Katatonia: Swedish Melancholy Made Heavy

Sun, 14 May 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Some bands you put on when you are sad. Katatonia are the band you put on to feel the sadness properly, in full, and come out the other side a little cleaner. Thirty years into their career the Swedes have perfected a very specific and very useful thing: melancholy with a spine, gloom you can actually lean your weight against.

Katatonia formed in Stockholm in 1991, built around the partnership of Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström — Renkse originally on drums and vocals, Nyström on guitar. That core duo has held the band together through three decades and a complete transformation of their sound, which is the first remarkable thing about them. Most bands who change this radically do it by swapping members. Katatonia changed by having the same two people slowly become different musicians.

Jonas Renkse on vo.rs

Katatonia: Swedish Melancholy Made Heavy