FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL…
On November 2, 2009, Katatonia released their eighth full-length studio album Night Is The New Day in Europe via Peaceville Records (November 10, 2009 in North America).
Background:
Thirteen tracks were recorded, eleven of which made it onto the record. The band describes the material as "Our most varied, diverse and possibly strongest shit all together on one and the same album". Idle Blood had the working title Kozelek, named after Mark Kozelek, a member of Red House Painters, which is one of Katatonia's influences. This is the last Katatonia release with the Norrman brothers.
Night Is the New Day sold more than 2,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release. Day and Then the Shade was the first single, released in late 2009. The promotional video for this song was directed by Lasse Hoile.
Night Is the New Day shows Katatonia expanding their music palette. The album shows a slightly more progressive sound than The Great Cold Distance, yet retains the heaviness and morose atmosphere, with electronics and synths playing an important role. The big, heavy parts are interspersed with quiet, somber electronics, and acoustic guitars. Each song transforms frequently, changing tempo, intensity and texture. Forsaker starts aggressively but soon the down-tuned metal chords shift to chiming darkwave strains. The Longest Year intertwines synth and Metal passages, while the acoustic style of Idle Blood is comparable to Opeth and Porcupine Tree. Nephilim brings together a dissonant minor-chord chorus with a plodding beat and an oppressive atmosphere. The single Day and Then the Shade is both brooding and heavy, as well as atmospheric and progressive.
Critical Reception:
The album was generally well received by critics. The album was deemed the second best Metal album of 2009 by PopMatters.
In a review for Metalinvader.net, Crystal Latsara wrote;
“Night is the New Day made it to the hearts of thousands of fans that were not afraid to embrace a new side of the band that had started to evolve within the rise of the 21st century. Katatonia were confident enough to break their own chains and experiment. They transformed into more exquisite hybrid creations as the years went by, following the example of fellow legendary bands that were born into the 90’s, such as Tiamat, Moonspell and theGathering.
With Night Is The New Day, the band travelled into more alternative and avant-garde approaches, while claiming that this release would be a diverse one, probabaly the heaviest they’ve ever done, while being more melodic than ever at the very same time. They said “farewell” to the progressive elements they warmly welcomed in it’s predecessor The Great Cold Distance, while the darkness and the sorrowful atmosphere held tight to their sound.
Amongst the highlights are definitely the opening track, Forsaker, which blasts off with insane riffing, while also Idle Blood is a gentle sway of an autumn breeze, something like a twin brother to Opeth’s Harvest. Nephilim is ghostlike, unfolding some seriously terryfying stories within its’ lyrics. If the album has peak amidst its roller-coaster like flow, it is definitely Inheritance. There are no words needed, it just takes a few listens to let your tears flow as waterfalls.
Night is the New Day should be amongst the highlights of the band’s discography, considering that people have been praising mostly their pre- Viva Emptiness era. This album made them break out into more easy-listening audiences and got the band into the more mainstream attention, which nothing but negative. It’s time for the night to come down."
While Phil Freeman from AllMusic stated;
“The latest album from Swedish Doom Rockers Katatonia, their first studio effort since 2006, is as moody and beautiful as their other latter-day work. The group's career can be marked in two stages based on the condition of singer Jonas Renske's vocal cords -- basically, after the band's first two albums, he developed health problems that prevented him from performing harsh death growls, and ever since the band has moved in an increasingly melodic direction, even covering songs by Will Oldham and Jeff Buckley. It's unsurprising to learn that Opeth's Mikael Akerfeldt helped out by performing the harsh vocals on Katatonia's Brave Murder Day album and Sounds of Decay EP in 1996 and 1997, since Night Is the New Day songs Forsaker and Idle Blood could be outtakes from that band's Damnation or Blackwater Park. Other tracks like The Longest Year, the hilariously titled Onward into Battle (a song this slow and lush would only inspire soldiers to lie down for a nap), and Liberation are slightly more unique with their use of programmed rhythms and trip-hop keyboards beneath and behind the crunching guitars. Overall, this is a very beautiful and reflective album, though at this point Katatonia are only notionally a Metal band, much more focused on moody (as in Moody Blues) beauty than vulgar displays of power."
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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