger did some solos for The Fall of Hearts, but this time he’s on the whole album.  The song writing is all Jonas (and I guess I don’t care; the album is awesome).  I read an interview with Anders where he said it was originally going to be a solo album for Jonas, but then Jonas decided he wanted it to be a Katatonia album.  Which makes perfect sense to me, because it very much sounds like Katatonia.  I’m not sure when the decision was made, but when I saw them in 2019 and asked Jonas about a new Katatonia album, he kind of hesitantly said yes, and then more strongly said how good it was going to be.

And it is.  Opinions about it seem to be all over the place from really positive to really negative and everything in between.  For me, I *love* this album.  Like I’ve already mentioned, I wish I could write an actual review of it that would do it justice.  It’s absolutely stellar from beginning to end.  Not as proggy as The Fall of Hearts was, but not exactly a return to the albums that came before The Fall of Hearts either.  It’s different, and yet still Katatonia.  For me, this album is kind of like a dream.  Some, or maybe most, of the songs have a dream-like quality, and I’ve had dreams involving them (and certainly daydreams/imagery stuff when listening to the album too).  Maybe the pandemic contributed to this.  The album was announced before all of the pandemic goings-on started happening, but I didn’t listen to any of the singles. They had been so quiet about things, then hinted about a new album, but then suddenly it was announced and only 3 months away.  When it came out in April 2020, I had tons of time to be alone with the album, and maybe that helped form this bond that I feel like I have with it, and it worked its way into my dreams and daydreams more easily than usual.

City Burials didn’t need to grow on me that much compared to previous albums, and certainly compared to The Fall of Hearts, even though I thought it was going to be that way at first.  The first time listening to Heart Set to Divide was very much like listening to Takeover, where I kind of thought “hmm, OK.  Not sure if this is what I’m looking for.”  And I wasn’t sure if Behind the Blood was what I was looking for either, but it was easy to say to myself, “remember what it was like the first time you heard The Fall of Hearts.”  Then Lacquer was just stunning, breath-taking, emotional - right from the start.  Next couple songs maybe I wasn’t completely sold on but the 2nd half of the album had me thinking “wow, this is really really good” a couple times, and that’s rare for me the first time through.  By the time the second listen was done, I was hooked.  I knew I was going to love it.  I did then, and I still do, and everytime I hear it (much like The Fall of Hearts), I still feel like it’s brand new.

I don’t have much of anything super objective or critical to say here.  Jonas seems to have pushed himself just a little bit more on this album.  His vocals sound better than ever, and he was already my favorite before this.  And after probably a good number of listens, I really got into the drumming as well; I remember certain times being kind of taken aback, positively, by something Daniel was doing.

I guess my least favorite thing about City Burials is the album cover.  It’s good, and there’s a hidden bird on it, but I like the others more.


Live album:
At the beginning of the pandemic, Katatonia did a live stream and they later released it as-is, which I really appreciated.  They had some technical difficulties and Jonas sounded nervous, but I was glad they didn’t touch anything up.  It reminds me of watching it in real time this way. 

Dead Air (2020)


1.  Lethean            6:01
2.  Teargas            3:17
3.  Serein            4:48
4.  Deliberation         3:57
5.  The Winter of Our Passing   3:10
6.  Ghost of the Sun         4:08
7.  The Racing Heart         4:26
8.  Soil’s Song            4:08
9.  Old Heart Falls         4:24
(Disc 2)
10. Forsaker            4:10
11. Tonight’s Music         4:23
12. In the White         4:58
13. Leaders            4:18
14. Lacquer            4:51
15. Omerta            3:10
16. My Twin            3:39
17. Unfurl            4:53
18. July            4:49
19. Evidence            5:30
20. Behind the Blood         5:06


Unfortunately they didn’t get to tour much for this album at all, but luckily for me they did a North American City Burials tour late last year.  They played 4 songs from City Burials, opening the show with Heart Set to Divide and closing the main set with Untrodden, which was absolutely perfect.  I would have been very happy hearing any song from that album though - I hope eventually that ones that weren’t played slowly make their way into a setlist or two. 


City Burials track by track thoughts

Heart Set to Divide - Much like Takeover, I didn’t really get this song at first.  Also like Takeover, I absolutely love the song now.  I often think of the two songs together now, not that they sound alike, but because of the similar experience I had with them.  And they both now feel like the start of a journey, the unfolding of a great album.  For Heart Set to Divide, I often have an image of a ship swaying back and forth; I’m on this ship, and it’s dark and maybe just a little windy.

