The scheduled early 2022 KATATONIA / SOLSTAFIR + SOM UK & Europe Twilight Burials tour has had to be rescheduled to 2023.
Katatonia say “We are sad to announce that due to the continuing effects of the pandemic and the complications that brings for touring bands, we are forced to postpone our dates with SÓLSTAFIR + special guests SOM until early 2023. We would like to thank you for your patience and understanding!”
Original tickets remain valid for the new dates. Tickets are available here.
KATATONIA are set to release Mnemosynean on 1st October 2021 through Peaceville Records.
This new release marks 30 years since the formation of one of the most enigmatic & aurally captivating bands to grace the dark rock/prog genre, Mnemosynean contains an extensive collection of all of Katatonia’s rarities and B-sides, including tracks from the band’s numerous EPs, limited special edition bonuses, cover songs, as well as a series of collaborative remixes.
The journey of Mnemosynean spans the gothic-soaked experimental epic ‘Scarlet Heavens’ recorded all the way back in 1994, through to tracks recorded during the sessions for the stellar 2016 opus, The Fall of Hearts.
The intriguing title of ‘Mnemosynean’ itself represents memories & was selected because tomb inscriptions dating back to 400 BCE say that the dead could keep their memories by avoiding drinking from the Lethe, and drink instead from the stream flowing from the lake of Mnemosyne (the goddess of memory).
The Mnemosynean packaging includes a new band biography courtesy of music journalist Eleanor Goodman, as well as full lyrics plus backgrounds to the track origins described by founding members Anders Nyström and Jonas Renkse, along with other close Katatonia collaborators. The artwork for this release has been created by long-running Katatonia visual artist Travis Smith.
MNEMOSYNEAN will be released through Peaceville on 1st October, on 2 CD, deluxe gatefold triple LP on black vinyl , deluxe gatefold triple LP on white coloured vinyl (available only through the Peaceville label stores and Katatonia band store)and digitally.
Pre-order HERE.
MNEMOSYNEAN TRACKLISTING (CD split)
DISC 1
DISC 2
SÓLSTAFIR and KATATONIA will head out in January and February 2022 on a 31-date co-headline tour of the UK and Europe.
The coming together of these two revered masters of melancholy seems only natural. For over a quarter of a century both artists have favoured the emotional connection that their music brings over all else. Theirs is a world where ‘heavy’ is a force of nature; where progress comes from within, outwardly changing their musical output into something almost unrecognizable from the extreme metal that carried it in the early days.
The BBC’s description of Katatonia’s “grandiose, majestic beauty” seems appropriate for both artists. It’s no coincidence that The Guardian’s take on Solstafir is equally apt: “total immersion is compulsory”.
SÓLSTAFIR
w/ KATATONIA
21 Jan 22 Tullikamari (FI) Tampere
22 Jan 22 Kulttuuritalo (FI) Helsinki
23 Jan 22 Helitehas (EE ) Tallinn
25 Jan 22 Stodola (PL) Warsaw
26 Jan 22 Huxleys (DE) Berlin
27 Jan 22 Longhorn (DE) Stuttgart
28 Jan 22 Batschkapp (DE) Frankfurt
29 Jan 22 Roxy (CZ) Prague
30 Jan 22 Arena (AT) Vienna
01 Feb 22 Akvarium Klub (HU) Budapest
02 Feb 22 Backstage Werk (DE) Munich
03 Feb 22 Komplex 457 (CH) Zurich
04 Feb 22 Live Club (IT) Milan
05 Feb 22 Ninkasi Kao (FR) Lyon
07 Feb 22 Kapital (ES) Madrid
08 Feb 22 Apolo (ES) Barcelona
09 Feb 22 Metronum (FR) Toulouse
11 Feb 22 O2 Forum Kentish Town (UK) London
12 Feb 22 O2 Ritz (UK) Manchester
13 Feb 22 SWX (UK) Bristol
14 Feb 22 Garage (UK) Glasgow
15 Feb 22 KK’s Steelmill (UK) Wolverhampton
17 Feb 22 Rockhal (LU) Luxembourg
18 Feb 22 Patronaat (NL) Haarlem
19 Feb 22 Essigfabrik (DE) Cologne
20 Feb 22 Trianon (FR) Paris
22 Feb 22 Trix (BE) Antwerp
23 Feb 22 Gruenspan (DE) Hamburg
24 Feb 22 Amager bio (DK) Copenhagen
25 Feb 22 Rockefeller (NO) Oslo
26 Feb 22 Fållan (SE) Stockholm
SÓLSTAFIR will be touring in support of their latest album ‘Endless Twilight of Codependent Love’. Listen to the record below or order a copy in the Season of Mist shop HERE.
Formed in 1991 by Jonas Renkse & Anders Nyström, and transitioning from early pioneers of the rising black/death/doom movement, to powerhouses of the progressive metallic rock genre, 2020 saw KATATONIA present their eleventh studio opus, the poignant City Burials, to unanimous acclaim. And so now, following closely in its footsteps, the Swedish dark rock masters present Dead Air to further immortalise the strangest of times.
