Even when it was only thought of as a studio project, Thy Catafalque had a vision that extends beyond borders and boundaries. Over the past two decades, Hungarian mastermind Tamás Kátai and his growing cast of collaborators have brought the deadly art of extreme metal into close conversation with the avant-garde.
“XII: A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek is a feast for the ears”, New Noise wrote in a 5 star review of Thy Catafalque’s latest opus. “[it’s] a celebration of the powers of music, bursting to express itself in whatever form it chooses to inhabit. An album to inexorably fall in love with”.
Now, fresh off their debuts at Hellfest and Kilkim Žaibu, followed by a resounding return in front of their home crowd at Fishing on Orfű, Thy Catafalque are preparing to tour Latin America for the very first time. As the group prepare to ignite crowds from Mexico to Argentina, today, they are releasing a live video from last year’s hometown performance of the most chilling epic off their dark and dreamy twelfth album.
“This is a massive step-up for Thy Catafalque”, Kátai says. “We are very excited to play for our fans in places where we’ve never gone before”.
The video for “Ködkirály” was recorded on November 23, 2024 at Dürer Kert, Budapest, Hungary.
Additional video credits
Audio mixed and mastered by Gábor Vári at Miracle Sound Szeged.
Live sound and recording by Péter Csobánczi.
Video recorded by Carbon Head Production.
Video edited and post-production by Péter Lerch / Carbon Head Production.
Martina Veronika Horváth – vocals
Ivett Dudás – vocals
Gábor Dudás – vocals
Bálint Bokodi – vocals
Krisztián Varga – guitar
Zoltán Vigh – guitar
Tamás Kátai – bass
Árpád Szenti – drums
XII: A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek (The Beautiful Dreams Are Yet to Come) is out now on Season of Mist. Order & Stream: https://orcd.co/thycatafalquexiiagyonyorualmokezutanjonnek
Heading into Thy Catafalque’s twelfth album, Tamás Kátai set out to make a straightforward metal record. But A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek wound up taking him on another surreal headtrip.
In English, “Ködkirály” translates to “King of Fog”. The song unfolds somewhere between dreams and nightmares. Martina Veronika Horváth and Ivett Dudás rise amidst cosmic synths like fog beneath a sinking moon. Their chilling cleans left the sold-out crowd at the influential Hungarian underground venue completely mesmerized. With his deep rippling bass lines, Kátai only deepens the spell.
Of course, Thy Catafalque aren’t ones to leave their fans in suspense. Halfway through “Ködkirály”, a death metal riff comes thundering down from the blackened sky. When dueling guitarists Zoltán Vigh and Krisztián Varga unfurl a procession of gloomy tremolo picking, it’s harrowingly clear that the king has come. “Hullj, nehéz eső / Fall, heavy rain“, roars Gábor Dudás, commanding the group’s many followers to bang their heads.
Get tickets to see Thy Catafalque: https://thy-catafalque.hu/live.html
Thy Catafalque European Dates
August 1 – Rasnov, Romania @ Rockstady Extreme Festival
August 2 – Mátra-Sástó, Hungary @ Fekete Zaj Festival
August 8 – Kortrijk, Belgium @ Alctaraz Festival
November 22 – Belgrade, Serbia @ Zappa Barka
Thy Catafalque Latin American Tour
October 18 – Monterrey, Mexico @ Cacique Metal Fest
October 19 – San Jose, Costa Rica @ Pepper Club
October 23 – Quito, Ecuador @ Miami Recepciones
October 24 – Santiago, Chile @ Sala Metrónomo
October 25 – Buenos Aires, Argentina @ Arena Sur
Tracklist
1. Piros Kocsi, Fekete Éj (4:12) [WATCH]
2. Mindenevö (6:35) [WATCH]
3. Vasgyár (6:18)
4. Világnak Világa (6:28)
5. Nyárfa, Nyírfa (2:53)
6. Lydiához (3:05)
7. Vakond (4:29)
8. Ködkiraly (7:58)
9. Aláhullás (3:48)
10. A Gyönyörü Álmok Ezután Jönnek (3:14) [WATCH]
11. Babylon (Bonus Track – Omega Cover) (3:42)*
Total runtime: 49:02
*Digital only
New fans and long-time appreciators can now rediscover just how much Thy Catafalque has grown.
