Although it’s been three years since City Burials, the last Katatonia studio album, the wait has not been too hard to endure thanks to the release of 2020’s Dead Air lockdown session and 2021’s rarities collection, Mnemosynean. Still, while Katatonia have not been absent from the scene, a new album from this most airy and enigmatic of bands is always an event, and there’s certainly been a buzz about Sky Void of Stars, Katatonia’s twelfth album and their first for Napalm Records. Packaged, as we have come to expect, with some rather lovely, if subtly different, artwork, the album ticks all of those familiar Katatonia boxes, while adding a few new twists along the way.
The album opens with the coldly metallic Austerity. With the haunting, quasi-orchestral tones of the mellotron to the fore, the track’s tightly wound and chugging riffs are polished to a dark sheen by producer Jacob Hansen, an approach which allows Jonas Resnke’s typically lovely vocals to remain prominent despite the metallic muscle the band exhibit. It segues directly into the sinister Colossal Shade, a toughened piece augmented by cinematic synths and wired riffs that march relentlessly to Daniel Moilanen’s rock solid beat. While little in these first two tracks deviates too far from the Katatonia template, Opaline takes a different tack and the heavy focus on synths makes the opening moments feel like some long-lost progressive artefact. With Katatonia allowing plenty of room for the track to breathe, it’s only when we reach the chorus that the band’s heavier instincts reassert themselves. In contrast, the surprisingly lively Birds bursts from the speakers, the taut pace and airy synths leavening the mood and allowing the moonlight to, at least briefly, pierce the gloom. Unwilling to illuminate the void for any great period, however, the band seek to obscure the landscape once more with the beautifully dynamic Drab Moon. A subtle, stripped down and atmospheric piece, guitars barely make an appearance until the chorus, with Jonas’ voice ringing out over Daniel’s mesmerising percussion and a lush bed of synths. It provides a memorable conclusion to a more or less flawless first half.
Opening the second side, the shimmering beauty of Author slowly solidifies in the half-light, building to a remarkably potent riff which, in turn, leads to some stunning lead work. One of the album’s heavier tracks, it packs quite a punch, and sets the stage for the pace to slow with the quite lovely Impermanence. A darkly wonderous piece of music, it provides a perfect showcase for Jonas’ emotionally charged vocals, and the track is given greater weight by some typically understated lead work at its conclusion. A mini masterpiece that will cause listeners to catch their breath upon first listen, Impermanence seems to sum up the myriad qualities of Katatonia in five, all-too-brief minutes and it stands as a high point on an album packed with them. Slipping into a trip hop haze, the eerie Sclera weaves electronic elements around stadium sized drums, taking a full minute before the band step back into the frame. A faster paced and driven piece, Atrium is one of the most direct and accessible tracks Katatonia have ever crafted, recalling the Pumpkins’ digressions into synth-driven sounds on CYR, before the dark No Beacon to Illuminate Our Fall emerges to close the album with a rather more epic slab of complex, metallic prog. It says much of the band’s ability to genre hop that they can make such shifts seem like the most natural thing in the world, something in which they are helped immeasurably by Jacob’s gorgeous, reference quality production.
One of the most consistent acts in metal, Katatoinia have achieved a unique sound over the years, with each album favouring further refinement over radical change. It is an approach that serves them well, and Sky Void of Stars continues the trend. Musically flawless, while there are myriad moods and textures on display, the carefully layered production draws it all together, with the result that it flows beautifully over the course of a svelte, forty-five-minute runtime. Consistent Katatonia may be, but that does not mean that their catalogue does not have high points, and Sky Void of Stars is surely one such peak. A gorgeously melancholic trip, it is an album to which you must surrender yourself, the lights off and the curtains drawn. Sit down, make yourself comfortable and let it wash over you, it is a mesmerising set from a band who are the masters of their craft. 9.5/10
