When I’m feeling all melancholic and want to listen to something that fits the mood but doesn’t resort to too much whining and angst, I listen to Katatonia like a real man should. Cut from a similar cloth as Swedish brethren Opeth (they’re both long time friends and share a little death metal band together called… I dunno… I think it was called Bloodbath or something), they have been progressing over the years, going from death/doom to a more depressive rock sort of vibe. Great stuff!

I loved 2009′s Night is the New Day, so I’m greatly looking forward to how they’ll follow it up. They’ve been working hard on their next record, and recently took to Facebook to offer some insight into where they currently are and where they’re headed:

UPDATE! It’s been a busy time lately and the hard work has finally paid off. We have now thirteen songs in the bag and hey, that means the recording of our new album can and shall begin. We’re starting with the drums on Monday and we’ll be once again work together with David Castillo (who engineered and mixed ‘Night Is The New Day’), so even though we always strive to improve our productions, it should sound sweet that it’s the same team putting this one together, just throw in some new gear, gadgets and toys with that! The recordings as well as the mix will be divided between Ghostward and our own HQ over the next month and we’ll keep you posted on the progress.

So, how does the material sound like? Well, you got the lush textures, the moody melodies, the heavy parts, the progressive touches, the mellow bits and so on… Is it metal? Is it rock? Is it alternative? Is it singer/songwriter? Actually at times it feels like we’re exploring territories where Katatonia would be an orphan in the land of “genres”. We can’t tell where and to whom we belong and the goal is that it doesn’t even matter, because before and above any genre there’s first an acceptance level of music being good, or being bad. Katatonia might be bad people, but we create good music. Amen.

We also hooked up again with keyboard maestro extraordinaire Frank Default and regardless of the internet speculations, he’s not to “blame” for the increased use of electronics since the last album. That part has been called for as we simply feel that it has grown to fill a hole in our sound inside, or alongside, the classic formation of instruments. In our world, we allow mellotrones, hammonds, rhodes and strings to integrate with loops, distortion and filters to manifest in the katatonic maelstrom. It’s our time to marry contemporary with vintage. Here’s our 9th album to be delivered!

Can’t wait for this! We’ll be sure to pass along new updates as they’re given.

- JR