Katatonia (Artist Highlight)

Katatonia, not to be confused with the more well-known metal band Catatonia, is a Swedish metal band founded in 1991. It's my favourite band of all time, I've been listening to them since I was a teen and they're been my favourite about 5-10 years.

The only remaining original members of the band are Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström.

Jonas has been the main vocalist and Anders the guitarist and backup singer throughout the band’s history, but they’re both multi-instrumentalists and have played other instruments in the band as well, when the band hasn’t had other musicians playing said instruments on record (on live sets, they used session musicians).

They have published twelve studio albums so far, the latest one being Sky Void of Stars in January 2023. They change their musical style slightly for each album, causing the band’s sound to evolve over time. They have stuck with independent, metal-focused labels throughout their career.

They never “made it” big time but are well-respected among metalheads and have a loyal fan base which allows them to make music full time and tour internationally.

Musically, they started off mixing death metal and doom metal and thus pioneered the death/doom subgenre of metal. They used solely screaming vocals. Jonas’ singing technique was slightly off though, which caused him to almost lose his voice by the late 90s. The doctor told Jonas to stop screaming altogether or he’ll lose his voice completely. The band had already experimented with clean vocals a little bit by this point and decided to completely change their sound because of Jonas’ voice problems.

After the drastic style change, Katatonia’s music has been described as i.e., progressive metal, goth metal, post metal and alternative metal. If I’m describing it briefly to someone, I just say “metal”, but if the other person seems interested, I give them a more detailed description: Katatonia’s music is pure melancholy. It stems from metal, but they’re not afraid to cross genre boundaries i.e., to rock or electronic music.

No band sounds exactly like them, but if you're into bands like Tool, Anathema, Leprous, Paradise Lost, Sleep Token and Opeth, then I think you'll like Katatonia as well.

The band’s name is a good descriptor of their music – catatonia is a “complex neuropsychiatric behavioural syndrome that is characterized by abnormal movements, immobility, abnormal behaviours and withdrawal. -- Catatonia presents as a motor disturbance in which patients will display marked reduction in movement, marked agitation, or a mixture of both despite having the physical capacity to move normally. These patients may be unable to start an action or stop one. The most common symptoms of catatonia are -- negativism, posturing (rigidity), waxy flexibility/catalepsy, stereotypy (purposeless, repetitive movements) -- and verbigeration (repetition of meaningless phrases).”

Similarly, Katatonia’s music has somewhat abnormal, but repetitive musical elements. Sometimes the music is so calm and repetitive time seems to stand still, but the music is in fact moving, progressing throughout the song. Occasionally, though, the music is hectic and agitated – the other side of the syndrome. Jonas’ delivery as a singer is withdrawn, as if he’s singing to himself rather than an audience. On stage, the band plays the songs just as good as they do on the album, but they’re not putting on a performance in the traditional sense. (I saw them live in January 2023, a day after they released the new album.) Katatonia is very much music by introverts, for introverts. Catatonia in Swedish would be katatoni, so the band’s name is sort of like a combination of the word in English and in Swedish, just like the band members are Swedish, but make their music in English.

Despite what I just said, I think Katatonia’s music is relatively easy to approach. You can listen to it and vibe along, without analysing it too deeply. That’s just me, I have the need and the drive to analyse and understand everything. Hence why I have this blog.

Lyrically, the band’s songs are melancholical poetry or, on occasion, seemingly unrelated/ meaningless words (like in catatonia). Typical topics include mental health struggles, relationship problems, sadness, hopelessness, death, and especially in their earlier work, violence.

Birds are a recurring theme, they even have one in their current logo. The birds can be interpreted in multiple ways, but crows as the symbol of death are a common interpretation and one Jonas, the main lyricist, has mentioned multiple times.