Behind the Blood -.my first reaction to this song was that I didn’t really need shreddy guitar stuff with my Katatonia.  But then, why not?  After some time I realized that it still has whatever that ingredient is to make it Katatonia, to make it special, to spark imagination.  They can add new elements to their sound and it’s still them.

Lacquer - Lacquer is pure magic.  Perfect, dreamlike, heart-breaking, beautiful.  The road to the grave is straight as an arrow.

Rein - I love the transition of the heavier verses/chorus and then it drops into “did you see the soot in my eyes” and it’s like a little clearing in the middle of a forest or something.  The slow guitar in that section is so Katatonia like and sad and beautiful, and then back into the woods.

The Winter of Our Passing - I think this is the perfect song at this point in the album; maybe there’s a tension building in the first few songs and this song is a little more upbeat and releases some of the tension.  I feel like I get hyped up listening to it; it always makes me smile and gives me some more energy.  (Which was perfect when I was taking the album for long walks during the pandemic.)

Vanishers - after hearing the lyrics I can never not think of drifting along a river while listening; the guest vocals are perfect for the song and so are Jonas’.  It’s yet another of those Katatonia songs that seems sad yet manages to be uplifting.

City Glaciers -  the journey continues.  I’d say this is one of the best songs on the album, but I think almost all of them are. I love the line “Darkness comes in from the street and glides back out again.”  Sometimes I just picture ocean waves - gliding in and out, and sometimes I picture a dark “wave” coming into a house from the street and gliding out, more in line with the lyric.

Flicker - another favorite; City Glaciers and this might be the best back-to-back songs on the album.  This song being a little bit more urgent.  I absolutely love around 3:30, when you feel something is happening and then 10 seconds later it kind of explodes.  Riding out the rest of the song on that wave and then it ends kind of abruptly, but I like it that way.

Lachesis -  a short and sweet song. I kind of wish it was a little longer but maybe it’s perfect as is.  Powerful in a way.  (Also it’s linked to Decima from the previous album.)

Neon Epitaph - maybe *this* is the best song on the album.  There is so much emotion here.  I think at least part of it is about Jonas having another kid during this time, which is not something I relate to but if TAC reads this far maybe he will.   For me, I love the “shadow of my shadow” lyrics.  I also love the drumming in this song.  As per my usual, I didn’t really think about it or any of the instruments as I was getting to know the album and the songs.  Then one day I was on a trail and suddenly noticed - hey, wow, this is really cool.  Especially the last minute and a half or so of the song.  Probably nothing super impressive technically, but it feels perfect for the moment.

Untrodden - what a beautiful closing track.  Vocals, lyrics, that awesome guitar solo.  Perfect.  I feel like I should say more because of how much I like it but that about sums it up.  Also the lyrics are once again incredible; a very very poignant song about losing someone.

Closing of the Sky - Yet another incredible bonus track.  I remember waking up hearing this song in my head in the early days of listening to the album, and smiling. 

Fighters - I like it a lot.  Better than the original which I’d never heard before but listened to a bit just to know what they were covering.  I remember reading somewhere, maybe youtube, that it was the worst Katatonia lyrics ever, and the person was relieved to find out they weren’t Katatonia lyrics.


I feel like I’m missing something profound that I should be saying.  But I really love this album and feel still so strongly about it 3+ years later.

[Lethean]

Lyrics:

I think I included whole songs a few times here - I just couldn’t decide what I wanted to choose/leave out for those songs.


Heart Set to Divide
The robe wasn't mine
But I wore it still
In the sunset of age
On the weight of my limbs

Through tides of repentance
My words led to deed
In their wake
See how I sway
Eyes fix on the horizon
Bleak as it seems
I let the words relapse
And return to a dream

Then glide into the night
All my memories unbroken
I let the raptors circle me
To become their only prey


Behind the Blood
Rivers rush
Behind the blood
The cinder skies come alive
With this drop of sunset
How far can we go
Along the elusive flood
I've been waiting all of my life to be with you

Motionless now
Venin is in the blood
You're a preacher without a cross
Give me some trouble
Get me some trouble in
I can't wait
I can't wait again


Lacquer
(no choice but to include the whole song for this one )
My voice channeling
A circuit's end
The house we lived in
Stricken with blight
Finding ways to kill the pain
Let the river run wild
Dreams shattering
Aerial sound

