Katatonia

Live at The El Rey

Los Angeles, California

September 8th, 2012

Review and Photos by Travis Baumann

Katatonia are a metal band hailing from Sweden. They play a form of melancholic Doom Metal that exemplifies a Gothic, dark edge and is very melodic with their latest releases.

The band is based around the founder and vocalist, Jonas Renkse who at one point or another in their nearly 25 year existence has played pretty much every instrument in the band.

Joining him on stage he has two guitarists, a bassist and a drummer all building the dark stories they tell musically. Earlier in their career they would incorporate a growled, more harsh vocal style but now they have a very clean and almost soothing voice.

Katatonia are currently touring to promote their latest offering, "Dead End Kings" and are co-headlining the "Epic Kings & Idols Tour" with Devin Townsend Project and support coming from the legendary Goth Metal band, Paradise Lost.

The stage was very moody and dark with red and blue lights illuminating a cool backdrop of a bird skull shaped fortress with ravens or crows circling around it. At times it was extremely difficult to make out the band members.

They opened the set with "Dead Letters", off the latest release. The lead singer stood with his hair in his face so you could not make out his features or see his eyes. Several of the other members would sing back up vocals, harmonizing with the frontman to create a deep and moving sound.

They played "Buildings", "The Longest Year", and "Deliberation" in succession. They have a distinct trademark sound to their music with meandering melodies that occasionally will punch up with heavier guitar work.

The set continued with "My Twin", "The Racing Heart", and "Lethean", the latter two also coming from their new album. They did the fan favorite "Tear Gas" before doing "Deadhouse" which apparently they have not played live for a number of years.

They are an interesting band to see live as they pull you into their thick atmosphere and mood and lead you through their various songs as if in a dark dream.

While the lead singer does not have much contact with the audience, in fact it seems he is fairly oblivious to his surroundings, his voice is perfect and he draws you into his mind as he sings with his eyes closed.

Being co-headliners they had an extensive set and played "Walking by a Wire" and "Sleeper" before coming to one of my personal favorite songs off the new album, "Hypnone". They finished up the set with "Forsaker" and "Leaders" before leaving the stage.

The new album lent a good number of songs to the set which was really cool to see live.  I would not have minded a bit more of their older material, especially the heavier stuff but it seems that they have settled into their melodic dark world.

It was a very moving performance drenched in melancholic emotional output and dark Gothic undertones. Technically they are still Metal but honestly they are really accessible and will appeal to anyone interested in a moody piece of well written music.

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