Shortly after the release of their tenth effort, "The Fall Of Hearts", in 2016, Katatonia announced that put the band on pause and cancelled a few dates like the Be Prog! My Friend, a former famous progressive music festival based in Barcelona. Fans feared they would never see Jonas Renkse and his friends on stage again. It must be said that disguised breaks which end up becoming a real career end are not rare in the music world...
Fans can rest assured, though! The Swedes are indeed back this year with an eleventh album, "City Burials"! And judging by the cover, the melancholic darkness that usually inhabits the compositions of the Stockholm natives seems to be once again in order on this new opus.
The first surprise of the album comes from the choice of the first single, 'Lacquer'. Although the band has two guitarists in its ranks, the six-stringed instrument seems to have deserted the track. In a dark register with an atmospheric side, the title is endowed with the sensitivity to which the group has accustomed us in recent years. In a more or less similar register, 'Vanishers' also manages to be one of the strongest tracks of the album. With its minimalist approach, the female vocals of Anni Bernhard (Full Of Keys) and Jonas Renkse on the choruses are a little marvel. When we know that a few years ago, the band released a live album "Sanctitude" full of acoustic revisited tracks, we wonder what this track could have sounded like once unplugged.
But Katatonia is above all a metal band if we refer to their original style. And in this area too, some unexpected innovations are on the horizon, such as the surprisingly dynamic riff on the second single, 'Behind The Blood'. The first track, 'Heart Set To Divide', with its addictive character and well-found chorus, is one of the album's greatest satisfactions. The heavy 'Neon Epitaph' will not be forgotten either!
Katatonia proves once again with this new album its ability to take the listener into wintery spheres lulled by a warm and painful voice and to arouse emotion in no time at all. An interesting record that can be listened to with the greatest of pleasures.