Music Review: Katatonia – “Night Is the New Day”

Vitals:

Name: Katatonia

Album: Night Is the New Day

Year: 2009

Label: Peaceville Records

Genre: Metal/Dark Rock/Doom

The Skinny

Rhythmic theme. Ambiance. Intense vocal harmony. Short album. Headphone candy. Drop tuned guitars.

Highlights

“Forsaker” The opening track  immediately accosts your senses with a grinding drop-tuned riff. Reminds me of something off the last album “The Great Cold Distance”. Once the crusty exoskeleton is melted off your face, the verse mutates into a synth-laden verse section filled with layered vocal harmonies and thoughtful compositional skill. Theme and variation on the intro riff repeats during the chorus. Well done!

“Idle Blood” Something out of Porcupine Tree’s playbook, this song opens with an acoustic guitar and synth movement. Good solid rock song. I love the melodies present in this song.

“Onward into Battle” The chorus reminds me of something like A Perfect Circle. Can you hear it?

“Liberation” Probably my favorite song. Intro drips with sludge. Death march. Ambient vocal harmony follows. Rhythmic theme repeats throughout. Incredible.

“Nephilim” Slow dissonance anyone?

Opinion

Unbelievable. If I had to show someone an album that encompasses many of my favorite aspects of music, I’d have to show them “Night Is the New Day”. I really liked “The Great Cold Distance”… but this album is Katatonia’s strongest presentation to date, in my opinion. Anyone who is a fan of Opeth, Porcupine Tree, 3, or any other progressive rock/metal band out there should enjoy this without much issue.

Recommend it? Without question.

Replay Value: Extremely high.