Prog Geo
One of the best albums of 2009!Also one of my favorite albums.This is the most progressive album of Katatonia.Mikael Akerfeldt enjoyed it very much.Finally his comments weren't excessive.The album has post rock influences(and not only),fantastic compositions,wonderful vocals by Jonas Renkse and nice lyrics.The lyrical themes are misery,sadness,despair and realisation for the end of the world.Also from the title you can see that Katatonia see the blackier future to come.
The artwork is fantastic!The female angel statue and the grey-black background describes perfectly the atmosphere of the album.
My favorite tracks are:The longest year(the good single),Onward into battle,Liberation,Nephilim(death),New night,Inheritance(wonderful classical introduction),Day and then the shade(Opeth time) and the bonus track Ashen(fantastic track,I believe that should be in the tracklist)
An album for all metallers and all music lovers.A must-have album.I'm sure that you'll enjoy it if you heard it.
My grade:9/10