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Katatonia - 'City Burials' *EXCLUSIVE* 2LP 140g White Vinyl - Katatonia

 

City Burials is the band’s eleventh studio album and its first since 2016’s haunting The Fall of Hearts. With the winds of a new direction steering the band on their latest journey, City Burials represents the fruits of a rejuvenating and profound chapter in the band’s legacy; a catalyst for its creators, with a collection of moments constructed out of the fragments of an ever-evolving life. 

 

Compiled into one of their most important modern works and statements to date, the finely-honed instrumentation provides a multi-textured backdrop with the voice of Jonas Renkse guiding us through these latest trials of loss and ruin. Beyond their core creative duo, Katatonia are very much a full-blown band, and the chemistry between Jonas, Anders and their band mates – bassist Niklas Sandin, drummer Daniel Moilanen and most recent recruit, guitarist Roger Öjersson – has never sounded more potent, with City Burials being the first album Katatonia have made since Öjersson became a full-time member. 

 

Inspired by an injection of fresh blood into Katatonia’s creative brew, City Burials is an album that sees the band reclaim part of their heavy metal roots, via several moments of exuberant, old school classicism, deftly woven into these new songs’ kaleidoscopic fabric. 

 

City Burials was produced by Nyström/Renkse and recorded at Soundtrade Studios, Tri-Lamb Studios and The City Of Glass, throughout October and November 2019, with engineering work handled by Karl Daniel Lidén. 

 

The album also features a guest appearance by Anni Bernhard, the voice behind Stockholm based act Full of Keys. 

 

Lasse Hoile’s artwork imagery represents the ongoing era of the Dead End King. 

 

SIDE A
1. Heart Set To Divide (05:29)
2. Behind The Blood (04:37)
3. Lacquer (04:42)
4. Rein (04:21)

SIDE B
1. The Winter Of Our Passing (03:18)
2. Vanishers (04:56)
3. City Glaciers (05:30)
4. Flicker (04:45)

SIDE C
1. Lachesis (01:54)
2. Neon Epitaph (04:32)
3. Untrodden (04:29)
4. Closing Of The Sky (Bonus Track) (05:26)

SIDE D Etching (00:00)

 

Available on White or Standard Black  here: https://www.omerch.eu/shop/katatonia

Available on Clear or Standard Black Here: https://burningshed.com/tag/City Burials

No USA links yet.

Due out April 24th 2020

 

First track preview

 

Edited by Stress On The Sky
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  • 2 months later...

It's good. It doesn't quite hit the mark in light of what they accomplished with Fall of Hearts.  While I like the vocals, I just don't think they are dynamic enough to be the focal point, which they seem to be for most of this record. To me, Renkse is at his most potent when his  voice slithers in and out of their heavier compositions. Which is why I still think the Great Cold Distance is their best record as a whole, it's relentlessly heavy, and the vocals balance and contrast that heaviness in a uniquely effective way. Fall of Hearts expanded their boundaries, and the proggier compositions felt invigorating and adventurous. I think the Night Subscriber is easily the best song they ever made. It's like they created a world within one track. There's nothing like that on City Burials unfortunately. It sounds like they tried to make something more concise and direct, but the ideas weren't quite strong enough to take it to that masterful level. There aren't any bad songs though, and even with it sounding overly polished for my tastes it has lots of strong moments. I would love to hear it recorded a little more raw and noisy, something that gives me a more convincing sense of what the band actually sounds like, and just let the whole band explore each song more fully vs. limiting the instrumentation to make more room for the vocals. So, I think my quibbles mostly boil down to production choices. I'd love to experience this album in a live setting, hopefully that's possible again sometime soon.

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I'm still trying to absorb City Burials to form a proper opinion. I didn't like TFOH at first but that one really grew on me recently, mostly because of the intricate guitar work. City Burials sounds a bit bland to me right now and I keep losing interest about 3-4 songs in, hopefully more listens will change that.

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5 hours ago, bjorn said:

I read today that this was originally intended to be a Jonas Renske solo album. That explains a lot. Maybe skip to the last third of the album, Neon Epitaph is killer.

Interesting and yeah, that totally makes sense. I've noticed the songs on this record seem more straight forward and simple in comparison to TFOH.

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