The long awaited return of Swedish metal veterans Katatonia to these shores sees them inviting along Icelandic quartet Sólstafir as their touring partners for a double header of moody, atmospheric metal.
First up though was the soaring soundscapes of US based djent shoegazers SOM (7).
This was an entrée for the main courses to come. Playing tracks from their album The Shape Of Everything To Come, the band blended a dark synth backdrop to the edgy guitars and soulful vocals that carry you through a set of songs that were at times heavy but had a gentle caress that quite easily lulled you into a meditative state. The band are somewhat a sort of shoegaze supergroup with members coming together from a list of established bands to create this entity that has great potential. Look out for SOM at some of the more experimental and tech minded festivals.
So, when you’ve been gently massaged and soothed, what next? Well, the incredibly dark, brooding sagas from those giants of Icelandic metal are the perfect next course.
Sólstafir (10) have their roots in blackened death metal, but these days their sound can only be described as epic and cinematic. If ever a band could capture the essence of the landscape they grew up in, then it’s Sólstafir. It’s haunting, dark, ferocious and ultimately, beautiful.
Opening with the nearly 12 minute long Náttmál from their seminal 2014 album Ótta, they set the tone for a set full of passion, anger, longing and loss. Front man Addi Tryggvason looms over the crowd and delivers a stunning performance that raises the hairs on the back of your neck. Each song brings a new level of emotion, a journey through the band's back catalogue that is as varied and dramatic as the landscape it was born from.
Highlights were the double pronged assault of Fjara and Ótta towards the end of the set, a rising crescendo of pounding rhythms and their signature guitar sound that enthralled the rapt audience.
To follow a set such as the one we had just witnessed takes a lot of belief, confidence, and experience. Something Jonas Renske has in bucket loads having steered the rocky ship that is Katatonia (8) through numerous member changes and musical styles. This UK tour was originally intended to promote 2020’s City Burials but with the delays of the last couple of years, Jonas and his band have spent the time touring around the world and in creating a new opus in the form of their latest studio offering Sky Void Of Stars
Opening up with Austerity you immediately get a sense of where Katatonia are going with this album. Full of hooks, but used as an accompaniment to the carefully crafted song writing, it creates the basis for a varied mix of songs, old and new that show the vast array of stylistic changes that the band have been through, but throughout there is the underlying sense of gothic doom, something that can be encapsulated in one track Colossal Shade.
Without doubt, Katatonia are seasoned performers and artists and seem to have captured that elusive mix of gloomy but catchy metal that comes across especially well with the lights and dry ice creating brightness and shadows, you’re never quite seeing the full picture, but getting enough to formulate an image in your mind.
Opening up with Austerity you immediately get a sense of where Katatonia are going with this album. Full of hooks, but used as an accompaniment to the carefully crafted song writing, it creates the basis for a varied mix of songs, old and new that show the vast array of stylistic changes that the band have been through, but throughout there is the underlying sense of gothic doom, something that can be encapsulated in one track Colossal Shade.
Without doubt, Katatonia are seasoned performers and artists and seem to have captured that elusive mix of gloomy but catchy metal that comes across especially well with the lights and dry ice creating brightness and shadows, you’re never quite seeing the full picture, but getting enough to formulate an image in your mind.
With the melancholy of Paradise Lost and the poppiness of Ghost, Renske continues to surprise us. A powerful live show, and although the new tunes are sounding great, highlight for me was the emotionally charge Old Heart Falls
All in all, a pretty damn fine gig to kick off my reviewing year.
All in all, a pretty damn fine gig to kick off my reviewing year.
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