Katatonia - Night Is the New Day
Rating
RIYL
AmorphisNovembers Doom
Paradise Lost
Ghost Brigade
Release Date
11/02/2009
Label
PeacevilleTracklist
1 Forsaker2 The Longest Year
3 Idle Blood
4 Onward Into Battle
5 Liberation
6 The Promise of Deceit
7 Nephilim
8 New Night
9 Inheritance
10 Day & Then the Shade
11 Departer
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In the 18 years that Katatonia have been in existence, they have undergone quite the transformation over their 8 studio albums, starting with 1993’s Dance of December Souls and leading up to their latest, Night Is the New Day. They started their career playing doomy death metal that, at times, seemed to plod along a little too slowly and didn’t really portray what the band would eventually turn into. However, mid-career the band suddenly found their formula. With 2001’s Last Fair Deal Gone Done Katatonia created a gothic metal masterpiece. Keeping the mood of their doom metal approach and infusing it with alternative and gothic metal put the band in a unique position where they could create undeniably listenable compositions, but compositions that were nonetheless some of the most heart-wrenchingly melancholic pieces of music you could listen to. Over the course of Katatonia’s next three albums, they took this magic formula and continually refined it, leading to what can be seen as the band’s crowning achievement--Night Is the New Day.
The album starts off with the oppressively heavy “Forsaker”, a track in which the band are able to attack you with thundering riffs, yet pull at your heart strings with Jonas Renkse’s otherworldly melodic vocals. Throughout the album he is able to fuse each note he sings with an air of hope slightly tinged by loss. It should not be taken as a slight to the rest of the band, but Katatonia would not be the band that they are without Renkse’s unique, haunting, and utterly beautiful vocals. But back to the song at hand, “Forsaker,” beyond showcasing Renkse, is also the culmination of Katatonia’s trademark sound. The song swings from gigantic riffs to downplayed, contemplative passages, to a combination of the two… all the while transitioning between these different elements smoothly and elegantly.
The second track, “The Longest Year,” builds on the dynamics of “Forsaker” to become the second strongest song on the album. It starts with a slow, timid, nearly hopeful passage complete with a nicely understated built up atmosphere, only to be interrupted by the explosively strong riffs of Anders Nystrom and Fredrik Norman. Combining the power of the established riffs with the song's early atmospherics, the song almost feels like it builds a mood of hope, culminating in a final plea of the chorus, before fading out with no answer.
“The Longest Year” isn’t the only song that seems to play with this “hopeful” sound, and as you may have noticed "hope" seems to be a running theme when discussing this album. Throughout this album, you will get an eerie feeling of hope fomenting underneath each song. As is the case with each Katatonia release, however, the ultimate feeling left with the listener is of a subtle expression of the beauty found in depression. On Night Is the New Day, Katatonia has found that final element that they needed to add into their already potent mix in order to take the next step needed for adding even more weight to their sound.
There are still moments of overwhelming and unfettered dread and doom, such as on the tracks “The Promise of Deceit” and “Liberation”, with each being a cry to the abyss and a call to oblivion. However, that sense of dread is so tastefully complemented by an underlying theme of dashed hope and unfulfilled wanting on nearly every other track on this album. Songs such as “Inheritance” and “Idle Blood” highlight perfectly the manner in which Katatonia craft emotionally challenging songs that appeal to both your sense of hope and your fear of unfulfillment.
Because of the new ways in which Katatonia are able to touch listeners, emotionally and audibly, this album, as mentioned before, is the shining jewel of their discography. The grandiosity of the album’s overwhelming themes of hope, and its subsequent loss, drive it into the upper echelon of doomy, depressive, gothic metal. It is because of this that I have no problem saying that Night Is the New Day was, hands down, the best album to come out of 2009.
--Rick Gebhardt
Comments
Senegal Africa
Is this one of those contextual 5 star albums in which you have to appreciate their "growth" over their previous albums. Because this is the first album I've heard by them and they no doubt can create a strong atmosphere within 4 minutes, its just missing something. Maybe I just wished they experimented more with their song structures.
edit- its probably because i listen to too much pretentious music.
Listening to:
fuckin african mosques (Tang na bu baax)
Minnesota
I don't think so. I honestly think that Katatonia are at the pinnacle of their genre with this album and I know that I will be revisiting it for numerous years to come. That, for me, is what warrants a perfect score.
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Dallas, Texas
What do you mean? The range of the song structures seems great to me. But perhaps I look at it a bit more simplistic, even with my own discerning eye (and I listen to a lot of laughably pretentious music myself). Did this or any other band I'm listening to put together an album where all the songs sound the same? Is it predictable? And that's it for me.
That said, it's rare that group this deep into its career, keeps putting together stellar records.The creativedrive never seems to wear off for these guys.
Dallas, Texas
Rick, you said you'd never give out a 5 star score. :)
You're right though, I can't think of any group in the genre that does what Katatonia does better.
Minnesota
Yeah... I know. I realize I'm changing my philosophy. What can I say? I'm older and wiser now!
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PA
Great review, Rick. Amazing album. Definitely the best of their career. I listened to this NONSTOP when it came out.
Music Blog.
Depths blog. (my band)
Anytown USA
Love this album.
You play to win the game.
IT IS PERFECT
Glasgow, Scotland
I was a bit confused when I saw this becuase I got them mixed up with Catatonia, the annoying welsh band who sang "Road Rage". Will have to check this out though, sounds promising.
Infinitely Inwards
Deserves every bit of this rating. Deliciously beautiful album.
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Boston, MA
I said it once and I'll say it again: I still think Last Fair Deal Gone Down is their best. That album holds a special place for me because its the album that got me into gothic/doom metal in the first place. This album is still an excellent release at this point in their career and shows they haven't lost a step since Last Fair Deal. I can't get enough of "The Promise of Deceit" as well as "Day & Then the Shade".
Stereo Typing
Tweet at me, bro
Porland, OR
I think this one took the #1 spot for me as well. At the very least, "Forsaker" was my favorite song of the year.
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