This year, Season of Mist repressed Thy Catafalque’s fifth and ninth albums. Rengeteg is the first to fully expand beyond black metal with proggy keyboard, clean vocals and death metal riffing. Naiv ventures even further – across jazz, Western classical, Middle Eastern music and even contemporary pop – ending up with some of the group’s most beloved songs, including “Tsitsushka” and “Embersólyom”.
Rengeteg and Naiv are now available on Season of Mist. Order: https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/ThyCatafalqueReissues
Tamás Kátai has a vision that extends beyond borders and boundaries. Even during its infancy, Thy Catafalque had already outgrown the rather rigid guidelines of black metal. Though only intended for the studio, over the past 20 years, his recording project has evolved into a lively collaboration. With each album, Thy Catafalque has pushed the envelope of extreme metal a step further, bringing the world’s most vile art form into conversation with the avant-garde.
Thy Catafalque’s twelfth album is even more expansive, but XII: A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek ties both to its mastermind’s past and the history of his native Hungary. “For this album, I felt it was time to move in a different direction, whatever that direction might be”, Kátai says, “but XII still possesses the dreaminess that I’ve always associated with Thy Catafalque”.
Of course, Kátai hasn’t been mulling over this album for too long. Keeping in line with his prolific pace, XII arrives just one year after his previous album. Named after the stretch of land where the producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist was born in southeast Hungary, Alföld returned to the heaviness from which Thy Catafalque took root during the late ’90s. Once again, Kátai set out to make a straightforward metal record, but while there’s plenty of cause for chest-pounding, A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek ended up taking him on another surreal headtrip.
“I think of this album as an introspective journey through the night”, Kátai says. Opener “Piros kocsi, fekete éj” (which in English means “Red Carriage, Black Night”) glides off through a warm mist of piping keys, led by twin engine guitars that crest with reverb. “Time clatters on the rails”. Attila Bakos sings in Hungarian. His voice beams over the airwaves with the same clean force as 15 years ago, when he helped lift Thy Catafalque out of the Hungarian underground on the recently reissued Róka hasa rádió.
“Attila also sang on Rengeteg“, Kátai remembers about the first Thy Catafalque album that he wrote and recorded by himself. “‘Piros kocsi, fekete éj’ has the same sense for melody. It opens the album with a feeling of nostalgia”.
Of course, many other familiar faces join Kátai on his journey. After all, Thy Catafalque started as a duo with János Juhász. A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek features the biggest guest list in the project’s long discography. More than 20 guest musicians appear on this album, including old friends from inside and outside the Hungarian metal scene. Martina Veronika Horváth — whose band The Answer Lies in the Black Void toured Europe with Thy Catafalque earlier in 2024 — duets with the tender brooding Gábor Dudás for a faithful rendition of “Lydiához”, a 1980 Sebő ensemble classic that sowed the seeds for Hungary’s roots revival.
“That is a song that’s been with me and the rest of my generation ever since we were children”, Kátai says. Violins, cello, clarinet and other classical instruments add to the comforts of home. Before it drifts off high beyond the clouds, “Vakond” strings along like a whistling stroll across The Great Plains. “Alföld was very bleak”, he continues. “Adding classical and acoustic instruments helped add a spring of color and an air of adventure to these new songs”.
Still, A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek can be a hard road — especially during its crushing middle section. Despite the gentle opening plucks, “Mindenevő” crashes down like a boulder, hurtling ahead at terrifying speed behind doomy operatic backing vocals, mechanized blast beats and the eerie fires of tremolo picking that forged Thy Catafalque’s debut Sublunary Tragedies. “This album still has plenty of metal”, Kátai assures.
The heaviest moments are often grounded in Hungary’s history. While colored by nostalgia, XII is also shadowed by the ticking hands of time, a theme that ripples back to 2021’s Vadak. Blackened chugger “Vasgyár” shares a namesake with the rusted-out ironworks that once fueled the country’s economy. It’s not a political statement, but the song does reflect how the landscape has changed to the eye of the now 48-year-old Kátai.