Scrape the lacquer
Can't you see it's all tarnished

Tried the poise
To radiate
Tried my words
To illustrate
Finding ways to end the pain
I let the river run wild
Dreams shattering
Fixing to die

The levee breaking
I can't live to fight once more
The road to the grave is straight as an arrow
I'm just staying around to sing your song
Baby

My voice travelling
Soaring bird above your head
The house we lived in
Ridden with disease


Rein
You drink my words in the wake of your sorrow
You walk beside me and it feels like a hundred years
The plans you make for the perpetual tomorrow
Will be colapsing still
This time I'm losing the battle
There are too many things to overcome

I seek respite
The comfort of apathy
Burial time
Submit to to the non-divine

Did you see
The soot in my eyes
The long night
The spiralling lights
I'm so tired
The scars in my mind
It didn't end well
But you had me on fire


The Winter of Our Passing
I navigate the dark
I bow before the flame I have deserted
Step off the map and let it go
Then focus on the fade

Stillness of the day
Renewal was the death of my ambition

To get higher
I have to go so low

Sold my worth
Made time for it
While I waited for something lasting
Until you would come running my way
To stay
But what does it matter now
It's the winter of our passing
Sold my trust
And my love too

Disregard the soul
Heart is made of mist
And still it's thinning


Vanishers
Drifting like wood
Our years
In the rivers of the aftermath
They shattered our right to wonder
Delivered us from free will
Our stories were thrown on the fire
Burning like bibles
They shattered our right to wonder
Exposed us to constraint

Our carbon shells deserted
We came so far for nothing
Unsung
Fixed on dead grass

Who will remain
And wake up to the sound of sorrow

When your skies are clearing
When your battles are fought
When mercy returns
To all of your thoughts
Remember the carnage
The vanishers trail
Our souls of the sunset
Drifting away


City Glaciers
Waiting for warmth
Endless the days
Argent haze
As remedy flows into
Concealed veins

Algidity
It's late in evening here
The wind dying down
The lights are leaning
No more sound

White giants sleep
Along the roads
Our dead end tracks
In times as vile as these
I want us back

City glacier of sordid snow
Darkness comes in from the street
and glides back out again
My voice is shifting ever so slow
The prints of my fingers sing upon your skin


Flicker
Hope was changing lanes
I had to turn
Changed my pace
Either way
I grew so old

This is how I disappear
Separated from the dead twin
No hound is on my trail now
Journey to the heart of your deceit
And defining my shed skin
With no one waiting
I am waiting for no one


Lachesis
We're sundered
Our cards were dealt and what did you receive
In my rest
In all my coming nights
I will dream for you to see
And my words
Will be spilled upon the ground
And sorrow must be freed

Morning
At long last sleeping
No colours to wake me


Neon Epitaph
How wild the wind came in
On the day when I found out
Passage of the one dead star
Its black dust lingering
Seeping through to my lungs
I fall towards the skyline
I drown my sorrows here
In liquids clear
Time for absolution
How the dead birds sing
They're right atop my roof

Take my offering
My promise can never be undone
The weight of midnight
Replaced by the shadow of a sun
I hold you in my arms
And it's farther than you've ever been
Little one

Adrift in sacred vertigo
The name is wandering
Our neon epitaph
Time for absolution
All the dead birds sing
They're right atop my roof

Shadow of my shadow
Cling not to my grief
I am long left behind now
You are free

Untrodden
There comes a time for all of us
To set our unfortunate sails
Our chance to part with the unrest
The open trail, the fever's crest

Will you meet me there
Underneath the pallid city lights
In the rain of Summerland
Over the ashes
Our memories in open hands

My soul lays bare
This road here, untrodden

My words must levitate
And reverberate through the void
The nails are in, the pressure's there
The music of loss is in the air

Thought I saw you in the street
Standing still
Watching me
I would fall down on my knees
I would love to surrender to nothingness
But I'll stay another year
To see if things might change
Remain where you are
My love will protect you always


Closing of the Sky
I feel the oceans coil
Feel the chemicals burn
I rest in the long arms of torpor
It's for the closing sky that I yearn

Thoughts like vapor
Views of nothingness appear
Echo the labor
Await the unforgiving years

Can I have a change in my perspective now
(Blue moves out of my range)
A shift in this asperity
(Love drifts away)
A change of color through my house
(I have to let you go)
The token of a strategy

Into the ultra void
In the sleeper's white nest
I dream in a damaged sequence
Of where my oldest love lies at rest