KATATONIA - Nightmares As Extensions Of The Waking State Mediabook-CD

Issued in a mediabook with a 24-page booklet with 2 bonustracks.

Given that the recent unceremonious (but not surprising) departure of Anders Nyström left a bad taste in the mouths of many a fan, this new Kata album was bound to receive a rough appraisal. Nyström favors a return to the more immediately melancholic mastery of olde but that bird has flown. Recent Katatonia (with "recent" stretching as far back as 2009) has progressively inched towards a more teased-out method where texture and mood are heightened. Sometimes, at the altar of immediate melodicism and accessibility. "Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State" is the cumulative peak of this trend towards overshading and de-emphasizing. Past albums like "Night Is The New Day" and "The Fall Of Hearts" are comparable only in the sense that they spawned the first seeds for what we're hearing in full bloom here. All ten songs here are devoid of earwormy hooks the likes of "My Twin" or "Soil's Song". These songs want to extract from you some cerebral appreciation. These songs are not content with just the emotional outpouring of olde. These songs are the sound of a band in full control of their capabilities and therefore in natural progression. Even amidst the loss of a key member.

The core elements of latter-era Katatonia remain intact. The slick, expansive production still wraps elegantly around winding melodies and ethereal orchestration, while jagged riffs strike out of nowhere with blunt force. New guitarists Nico Elgstrand and Sebastian Svalland feel fully integrated—like they could have played on the last record—and Jonas Renkse’s voice is as steady and soul-wrung as ever.