SilentScream213 After the monumental Brave Murder Day, which quickly established itself as the greatest and most depressing Doom Metal release yet, Katatonia decided to follow it up by moving in a slightly different direction. Still insanely doomy, still walling you with the same shoegazy chords, but now the sound is more accessible. Gone are the demonic death growls, the assaulting double bass, and any tie to extreme Metal.

Replacing them are purely clean vocals and a focus on verse-chorus format. Jonas doesn’t push his voice too far here, instead opting for a lethargic, depressive croon. The songs are simple and rhythmic even, adding to the hypnotic nature of the gazy guitars.

The result of this odd direction is… well, just about as depressive and pessimistic as music can possibly get without creeping into extreme territory. All of the ingredients mesh stunningly to craft a much more accessible serving of catatonia. Lethargic apathy is the surface face here, a numb shell of what’s left after one is encased with pessimism. However, the shell is constantly threatening to shatter as it struggles to hold back the outpour of emotions underneath. Jonas very perfectly treads the fine line between total apathy and intense pain, letting inflections slip through his voice to indicate the intense amount of emotion being restrained by the defense mechanism of not caring.

Another masterpiece from the band that still shakes me and never fails to put a frown on my face.

UMUR "A Sunset Choir For The Daylight Harvest" is an EP release by Swedish death/doom metal (later alternative/progressive metal) act Katatonia. The EP was released through Night of the Vinyl Dead Records in January 2023. The original 7" vinyl version of the EP is limited to 500 copies, but the EP is also available digitally. "A Sunset Choir For The Daylight Harvest" is a re-recording of Katatonia´s 1992 rehearsal demo and the re-recordings were done only by Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström (under their original pseudonyms Lord Seth and Blackheim respectively) without contributions from the remaining members of the 2023 version of Katatonia. This is not the first release of the material, as the two re-recorded tracks were first featured on the March 2022 "Melancholium" (Darkness Shall Rise Productions) boxed set.

Needless to say that there is a big difference in sound quality between the original rehearsal demo versions of the songs and these professional studio re-recordings, but if that´s not exactly a surprise, the authenticity and respectful performances of the re-recordings are a bit more astonishing. Especially given the development of Katatonia´s music from 1992 until these re-recordings were done in 2021. But on the other hand maybe one shouldn´t be so surprised as Renkse and Nyström have always kept in touch with their extreme metal roots and have of course also been active in their death metal Bloodbath project when they weren´t busy with their day job in Katatonia. So recording respectful and authentic versions of material they wrote in the early 90s, which is far removed from the latter day sound of Katatonia, maybe isn´t that surprising after all.

Stylistically this is dark, doomy, and melancholic death metal which is strongly influenced by Paradise Lost´s 1991 "Gothic" album. Renkse has a slighlty more aggressive blackened edge to his growling style than Nick Holmes, but the instrumental part of the music has many similarities to the legendary Brits and their equally legendary "Gothic" album. Soaring melancholic leads, ultra heavy riffs, and slow doomy drumming (parts of "Sunset Choir" features faster-paced drumming though). All the ingredients of that particular sound are here and accounted for. One could have feared that the great respectful performances could have been ruined by a clean and sterile production job, but again Katatonia show that they have great taste and understanding of how music written in the early 90s should sound. This sound production has just the right amount of grit and gloom while still being detailed and clear, that you´re transported to exactly the right place, which is one of the functions and success criterias of a well executed production job. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Rehearsal '92" is the second demo recording by Swedish death/doom metal (later alternative/progressive metal) act Katatonia. The demo was independently released on cassette tape ni October 1992. It features the songs "Daylight Harvest" and "Sunset Choir", which are not on the tracklist on the preceding demo release "Jhva Elohim Meth" (July 1992). In fact the two tracks were recorded shortly after the recording sessions for "Jhva Elohim Meth". The tracks would not be included on Katatonia´s debut full-length studio album "Dance of December Souls" (December 1993). Katatonia opted to re-record the two tracks in 2021 and include them on the March 2022 "Melancholium" (Darkness Shall Rise Productions) boxed set and they would also subsequently be released as the January 2023 "A Sunset Choir For The Daylight Harvest" EP.

