Katatonia

I somehow missed The Fall of Hearts back in May, so just now catching up on that, and it's making a strong case for being among their top 2-3 releases. I thought Dead End Kings felt a bit phoned in, but this is a big rebound.

"Serac" might be the best song in their catalog:

Aside from this new one, my favorite LP has always been Last Fair Deal Gone Down.

Any other thoughts on the new stuff?

 

I'm more fond of Fall of Hearts than I have been with anything they've put out since The Great Cold Distance. Really good album.

 

Really starting to think TFOH is their second-best release in a crowded back catalog, right behind LFDGD.

So diverse, lots of new territory covered, and the riffs/chord progressions are more adventurous than ever.

"Takeover" and "Serac" are multi-phase progressive metal masterpieces that help make up for Tool/APC's decade-long absence. "Serein" is amazingly straightforward for Katatonia, dare I say almost mainstream, yet still tasteful. "The Night Subscriber" feels like the ultimate realization of the orchestral stuff they've dabbled in over the past three records. "Shifts" is stunningly haunting, and "Passer" is undoubtedly their best closer to date.

I loved Night is the New Day, but then Dead End Kings felt a bit like they were stuck in neutral, and half the songs were just uninspired. This, however, is an impeccable follow-up and progression from NITND. The swarm of killer riffs on this record is staggering.

 

this is their best in a while

Viva Emptiness will always be my fav tho - that's were they managed a great balance between songwriting, heaviness and atmosphere

 

This single is a good too.

 

Revisiting The Fall Of Hearts, with the bonus tracks and all, and damn it still is one of their best albums right? Bummed I missed the 10 year anniversary tour for Night Is The New Day, I thought they were going on a hiatus, which looks like was very short, so I'm boo boo the fool I guess.

 

It remains my favorite song so far, possibly a top 3 in their discography. Stunning.

 

fall of hearts was def their best in ages

 

lol how things change - didn’t even remember this thread

my fav atm is their debut ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

love all of this band’s music tho

 

yeah my fave is also dance of december souls. perfect record

 

I like you :)

highly recommend you read the Bardo Methodology interview with Blackheim where they discuss the band during the period of time of the first two albums - it’s incredible

 

who's digging the new album? I like it, but it's a bit of a step back from TFOH which is still insanely good. "Lacquer" is growing into one of my favourite songs they've ever done though

 

i think it rules! most accessible katatonia record since great cold distance

 

that's almost my problem ha, I keep waiting for them to say fuck it and give us a full album of "Unfurl" or "Vakaren" style tunes, maybe some "Pale Flag" acoustic stuff in there too. that being said they're astonishingly consistent and even standard Katatonia is excellent Katatonia

 

agree with this

the main riff on Heart Set is gnarly

I wish Anders became more involved in the songwriting but whatevs Jonas’s songwriting is awesome too

 

TFOH is my 2nd fav from their discog, and yeah, this is tough to get excited about relative to that (so far)

 

I think TFOH is my favourite nowadays. Dead heat between that and Last Fair Deal

 

I need to revisit their discography before giving the new one a listen. The singles definitely intrigued me