Katatonia - City Burials

Angry Metal Guy

Katatonia‘s brand of depressive post-metal has not changed so much in the years since they released The Fall of Hearts. At its heart, the band’s sound is built around slow, lilting tunes in a minor key, with a clear and unaffected voice hovering above the fray. At their heaviest, Katatonia sounds thick and foreboding. The guitars in these parts feature heavy crunch and the rhythm section—now two albums into the addition of the excellent Daniel Moilanen on drums—pushes the boundaries of Katatonia‘s intensity. At their lightest, they can sound empty and brittle, or cold and mechanical. Remove the crunch and the pummeling bass, and you’re left with Jonas’ voice hovering over layered synths, keys and even programmed drums. But what unites these two sounds is a feel. Heavy moments feel like a natural extension of the soft ones. They are two sides of the same aggressively melancholy coin. City Burials, however, is an album that struggles in maintaining that unity.

Unevenness characterizes City Burials more than any Katatonia album to date. And that unevenness undermines the album’s flow, first and foremost. The album’s openers find Katatonia doing what they do well; long builds (“Heart Set to Divide”) and subtle hooks (“Lacquer”) vary in their crunch, but not in their ingenuity. Similarly, the last three tracks close the album out perfectly, moving from the poem-like sketch of “Lachesis” to the 6/8 swing of “Untrodden.” Right in the album’s midpoint the album lulls into the beautiful “Vanishers,” which features a guest performance from the Stockholm singer Anni Bernhard. These highlights demonstrate all the things that make City Burials a good record. Katatonia‘s core voice is present, but the album has peaks and valleys that feel incongruous. “Rein” and “The Winter of Our Passing” both fade into anonymity on repeated listens. Following “Vanishers,” “City Glaciers” and “Flicker” do the same. This creates a W-shaped enjoyment curve and a sense that the album drags, even though it’s nearly 20 minutes shorter than its predecessor.

At first blush, the problem seems to boil down to songwriting. Taken individually, though, the songs are interesting. “Flicker” features a great chorus and a pulsing rhythm section that gives it just a subtle progressive feel. “Rein” peaks into some of the heaviest material on City Burials and “City Glaciers” is probably the album’s most unpredictable track. But these songs are also the ones that often feature anonymous verses that slide by, unremembered. Additionally, City Burials falls victim of the band’s ongoing struggles of flat production. The combination of anonymous songwriting and a flat sonic signature renders parts of City Burials difficult to enjoy. Not bad, really. Just not good.

When the songwriting hits, though, City Burials features excellent material. Whether it’s an ephemeral song-sketch like “Lachesis” or the unpredictable variations of “Lacquer,”¹ which recalls Wisdom of Crowds, these songs are worthy additions to the band’s discography. Katatonia‘s step away from the long tracks and the Swedish folk inspirations they sported on The Fall of Hearts feels like Jonas investigating new spaces in his songwriting and this may pay off in the long run. Furthermore, while the production is still flat, it doesn’t seem like it’s a matter of mastering. City Burials features strong builds and much improved dynamic range. More dynamic range results in the band’s heavy material actually feeling heavy—an ongoing complaint of mine about Katatonia‘s albums—and makes City Burials a more emotionally engaging record.

Katatonia has delivered a record that sounds like a hesitant step in a new direction but ends up slightly short of the mark. The question for me is whether the unevenness in the songwriting is about not being fully committed to this path or whether it’s just about the growing pains of retaining one’s identity while pushing into new territory. There are transcendent moments here, like “Laquer” and “Untrodden,” but there are also moments that fall flat. But even if I love some of the songs and see the potential for something brilliant, City Burials feels incomplete and almost conflicted.



Rating: Mostly Good
DR: 10 | Format Reviewed: 256 kb/s CBR mp3
Label: Peaceville Records
Websites: katatonia.com | facebook.com/katatonia
Release Date: April 24th, 2020

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