The latest album from Swedish doom rockers Katatonia, their first studio effort since 2006, is as moody and beautiful as their other latter-day work.
The group's career can be marked in two stages based on the condition of singer Jonas Renske's vocal cords -- basically, after the band's first two albums, he developed health problems that prevented him from performing harsh death growls, and ever since the band has moved in an increasingly melodic direction, even covering songs by Will Oldham and Jeff Buckley.
It's unsurprising to learn that Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt helped out by performing the harsh vocals on Katatonia's Brave Murder Day album and Sounds of Decay EP in 1996 and 1997, since Night Is the New Day songs "Forsaker" and "Idle Blood" could be outtakes from that band's Damnation or Blackwater Park.
Other tracks like "The Longest Year," the hilariously titled "Onward into Battle" (a song this slow and lush would only inspire soldiers to lie down for a nap), and "Liberation" are slightly more unique with their use of programmed rhythms and trip-hop keyboards beneath and behind the crunching guitars.
Overall, this is a very beautiful and reflective album, though at this point Katatonia are only notionally a metal band, much more focused on moody (as in Moody Blues) beauty than vulgar displays of power.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ForsakerKatatonia, Anders Nyström, Jonas Renkse | Katatonia | Play | 04:04 | 9 MB | 28 MB |
| 2 | The Longest YearKatatonia, Jonas Renkse | Katatonia | Play | 04:37 | 10 MB | 29 MB |
| 3 | Idle BloodKatatonia, Anders Nyström | Katatonia | Play | 04:21 | 9 MB | 29 MB |
| 4 | Onward Into BattleKatatonia, Anders Nyström, Jonas Renkse | Katatonia | Play | 03:49 | 8 MB | 26 MB |
| 5 | LiberationKatatonia, Jonas Renkse | Katatonia | Play | 04:16 | 9 MB | 29 MB |
| 6 | The Promise of DeceitKatatonia, Jonas Renkse | Katatonia | Play | 04:15 | 9 MB | 27 MB |
| 7 | NephilimKatatonia, Jonas Renkse | Katatonia | Play | 04:25 | 10 MB | 30 MB |
| 8 | New NightKatatonia, Jonas Renkse | Katatonia | Play | 04:25 | 10 MB | 30 MB |
| 9 | InheritanceKatatonia, Jonas Renkse | Katatonia | Play | 04:28 | 10 MB | 26 MB |
| 10 | Day and Then the ShadeKatatonia, Jonas Renkse | Katatonia | Play | 04:26 | 10 MB | 32 MB |
| 11 | DeparterKatatonia, Jonas Renkse | Katatonia | Play | 05:27 | 12 MB | 30 MB |
| 48 mins | 111 MB | |||||
| 48 mins | 321 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jens Bogren | Mastering |
| 2 | David Castillo | Engineer, Mixing, Producer |
| 3 | Katatonia | Arranger, Composer, Primary Artist |
| 4 | Daniel Liljekvist | Drums |
| 5 | Krister Linder | Guest Artist, Vocals |
| 6 | Fredrik Norrman | Guitar |
| 7 | Anders Nyström | Composer, Guitar, Producer |
| 8 | Jonas Renkse | Composer, Producer, Vocals |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |