Metal Shock Finland (World Assault )

Swedish dark rockers KATATONIA recently entered the studio to begin recording their ninth album, to be released later in the year.

A new video update from studio can be seen at this location.

Said guitarist Per “Sodomizer” Eriksson: “I recently got back home from Stockholm where I had been living for about three weeks or so, putting down guitar tracks for the upcoming album. It’s been a lot of hard work, of course, but also very interesting to see the album evolve in front of our eyes. I think we’re very happy with how the guitars turned out and everything. I guess the next step is vocals, which [will] tie the whole album together. I’m not really sure what to tell you about the recording process; it’s kind of boring. I look a bit worn, ’cause I’ve been living in the studio and working, pretty much, 24-7. I haven’t really seen the sun in weeks. That’s why I look like this. And now I’m putting the last pieces of the puzzle together, guitar-wise, in my home studio, finishing up a little bit.”

KATATONIA previously stated about the band’s new material, “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.”

The group added, “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.”