Album Review: Katatonia – Sky Void of Stars (Napalm Records)

Masters of melancholic metal Katatonia carry on their legacy of rearranging the order of the heavy music universe, proudly presenting their next studio album, Sky Void of Stars, out January 20, 2023, via Napalm Records.

Very few bands deliver beautiful musical misery in quite the way that Katatonia do, and for such a long time. Founded way back in 1991, they’ve carved out an impressive niche within the metal world and continue to impress with this new slab of gloomy ambience. An album that features expected amounts of dreary atmosphere, but it also features unexpected levels of experimentation. This is the Katatonia of 2023, one that can utilise all their built-up skills to make something wholly unique and wholly them.

While it is easy to focus on the memorable misery that Katatonia has to offer, it is important to look at this album as so much more than that. Evident from the start with the complex rhythm shifts of album opener, Austerity. It sets the mood, showcasing mesmerising murkiness, in Katatonia style.

It’s not all about wallowing though, as the high-powered riffs of Colossal Shade show. Katatonia at their catchiest, while still layering on atmosphere thickly. Before the tone is taken to dark locales with the down-tempo of Opaline. Whereas Birds is a blast of energy that really takes the album experience up an extra notch.

It’s this genre-bending that still delights when it comes to Katatonia. Yet, there’s simply no arguing when they go all in on melancholic moodiness either, as they do on the wonderful Drab Moon. Or when they extend that into even more powerful and morose tones such as on Author. Or with the delicate and doom-tinged sound of Impermanence, which features the vocals of Soen’s Joel Ekelöf.

As the album reaches the latter stage, the feeling of excitement is prevalent. A word that isn’t always used to describe Katatonia, but a word that comes to mind upon spending time with Sky Void of Stars. Excitement because the genre-bending up to this point has been immensely satisfying. Happily, regardless of how miserable the album can be at times, that continues. Into the huge ambience of Sclera, the blend of gloom and vigour that Atrium has to showcase, and the epic melodies and atmosphere of No Beacon to Illuminate Our Fall. Pick up the Limited Mediabook CD and you’ll also get the heavy melody and explosivity of Absconder as bonus track.

Katatonia continue to prove that their specific brand of music is still as important and relevant today as it was decades ago.

Links

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Napalm Records