Swedish melancholic metallers KATATONIA will release a new studio album, “Sky Void of Stars”, on January 20, 2023 via Napalm Records. The official music video for the LP’s second single, “Austerity”, can be seen below. The heartfelt offering crashes through the dark with memorable, mind-bending rhythms as it shifts with elaborate guitar riffs that perfectly showcase the musical expertise and experience of the band. Topped off by the dark, conjuring voice of Jonas Renkse and mesmerizing lyricism, the gloomy mood for the album is set. The song is now available via all digital service providers worldwide.
KATATONIA comments on “Austerity”: “We hereby present you our new single and the opening track of ‘Sky Void Of Stars’ — ‘Austerity’. Energetic and dark, stern and disenchanted. Enjoy.”
Founded in 1991, KATATONIA has continually embraced the dark and the light alike and, living through genre evolutions beyond compare, ripened its own particular form of expression. From doom and death metal to soul-gripping post rock, they’ve explored endless spheres of the genre, accumulating only the very best aspects. After signing with Napalm Records, the entity around founding members Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström is ready to showcase its brilliance and illuminate the void in the scene once more with “Sky Void Of Stars”.
KATATONIA commented on “Sky Void Of Stars”: “Our 12th album, ‘Sky Void Of Stars’ is a dynamic journey through vibrant darkness. Born out of yearning for what was lost and not found, the very peripheries of the unreachable, but composed and condensed into human form and presented as sounds and words true to the KATATONIA signum. No stars here, just violent rain.”
Emerging from the gloom, KATATONIA is a beacon of light — breathing their unique, never stagnant, atmospheric sound through this new 11-track offering, all written and composed by vocalist Jonas Renkse. Album opener “Austerity” provides a courting introduction to the album. Crashing through the dark, it convinces with memorable, mind-bending rhythms as it shifts with elaborate guitar riffs that perfectly showcase the musical expertise and experience of the band. Topped off by the dark, conjuring voice of Renkse and mesmerizing lyricism, the gloomy mood for the album is set. Songs like down-tempo “Opaline” and moody “Drab Moon” fully embrace their melancholic sound while fragile “Impermanence” is accented by the original doom metal roots of KATATONIA. Like a dark star, these pieces relume the dreariness, creating an ambient auditory experience with memorable hooks while still inducing the crashing sounds of hard guitar riffs and pounding drums. The experimental mastery of the quintet and their atmospheric approach is purely vivid, making this album a thrilling sensation. With “Birds”, the artists show off their explosive potential with a quick and energetic sound, proving their genre-defying style.
“Sky Void Of Stars” track listing:
01. Austerity
02. Colossal Shade
03. Opaline
04. Birds
05. Drab Moon
06. Author
07. Impermanence (feat. Joel Ekelöf)
08. Sclera
09. Atrium
10. No Beacon To Illuminate Our Fall
11. Absconder (bonus track)
Photo credit: Mathias Blom