City Burials

There is something eerie and prescient in the release of City Burials, Katatonias first full-length in four years. Appearing during the COVID-19 global pandemic, the complex emotions at the heart of these songs reflect loss, grief, fear, and tension back at humanity itself. Over three decades, Katatonias name has become synonymous with a melancholic alt-prog defined by a gloomy, atmospheric, melodic, dark, dreamy musical aesthetic. City Burials (even its title is serendipitous) was largely composed by frontman Jonas Renkse during their 2018 hiatus as a solo album, but he changed his mind and wanted the band involved. Lead guitarist Anders Nystrom aided him every step of the way with arrangements, production, and quality control. Renkse -- who delivers the vocal performance of his career on this date -- focused on the intensity of fragile emotions unsettled by the passing of time in track after track. Sense impressions of memory are informed by thwarted desire, existential dread, illness, and mourning; they are woven through airy, darkly seductive, yet emotionally claustrophobic musical atmospheres; Renkses words are attentive to the temporal as well as the eternal. In Heart Set to Divide, sparse, lilting keyboards and fingerpicked electric guitars frame his words before crushing rhythms and crunchy guitar riffs introduce traces of frustration and helplessness; they are interwoven to add dimension and friction to Renkses dark serenity. Behind the Blood announces its presence with thudding drums, spiky guitar riffs propped by Niklas Sandins pulsing bassline. Lead guitarist Roger Ojerssons influence becomes increasingly evident as he seamlessly adorns Nystroms jazz-inflected chords with pinch harmonics and sweep-picking, and reverb-heavy shred breaks that underscore the quintets trademark sound. He follows the first verse with a spiraling solo that seamlessly contrasts with the layered choral voices, shifting cadences, and complex textures. Though drummer Daniel Moilanen (who made his auspicious debut on Fall of Hearts) drives the cinematic The Winter of Our Passing. His rigorous control allows the web of keyboards, guitars, and basses to frame Renkses vocals empathically as he addresses an estranged lover in the delayed aftermath of the relationships dissolution. The tracks drama juxtaposes regret with tenderness, unvanquished anger, and grief. Vanishers, with its skeletal loops and digital effects, is a dirge with singer Anni Bernhard (Full of Keys) in duet with Renkse amid hovering mellotrons and thudding tom-toms: Were dead now, affinity has been found below the ground…. City Glaciers harkens back to heavier times in the bands history. Introduced by power chords and kickdrum fills, Renkses vocal is that of an embittered prophet who cannot bear the weight of memory. His emotion serves to ratchet the tunes intensity. Neon Epitaph shakes itself loose of the layered atmospherics surrounding it as guitars and drums blaze with anthemic metal dynamics that contrast with the lyrics reflective pessimism. City Burials is not a reinvention, but it does contain periodic re-engagement with the steely dynamics of heavy metal. Renkses excellent songwriting, coupled with his best overall viocal performance, serve to energize Katatonia, who remain vitally creative in their third decade. ~ Thom Jurek