At this point, you probably know what you're getting when you click play on a Katatonia album and that's not necessarily a bad thing. This wasn't always the case; as I've said before, the band have been marked by "eras", several consecutive albums that hit on a theme or, more aptly, a timbre. However, their last few releases seemed to oscillate between a more progressive, "open" style (The Fall of Hearts, City Burials) and a darker, heavier style (Dead End Kings, Sky Void of Stars). Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State (heretofore referred to as Nightmares) seems to be the band's first attempt to reconcile the two styles, creating an album that sounds, more than ever before, like you might imagine what modern Katatonia sounds like. It is an attempt to distill this new sound, including all of its parts, and both benefits and suffers from this.
If you're a long time Katatonia fan and you click play on "Thrice", the track which opens the release, you should immediately make the Leonardo DiCaprio face and go "Night Is the New Day!" The opening track sounds so much like that release, with its signature, chuggy riff and overall air of sleek, metallic threat. But "The Liquid Eye" is nothing like that; in fact, it feels like something off of City Burials or the The Fall of Hearts, with that more energetic style of guitars, accompanied by the heart-enchantingly soaring lead. It's more dynamic, less heavy, connecting more to the loose, abstract melancholy of Katatonia's late career.
This tension works well and repeats itself throughout the album and it's gratifying to hear both styles played side by side. It's not that the previous albums are completely devoted to one style of course; nothing is that surgical in music. But we haven't quite heard that more flighty sound paired with something like the stalking, direct bass of "Wind of No Change", the third track, and we haven't really hard the more metallic edge alongside the more whimsical "Departure Trails". This is also where the album falters though; at some point during its runtime, it starts to feel unfocused. There was something gratifying about the other approach as well, where albums skewed towards this or that approach. The consistency had an effect that was larger than the sum of its parts; as the band dug deeper and deeper into the core of a sound, its impact rose accordingly, leading to the emotional impact that the band are known for.
Here, you're left feeling like you wanted something a bit more from both sides of the equation. The tracks themselves are great, don't get me wrong; Katatonia hit their stride a long time ago and they know how to make the Katatonia sound work. But on this release, it feels like the two poles try to work together but end up robbing each other of full expression. Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State is a good album and another solid release from one of metal's more veteran and consistent acts. But some part of me wishes they'd chosen a direction and run with it, to really see where it goes, rather than try to hit all of the points on a path labelled "a Katatonia album".
Katatonia's Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State will see release on the 6th of June. You can get it wherever you get all of your music by really famous bands.