Here’s something we didn’t expect to listen from our beloved Swedes, a release quite different than their previous ones. Don’t be afraid, they didn’t change their sound completely, they just added a lot of different things. An album, their 11th, that needs more hearings than its predecessors.
The first big difference, is the duration of the album. We were used to about 50 minutes of music from them, but this one has almost 70. It could be characterized as a progressive album, because we see a lot of songs with big duration and many variations in them and in general they don’t follow the classic recipe couplet-refrain/couplet-refrain. But all the elements that we love in their music are here. Anders Nystrom creates beautiful melodies with his guitar and keyboards, while Jonas Renske colors their atmospheric compositions with his trademark vocals. Songs like the 7-minute opening track “Takeover”, “Residual”, “Serac” and “The Night Subscriber” will not disappoint any of their fans. It’s by far their most complex album, but while you listen to it over and over again it gives you exactly what you want. 25 years of career and they still manage to write dark and melancholic hymns. What more will you ask for?
“The Fall Of Hearts” will be released in many different formants with bonus stuff like songs and DVD. Last but not least, there is a band from America called In The Silence. Back in 2012, they released a great album called “A Fair Dream Gone Mad”. When I first listened to it, I said that it sounds like Katatonia decided to play progressive. Discover it asap.
