Katatonia

Carving their way from their nineties gothic-tinged doom metal to the ethereal post-metal entity they are today, Swedish grand seigneurs of gloom Katatonia have always been a vessel of deep emotion; shrouded in Scandinavian despair and a universal longing for salvation. Over the course of an unbelievable thirty years and eleven studio albums, Katatonia have never shied away from evolution. They have embraced the concept of growing through rejuvenation to soothe their blackened hearts and scarred souls—coming back stronger than ever after their hiatus with City Burials in April 2020. On their latest journey, Sky Void of Stars, the band solemnly set the stage for a nocturne both crushing and exhilarating. Yet at the very core of this entity, there still lingers the essence of their remarkable passage through time and space. Their music is pure and heartfelt from the northern wilderness; cast in mournful dirges for a world that needs renaissance. Their long way out of the darkness and into our hearts has taken up many shapes ever since their first two genre-bending milestones: Dance of December Souls (1993) and the unforgettable and oft-copied classic Brave Murder Day (1996). Whatever you might call their artful and soul-searching tunes ever since these records, they have always remained true to the very principles of musicality over scene, progression over deadlock, and collective over ego.