I could write a lot about the new, thirteenth full-length of Katatonia. Things that wouldn’t have to do with the musical part. But I’d rather not. I’ll just say that the way Anders Nyström was practically ousted from the band was unacceptable. We are talking about one of the two founding members with a huge contribution to making the Swedes the name they are today and in a similar way guitarist Roger Öjersson was also left out of the band.
So that leaves Jonas Renske as the only original member in the line-up, to which guitarists Nico Elgstrand and Sebastian Svalland have been added as permanent members after playing in many gigs as session players in recent years. “Nightmares…” I believe is what we who have been following them for years have been waiting for. Since “The Fall Of Hearts” Katatonia have put a lot of prog mentality into their music, introducing a somewhat different face. The same is of course the case here as well since we shouldn’t forget that this is the third album in a row that Renske has composed entirely on his own.
Of course, their sound hasn’t been completely altered, which is instantly recognizable with their characteristic melancholic melodies. Their style is personal and unique anyway. The difference with their more classic period, that is when they left aside their doom/death days, is that the songs follow different routes from the beginning to the end and need listening to win you over even though they are not long in duration, around four to five minutes each. It’s no coincidence that you now see them featured in magazines that deal exclusively with the broader prog sound.
As a general feeling though, and having listened to it several times, I can’t say that “Nightmares…” wowed me. Yes, it has some great songs (“Lilac”, “Temporal”, “In The Event Of”) but also some unacceptable ones (“Efter Solen”). As a whole I found it quite mediocre and by far the least interesting after 2012’s excellent “Dead End Kings”. Maybe keeping Renske as exclusive composer doesn’t work well. Perhaps “City Burials” should have been released as his solo album, as originally intended, and Katatonia should have continued to be a band where Renske and Nyström would have written music together. Unfortunately, things turned out differently and for the first time one of my most beloved bands has disappointed me.
P.S.: I would like to hear the opinion of the declared (for some incomprehensible reason) Kiss fan Sakis Nikas on the cover of “A World Without Heroes” which is included as a bonus in special editions.