Here are some of my favourite lines from their songs:

”When you have no one, no one can hurt you.” -Don’t Tell A Soul

”I have traded my memories for things.” -Omerta

”How long is the pattern going to speak for you?” -Lethean

”You would never sleep at night / if you knew what I’ve been through / And this thought is all I have / to trust upon when light is gone” -My Demons

”Why have you put so many things into my eyes / that I can’t see clear / who’s paid you for telling me what I’m worth / And run in fear / It has been for me a strain to see already / What have you done / The rising noise / The sharpened smells / The deadened sight / What is it in my eyes / A piece of broken glass / Is this the time I should be on my knees for you / Is this your way of telling / Another has been found / Now I know it’s teargas in my eyes” -Teargas

”How could this go so very wrong / That I must depend on darkness / Would anyone follow me further down / How could this go so very far / That I need someone to say / What is wrong / Not with the world but me” -Tonight’s Music

”So I found you, found a way all through / The quiet cold of inner darkness / Now that you’re here, it becomes so clear / I have waited for you always” -In The White

”You come into my circle of trust, arriving late / You could have done better, but that’s ok / Contemplating summer and what could have been / Who knows? / But I fear you took the words from my drunken heart / And they’re vanishing with you / Closing down, leaking my inactivated mind into you / Memorial, let’s put everything underground now / Your void eyes, how long until you come back around” -Passer

Choosing three songs to represent Katatonia is hard because they’ve changed styles so many times and have literally hundreds of songs in their discography. Here are some guidelines, though:

- their first two albums are death/doom and quite different from the rest of their discography – if you’re already into death metal, doom metal or death/doom, I’d recommend picking something from those albums

- Viva Emptiness and The Great Cold Distance albums are fan favourites and also some of their heavier stuff / more underground metal sound and vibes (but not as heavy as the first albums)

- Night Is The New Day and Sky Void of Stars albums have a more mainstream metal sound, if you still want metal, but aren’t that familiar with the genre

- City Burials is the most stripped back and simple out of their albums

- for a heavier metal song, for starters I’d recommend Leaders, Ghost of the Sun or July

- The One You Are Looking For Is Not Here (especially the live version, on YouTube with the title Katatonia - The One You Are Looking For Is Not Here live "Sanctitude") is one of the most beautiful ballads they've done, and it’s a duet with a female singer

- if you’re into great lyrics, I’d recommend picking from these (I intentionally left some of these out from the best lines I wrote before): One Year From Now, Lacquer, My Twin, Omerta, July, Sweet Nurse, Evidence, Nephilim and The Act of Darkening

- Lacquer, Old Heart Falls and Behind the Blood have the best vocals by Jonas, IMO - he's very consistent and only gets better over time, but in these songs his talent really shines (the high notes in Departer are by Krister Linder, the featuring artist)

- My Twin is their biggest hit song

- Departer, Decima and Shifts are great examples of their softer songs

- Omerta, The Act of Darkening and Unfurl have very unique feel to them, unlike any of their other songs - Omerta is as if Katatonia made a song especially to be played at an Irish pub, The Act of Darkening really paints a picture on your mind of an abandoned amusement park and playground, referenced in the lyrics and Unfurl is just... I cannot describe it. It's my personal favourite out of their songs and somehow the athmosphere of the song always captivates me and most of the times I get an eargasm and chills all over my body.

- for the electronic music influences, listen to Unfurl, Lacquer or Departer

So, to summarize my own list:

1. Start off with My Twin or July. My Twin is their biggest hit song, has a music video and the lyrics are some of their most clear on what the song is about. July also has a video. It's on the heavier side of their music (post-1998), but not the heaviest. Still pretty mainstream, I think. And lyrics are very clear, again.

2. Continue to Lacquer (from City Burials). It has a visualizer-type video, with peeling lacquer and the album cover. Clear on the lyrical content again. There's also the Dead Air version, that's an album they livestreamed during COVID. I'd recommend listening to the City Burials version first.

3. Choose Departer or Decima. Departer has more of that electronic music feel that Lacquer has and is featuring electronic music artist Krister Linder, where as Decima has more of an acoustic vibe (I'm not sure if it's actually acoustic, though). Both are great examples on Katatonia's softer music.

4.- If you like these songs, you can pick and choose from the list above what to listen to next.