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Dec 14, 20224 min read

Katatonia - Dance of December Souls (1993)

𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…



On December 14, 1993, Katatonia released their first full-length album Dance of December Souls via No Fashion Records.


This album is the first release with Guillaume Le Huche as bassist; prior to it, Anders Nyström had been contributing all guitar and bass.


Jonas, Guillaume, Anders – 1993

 

Background:

The band was first formed in 1991 by Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström as a two piece studio-based project. Renkse would provide clean and screamed vocals and drums, while Nyström would provide all bass and guitars. Renkse was the primary lyricist, while Nyström was the primary music composer.


Sombreus Blackheim aka Anders Nyström and Lord Seth aka Jonas Renske, 1992

 

The duo had been working together with music in some capacity since 1987, but became serious about making music in 1991, when they began work on their first release, the demo Jhva Elohim Meth... The Revival.


Original Jhva Elohim Meth... The Revival cassette

 

The release, along with the next few subsequent releases by the band, were of the Death/Doom Metal sound, with the members being inspired and influenced by the rise of Death Metal becoming popular in Europe at the time. The release was enough of a hit in the underground Metal scene to garner the attention of a small music label, Vic Records, which re-released it as an EP in 1993, which helped gain more exposure for the duo.


1993 Vic Records reissue of Jhva Elohim Meth... The Revival

 

The newfound popularity found them recruiting bass guitarist Guillaume Le Huche, so the trio could play live performances. Katatonia soon returned to the studio to create their debut full-length album. The resulting work, Dance of December Souls, was subsequently released. The album's atmosphere of bleak melancholic despair is what ultimately led fans and critics to give them the classification of Death-Doom.



Overview:

A highly praised and influential album, Katatonia’s debut release, Dance of December Souls rests somewhere between Death/Doom Metal and Black/Doom Metal. Yet, the album also gave us a glimpse of the bands future propensity towards the progressive side. The sorrow on Dance of December Souls is discernible in every regard, from the calamitous guitar melodies to Jonas Renkse’s agonized screams. Without question, Jonas and Anders do their best to create an impassioned state of dejection.


Anders Nyström

 

A Katatonia trademark, the guitar melodies are as unforgettable and harrowing as they are straightforward. The guitar arrangements run the gamut from devastatingly turbulent to absolutely pensive, eloquently shifting between distorted and clean tones.


Jonas Renske

 

Dance of December Souls is extremely important in the sense that it laid down many foundations for the future of Death/Doom Metal. At the same time, many aspects of the album were instrumental in the development of Depressive Black Metal.


Guillaume Le Huche

 

With its inherent traces of Death, Doom, and Black Metal, it is difficult to describe in words how important this album is for Extreme Metal. As one of the architects of Death/Doom Metal, Katatonia were absolute innovators in the world of the aforementioned genres.


Jonas, Anders, Guillaume – 1993

 

Critical Reception:

In his review, AllMusic’s Eduardo Rivadavia wrote;

“With their first full album, 1993's Dance of December Souls, Sweden's Katatonia proved that classic Death/Doom need not come from England, whence, until then, the genre had flourished at the hands of Paradise Lost, Anathema, and My Dying Bride.
In fact, December manages to drag Heavy Metal to a near-standstill along with the best of 'em, combining cookie-monster growls, slothful riffing, morbid guitar (and, snuck in now and then, morbid synthesizer) melodies, and slow but busy drumming into a mesmerizing wash of depression.
Eight-minute highlight Gateways of Bereavement and the desolately beautiful instrumental Elohim Meth are both perfect examples of these exquisitely sluggish and gloomy capabilities, although other offerings like In Silence Enshrined and the fan favorite Without God do eventually pick up the pace somewhat -- also with very positive results.
Not so the ensuing twin monoliths stacked back to back, Velvet Thorns (Of Drynwhyl) and Tomb of Insomnia, both of which exceed 13 minutes in length and prove simply suicide-inducing for all but the most patient of metalheads -- despite any number of memorable passages strewn about their massive girths. Then again, it could be said that, by inspiring such thoughts of self-destruction, Katatonia accomplish their mission.
And, in any case, flawed though it may be, Dance of December Souls has stood the test of time pretty well, and thus remains one of the Doom/Death genre's important building blocks.”

Jonas, Anders, Guillaume – 1993

 

Release Information:

The album was released on CD via No Fashion Records (released in the USA in 1999 by Century Black).


In 2004, record label Black Lodge reissued the album with all new artwork, but the band has stated on its website that it does not support this release for personal reasons.


2004 BLack Lodge cover

 

In 2007, the album was reissued, this time under Peaceville UK with a blue version of the original cover and all five songs from the Jhva Elohim Meth... The Revival EP appended as bonus tracks.



2007 Peaceville Records cover

 

In 2010, Svart Records released a double vinyl version, which also included all songs from the EP.


2010 Svart Records Cover

 

Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells


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