Katatonia
Sounds of Decay

THE REVIEW

My ongoing mission of "rescuing" old classics by the Swedish band Katatonia continues, and once again, it’s a mini album under discussion.

Released in 1997 by our own Avantgarde, this "Sounds of decay" is composed of three medium-length tracks and faithfully follows the path taken by the Stockholm trio (F. Norman is the new entry on second guitar) with the previous "Brave...", thus tracks are imbued with a gloomy, hopeless nihilism where negativity reigns supreme.

The curious aspect of this release is undoubtedly the fact that it precedes the publication of "Discouraged Ones" where the band’s style will heavily shift, abandoning abrasive vocals and classic doom-death "patterns." Delving "in depth" into the album, I immediately point out the beautiful "Nowhere", cathartic harmonies with a melodic-romantic groove open the piece where Åkerfeldt’s tortured voice (singer of fellow countrymen Opeth) follows suit, enunciating lyrics narrating despair, loneliness, annihilation. The riffs and rhythms vary more compared to the past, and the choice of melodies always proves right (kudos to Nyström who transforms his guitar into an ethereal lament). After the chills of "Nowhere", we are faced with "At last" that continues its path, consistently maintaining the concept centered on sonic minimalism-nihilism. Dark and sulfurous, it highlights the abilities of the singer endowed with deadly screaming, capable of truly conveying that feeling of discomfort, fear, and uncertainties derived from the lyrics written in this case by Nyström. The closure belongs to "Inside the fall", influenced by the early Paradise Lost but capable of improving and amplifying its melancholic moods. The painfully beautiful guitar leads bring to mind gray skies, abandoned metropolitan areas, silent hospital corridors... in a single word, "decay" in its purest form. The counterpart to the positivity of a modern society increasingly dominated by the lonely and the defeated to whom these symphonies of despair are dedicated. To conclude, Katatonia showcases their brilliance, that expressive capacity that makes them unique in the rock-metal realm: the ability to make the listener weep even on the happiest day of their life!