With a somewhat unforeseen global event transpiring this year which resulted in touring being made all but impossible for artists internationally, Katatonia conducted a more intimate “lockdown” show which was streamed live from Studio Grondahl, Stockholm on May 9th. Dead Air offers fans a full 88-minute set containing 20 tracks from the band’s extensive and illustrious repertoire to date, with inclusions spanning two decades of dark progressive greatness, and essentially also debuting three of the City Burials album tracks in a live setting.
“Due to an overwhelming demand, we are proud to confirm that our lockdown livestream from Gröndahl earlier this year will now see a physical release where you can re-experience the #20 most wanted songs exclusively voted by our fans from all around the world. This very special evening of May 9th will forever serve us as a memory of something equally weird as fantastic, so it feels essential to make it available as something you can touch and own forever” Anders Nyström
The tracklisting itself contains a very literal selection of fan favourites overall, having being voted for exclusively by the band’s worldwide fanbase, flawlessly flirting between earlier singles such as metallic anthems ‘My Twin’ & ‘July’, to the stirring emotional grandeur of new song, ‘Lacquer’.
The recording, mixing & engineering work was orchestrated by David Castillo, notable for his extensive body of work with Katatonia to date, and the performance itself was professionally filmed by Blackbox Video.
The Dead Air artwork has been created by long-running collaborator, Travis Smith.
Dead Air will be released on the 13th November as a gatefold double LP; a limited edition 3-disc set featuring 2 audio discs and DVD format and digitally and is available to pre-order now.
On September 25th, THE OCEAN will release their 8th full-length, Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic, via Metal Blade Records (CD / digital) and the band’s own Pelagic Records (vinyl). In 2018, The Ocean released Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic – the first half of a sprawling but superbly cohesive paleontology concept album. Now, the group is ready to release the eagerly-awaited concluding parts of the Phanerozoic journey.
For a first preview of Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic, the new single, “Jurassic | Cretaceous” (featuring Katatonia‘s Jonas Renkse), can be heard at: metalblade.com/theocean – where the record can also be pre-ordered in various formats.
Widely hailed as their finest work to date, Phanerozoic I brimmed with moments of wide-eyed melodic brilliance, alongside the expected warping and weaving of post-metal conventions. “The first part of ‘Phanerozoic‘ really is a ‘no-regrets’ album, which is quite rare,” says guitarist Robin Staps. “Maybe even the first time I can ever say that.”
In contrast with the compositional directness of Phanerozoic I, the new album – Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic – is a vastly more progressive and perverse piece of work. “‘Phanerozoic II‘ is more experimental, more eclectic in musical style and direction, and more varied in terms of tempos, beats, guitar work and the use of electronics,” notes Staps. “This was an intentional choice: we wanted Part I to feel rather streamlined and to have a strong cohesion between the individual songs. We wanted to create a certain vibe to linger from the first until the last note throughout the whole record. We kept the weirder, more daring and more progressive material for Part II.”
Tracked in Iceland, Spain and Germany and produced by esteemed studio guru Jens Bogren, Phanerozoic II is underpinned by some of the most imaginative and challenging music that The Ocean – completed by drummer Paul Seidel, keyboard maestro Peter Voigtmann, bassist Mattias Hagerstrand and guitarist David Ramis Åhfeldt – have made yet. Divided into two sections – Mesozoic and Cenozoic – the album once again showcases the detail and depth that have become two of The Ocean‘s most enduring trademarks. While ostensibly delving into the extraordinary realities of the Earth’s shifting temporal tides, Staps and his comrades have long drawn hazy parallels between their chosen subjects and the emotional experiences that their music strives to convey. Phanerozoic II is essentially an album about time, with some very poignant and pointed allusions to the modern world woven into the new music’s spiritual fabric.
Staps explains, “The outcome is a record that is a real journey. It starts in one place, and concludes in a totally different place. In a way, it relates to 2013′s ‘Pelagial‘, which was similar in that it was also a journey: but a more guided, focused and predictable one. ‘Phanerozoic II‘ on the other hand is closer to the experience of free fall.”
Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic track-listing
1. Triassic
2. Jurassic | Cretaceous
3. Palaeocene
4. Eocene
5. Oligocene
6. Miocene | Pliocene
7. Pleistocene
8. Holocene
KATATONIA have released their new single and video for “Behind The Blood”. The video was directed by Ash Pears (ashtv.co.uk), watch below.
This track is one of the highlights from new album ‘City Burials’ – coming out April 24th via Peaceville – bursting into life with a trademark screaming guitar solo before dropping into an upbeat distinctive and hugely memorable Katatonia chorus.
Vocalist Jonas Renkse states “’Behind the Blood’ is a celebration of the heavy metal music that we all grew up with, modified to fit the Katatonia universe. Whilst lyrically it is telling the tale of dark revelry, to awaken the blood with the sound and taste of thunder.”
“Behind the Blood” has all the hallmarks of becoming a new classic.
Pre-order ‘City Burials’ here.
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 