Review Katatonia - City Burials 2020

Tracks
01 Heart Set To Divide
2 Behind The Blood
3 Lacquer
4 Rein
5 The Winter Of Our Passing
6 Vanishers
7 City Glaciers
8 Flicker
9 Lachesis
10 Neon Epitaph
11 Untrodden
Bonus Tracks available on various formats
12 Closing Of The Sky
13 Fighters

Band:
Jonas Renkse – lead vocals
Anders Nyström – guitars
Roger Öjersson – guitars
Niklas Sandin – bass
Daniel Moilanen – drums

Discography:
Dance of December Souls (1993)
Brave Murder Day (1996)
Discouraged Ones (1998)
Tonight's Decision (1999)
Last Fair Deal Gone Down (2001)
Viva Emptiness (2003)
The Great Cold Distance (2006)
Night Is the New Day (2009)
Dead End Kings (2012)
The Fall of Hearts (2016)

Guests:
Anders Eriksson – co-production of keybords, programming, editing
Joakim Karlsson – additional drum programming (track 3)
Anni Bernhard – add. vocals (track 6)

Info:
Recorded at Soundtrade Studios, Tri-Lamb Studios, The City Of Glass (Stockholm, Sweden)
Jonas Renkse – production, art direction
Anders Nyström – production, art direction
Jacob Hansen – mixing, mastering
Daniel Liden– engineering
Beech – artwork

Released 2020-04-24
Reviewed 2020-06-23

Links:
katatonia.com
youtube
soundcloud
peaceville records
sound pollution

Thirty years in the service of melancholy, and according to the press material they are revered masters of that craft. The album called City Burials is the eleventh for the band that now will be reviewed by us here at Hallowed for the first time. They have been praised by reviewers and fans but I have never really caught on to this band and for me the best thing about them was that the singer did vocals for Ayreon, he is pretty good in Katatonia too though and he does well here but is the album that makes me take real notice of Katatonia?

The style is progressive and somewhat doomy, melancholic and all of that. If you are familiar with the band it will be a familiar sound to you, as it sounds pretty much like the previous albums. Bands like Opeth and Porcupine Tree comes to mind when I listen to this album, it is not the most original ever, especially considering that these guys have been doing stuff like this for a long time, as have others. Still, it is a fairly fresh sounding album and at least you can complement them for doing their thing, I think that is a positive thing.

City Burials is a good album, there is no question about that. It has some good songs and a relatively fresh sound but nothing that really grabs me and I would say that it is about the same as the previous albums by Katatonia that I have heard. I have read from a source that is probably far more knowledgeable than me in the subject that this album is small step in a new direction – to me it sounds more or less the same as the previous stuff.

Chances are that if you enjoy Katatonia you will enjoy this album, and if you aren’t the album will not change your view. It is a fine album and good craftsmanship while the creativity aren’t as impressive. I find myself finished with this album now, it hasn’t felt like a waste of time, but neither like the best use of my time.

HHHHHHH

Katatonia City Burials

Katatonia
City Burials