Long-running Swedish extreme metal act Katatonia have parted ways with founding guitarist Anders Nyström after 34 years.
Singer-guitarist Jonas Renkse, the other founding member of Katatonia, announced the news via Instagram on Monday (March 17th), citing “creative preferences” and “personal schedules” as reasons for the split:
“Anders Nyström and I are going our separate ways. A decision not taken lightly, but for everyone to thrive and move forward with their own creative preferences as well as personal schedules this has become the realistic option. Anders and I started the band in 1991 and his impact on the band’s trademark sound is undeniable. As bleak as this sounds, and is, it’s further evidence of life getting in the way of our preferred plans. I wish Anders all the best for the future.”
Nyström then confirmed his exit from the band late Monday (March 17th), posting on Instagram: “Sad but true. The time has come for me to confirm that the roads ahead Jonas [Renkse] and I have chosen for both Katatonia and ourselves have grown too wide and far apart, and as a result, our long-term collaboration has drawn to a close.”
The guitarist’s statement delved into the specifics of the aforementioned creative differences, expressing that he wanted to re-explore Katatonia’s early/middle discography — apparently a point of contention with Renkse.
“Needless to say, I still love ALL our albums,” wrote Nyström, “but with the early stuff being neglected for so many years, a feeling of having ‘unfinished business’ with a style that goes far back to our roots has just grown stronger and stronger. I can’t help feeling adamant that songs from our early-mid discography deserve to be equally acknowledged and likewise targeted for our live show repertoire, the essential medium where the past should always be alive! Unfortunately, that door has been kept shut and left everything we did pre-millennium in a void.”
Renkse and Nyström formed Katatonia in 1991, but had actually been working on music together since 1987. Their early releases explored a primitive black metal style. The duo eventually filled out the band’s lineup for what would become Katatonia’s debut album, 1993’s Dance of December Souls, which is considered a melodic black metal classic.
The band went on to release a string of lauded extreme metal albums before shifting to a dominantly alternative/gothic metal sound in the following decades — the most recent album being 2023’s Sky Void of Stars.
See both social media statements below.
Content shared from consequence.net.