“Even the album’s visuals are from a bygone era”, he says. In the video for its title track, closing song and lead single, Kátai doesn’t just run through the streets of his hometown. Surreal scenes from the past and present linger along his winding path through the placid countryside. Watching his doppelgänger dig his own grave feels like a living nightmare. “‘This song comes from a place of desperation”, he says. “Within the afterglow of nostalgia, there’s also the chill of disappointment”.
Ultimately, the progressive flair that has come to define Thy Catafalque shines through the darkness on album twelve. Only this time around, in order to reach the light at the end of the tunnel, Kátai needed some guidance. “I felt like the production had largely been the same since Geometria“, he admits. XII marks the first time in the project’s history that he worked with an outside producer. Granted, Gábor Vári is no stranger to how his mind works. When he’s not holed away in the studio with other prominent Hungarian metal bands, Gábor could be seen hammering away at his guitar on stage with Thy Catafalque on the live album Mezolit. “He was the perfect person to help give this album a somewhat different sound that is still familiar”.
As a result, “A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek” stands out as one of Thy Catafalque’s biggest crowd pleasers, uplifted by hand claps and catchy, fist-pumping riffs. Even the dark waves of synth glow with the reassurance of the dawn. “At the end, there’s still hope for a future that might offer warmer days after the darkness has ceded”.
Thy Catafalque’s twelfth album looks back longingly at the past, but Tamás Kátai isn’t stopping to smell the roses. With A gyönyörű álmok ezután jönnek, he shows that the beautiful dreams are yet to come. 2025 will see Thy Catafalque make their debut on the world’s biggest stages – from Hellefest and Kilkim Žaibu to Rockstadt Extreme and Alcatraz Festival – before embarking on their first-ever tour of Latin America.
Recording Lineup
Tamás Kátai – guitar, bass, vocals, keyboards, programming
Guest musicians
Martina Veronika Horváth – vocals on Track 1, 6
Ivett Dudás – vocals on Track 8
Helga Kreiter – vocals on Track 4, 10
Gábor Dudás – vocals on Track 2, 5, 6, 10
Bálint Bokodi – vocals on Track 2, 4, 9
Gábor Veres – vocals on Track 3, 8
Attila Bakos – vocals on Track 1
Zoltán Kónya – vocals on Track 3
András Vörös – vocals on Track 4
Breno Machado – lead guitar on Track 2
Zoltán Vigh – lead guitar on Track 3
Krisztián Varga – lead guitar on Track 4
Daniele Belli – acoustic guitar on Track 2
Miguel Velasquez Matija – fretless bass on Track 2, 6
Edu Giró – oud, bouzouki, baglama on Track 2,7
Grigoris Mitropoulos – bouzouki, mpaglamas on Track 7
Sanja Smileska – violin on Track 3
Jo Quail – electric cello on Track 8
Issar Shulman – contrabass on Track 2
Cal Rustad – French horn on Track 2, 8
Manuel Domenech – cor anglais on Track 8
Khachatrian Lernik – clarinet on Track 2
Gergő Bille – flugelhorn, trumpet on Track 7
Joakim Toftgaard – trombone, trumpet on Track 7
Fabian Hernandez – saxophone on Track 5
Viktória Varga – narration on Track 3
Annamari Sánta – narration on Track 7, 8
Recording
Recorded in various countries: Hungary, United Kingdom, Romania, Ukraine, Italy, Spain, Greece, North Macedonia, Israel, U.S.A., Colombia, Brazil.
Producer & Sound Engineer
Tamás Kátai, Gábor Vári
Mixing & Mastering
Miracle Sound Szeged, Hungary. Mixed and mastered by Gábor Vári.
Artwork
Front cover by Dániel Szécsényi and Tamás Kátai
Illustrations by Orsolya Pintér.
Follow Thy Catafalque
https://thy-catafalque.hu
https://www.facebook.com/thycatafalque
https://www.instagram.com/thy_catafalque
https://www.youtube.com/user/kataitamas
https://thycatafalque.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4sgTqbA7htxYkRRJBPZIom
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/thy-catafalque/372164196