This original rehearsal demo is a pretty lo-fi, murky, and raw sounding affair. Stylistically it´s obvious that Katatonia at this point were strongly influenced by the 1991 "Gothic" album by Paradise Lost, as their melancholic death/doom metal sound is in many ways similar to the sound of that particular album by the Brits. I´m not sure how Katatonia managed to record guitar harmonies on a rehearsal demo recording done by only two persons (Dan Swanö does guest on keyboards here though, so maybe he contributed other instruments too), but other than that detail, the basic tracks were recorded live in the rehearsal space. Although the sound quality leaves a bit to be desired it´s still audible that both tracks are great melancholic death/doom metal tracks and those who enjoy early Katatonia (and Paradise Lost) should find entertainment value here. I can recommend seeking out the re-recorded versions of the two tracks, as they are both respectful towards the originals and feature the right amount of authenticity plus professional production values. A 2.5 star (50%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Jhva Elohim Meth" is the first demo recording by Swedish death/doom metal (later alternative/progressive metal) act Katatonia. The demo was independently released in July 1992. The first cassette tape batch was limited to 500 copies. Edge of Sanity frontman Dan Swanö was involved in the production of the demo and he also plays keyboards/sings additional clean vocals, helping out Blackheim (electric & acoustic guitars, bass) and Lord Seth (drums and vocals).

The demo features five tracks and a total playing time of 17:11 minutes. The two songs bookending the demo are shorter intro and outro tracks, while the three tracks in between are more "regular" length melancholic death/doom metal tracks. Only "Without God" from this demo would make it unto Katatonia´s debut full-length studio album "Dance of December Souls" (December 1993). The remaining tracks are exclusive to this release.

Stylistically the material is influenced by early Paradise Lost, but also other contemporary Swedish artists like early Tiamat and Cemetary. The very young band, who were only 17 years old (both members) at the time of recording this have created a very convincing good quality demo here, which also features a well sounding production job. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Sky Void Of Stars" is the thirteenth full-length studio album by Swedish metal act Katatonia. The album was released through Napalm Records in January 2023. It´s the successor to "City Burials" from April 2020. The album features the same quintet lineup who recorded the predecessor. Once again lead vocalist Jonas Renkse is the main composer of the material as guitarist Anders "Blackheim" Nyström is still suffering from writers block (I read an interview with Renkse where he confirmed this).

While the material on "Sky Void Of Stars" is generally slightly harder edged than the material on "City Burials" (only slightly though, as this is by no means a particularly heavy release), this album still features a similar atmospheric and melancholic alternative/progressive rock/metal style to the predecessor. Renkse´s melancholic and emotional vocals are the focus of attention, but the tracks also feature solid instrumental performances. Katatonia are true professionals and it´s audible in everything they do. While the band have tweaked and developed their sound over the years, it´s been a few years and albums since they´ve released anything surprising and honestly monotony has begun to set in. It´s almost like they´ve become too accomplished at what they do, and every new release therefore sounds too safe and formulaic. I think I remember saying this about "City Burials" too, but I´ll say it again here...

...the sound production choices are also similar to the sound found on "City Burials" and again it would be nice to hear Katatonia travel down a different sonic road and challenge themselves and their audience. I´m probably being a bit unfair here, as "Sky Void Of Stars" objectively is a high quality release, and if this is your entry point to Katatonia you´re likely to love it, but to us old fans, who have followed them and the development of their sound since the early 90s, it´s pretty obvious by now that they´ve stagnated and are rehashing tried and true musical ideas. And when they do try something a little different like they do on "Birds", it´s really not that different, as that song more or less sounds like a cover of Paradise Lost (a band Katatonia have always had some similarities to) with Renkse singing.

"Sky Void Of Stars" features a clear, professional, and detailed sound production, where everything is audible in the mix. It´s very polished and could have prospered from some bite and rawness, but that´s not how Katatonia want their music presented anymore. Despite my reservations towards "Sky Void Of Stars", it´s still a quality release from Katatonia, although it´s often a bit dull and lacking punch. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.