Katatonia
Tonight's Decision

THE REVIEW

Everyone speaks highly of it, everyone praises it, everyone takes it as a model and defines it as the "smart way" to end-of-millennium metal.

For the most part, however, that's nonsense.

Katatonia, as many of you may already know, were among the pioneers of the doom-gothic metal scene (even though they fortunately tended to include very little of the gaudy gothic) and have produced unforgettable records. "Dance Of December Souls" and "Brave Murder Day" represent, in different but still superb ways, the dark pessimism that this genre was able to exude in its best years of existence. Screaming vocals, in their debut, and growl vocals (courtesy of Mike Akerfeldt from Opeth) in the second and official chapter. Music that's hard to forget and music that, in my humble opinion, is far more original than that proposed by their masters Paradise Lost.

Then, as already written in another review, came the change. Gone are the formidable deep voices and some ultra-metal residues. Katatonia decided to explore new sonic universes inspired by the melancholy of Cure, Slowdive, and Radiohead. The results? Excellent. In this regard, I would like to recall the single "Saw Your Drawn" containing the splendid "Quiet World". The album "Discouraged Ones" is also beautiful: a black pearl of melancholy and dark-toned rock of the end of the millennium.

And here we are at "Tonight's Decision". The style doesn't deviate excessively from the previous album but, and here comes the pain, in some tracks one can notice an overly pandering vein, far too catchy and not very personal.

Let's start, just to not consider the glass as "half empty," by listing the most valid tracks. Cute, but little more, are the two opening songs. I'm talking about "For My Demons" and "I Am Nothing". Very similar in structure to the material present in the previous Katatonia chapter. Desperate but not overwhelming songs, endowed with a particular and crepuscular charm. Even more beautiful is "The Punishment" based on acoustic parts and psychedelic wanderings. Acceptable and more than decent is track number eight, titled "Strained", only negative note: a chorus that's way too sweet. But let's get to the peaks of this record, namely the songs that have made "Tonight's Decision" an album sufficiently valid. "A Darkness Coming" is a truly suggestive song, once again delicate vocals and acoustic guitar. Touching as a whole and lovable for that disturbing distorted guitar that is heard towards the end. Distortion that, shortly, is abandoned to return to the dark stillness. "Black Session" is instead morbid and sharp. This song, in fact, represents a sign of real discontinuity within the work: a long, haunting song characterized by a more complex structure.

This concerns the "salvageable" or even appreciable part of the record. A different discourse applies to the weaknesses present here. I'm talking, in detail, about tracks like "In Death, A Song", banal and easily forgettable, but also "Had To Leave" and "Right Into The Bliss". These two tracks, perhaps, were written by Katatonia to win over the favour of the general public, a public fond of "alternative" flavoured pop-rock ditties and little more. "No Good Can Come Of This" follows this line with that semi-muted but ultimately uninspiring chorus. The cover of Jeff Buckley's "Nightmares By The Sea" doesn't shine either. What were the guys trying to prove? That they were keeping up with the times? I write this because, if my memory serves me, by the late '90s, the cult of Buckley Jr. had exceeded all tolerable limits.

The cover art created by Travis Smith is both beautiful and extremely expressive. But, as old as the hills, artwork alone isn't enough to make records great! The rating would be a 2.5 which, with some mercy, I've decided to turn into a 3. Much better, then, are the more aggressive and disenchanted Katatonia of "Viva Emptiness."