Review Summary: Sing a song for the ones who never made it.
When a band make their music more approachable, they ironically run the risk of turning previous fans off. In a critically-minded sense, moving towards instant gratification is synonymous with said band becoming shallow--a shadow of their former self. Katatonia had treaded this path ever since
Discouraged Ones, the first in a long line of albums which saw them grow further and further out of their death/doom metal roots. Throughout this course, it’d be easy to say that they were struggling to establish a newfound identity. Yet in this search they managed to deliver a collection of works that, if nothing else, showcased a vision of variety through ambition. From the muddled nature of
Discouraged Ones to the emphatic atmosphere of
Night is the New Day, Katatonia had already demonstrated the versatility with which they could wield their conjugations of pain, darkness and suffering. To that end,
Dead End Kings, despite what the accompanying album art suggests, became a potent and strangely colorful entry in a discography better known for its despondency.
Rather than follow in
Night is the New Day’s footsteps,
Dead End Kings sees Katatonia reformulate their approach once more, this time with a resounding intent to accentuate the entire band. Where prior works were often defined by select members and characteristics, this album feels like the result of a band standing together with confidence. In this we get a toning back of the electronic dials, leading to a more balanced power dynamic. The use of sampling from
Night is the New Day has carried over with more consistency, but less outward prominence. Instead, Katatonia reignite their hard-hitting engines and go for an even more chorus-driven collection of tracks. Obviously the dense-yet-punctual guitars are essential to this, but their rhythms are further enhanced by the equally tangible drums and bass guitar. This unity is largely thanks to the slick production, which bolsters the lingering harmony between notes, enhanced by the aforementioned sampling. Even during its emptiest moments,
Dead End Kings has something to display, abundantly evidenced on moments such as the limbo-like lulls on the slow-builder, “Ambitions”.
Considering the euphonic stature of the music itself, finding highlights ends up being as easy as it is challenging. As with its predecessors,
Dead End Kings is filled to the brim with excellent tracks, and it’s easy to want to say “the entire album” when asked which songs are worth a listen. Heightened moments are both ripe and plentiful, from the boldly sung choruses on “The Parting” and “First Prayer” to the unleashed instrumental play on “Buildings”. Not to be outdone, we receive a fair share of softer, more collected moments, with fan favorite “The One You Are Looking For Is Not Here” featuring a subtle duet between Silje Wergeland (The Gathering, Octavia Sperati) and Jonas Renkse, who turns out the vocal performance of his career throughout
Dead End Kings’ eleven tracks. The album even indulges in a few brief but strikingly flavorful moments, including a tasty guitar solo on “Lethean” and some flashy keyboard notes on “Dead Letters”. All of these exemplary moments combine in a package that is nothing if not alluring in its lush simplicity. While Katatonia weren’t necessarily exploring their available terrain as much as before, they were absolutely working out the debatable kinks in their sound, bolstering their sonic capabilities.
Where
Dead End Kings will reside depends on what the listener expects or is willing to take from the band. It definitely won’t appeal to those who strictly swear by the band’s earlier albums, but then again, the same could be said for anything post-
Discouraged Ones. Newcomers to Sweden’s gloom and doom poster child are likely to enjoy this the most, since it culminates more than a decade’s worth of work in a smooth, invigorating mix. The remaining individuals, those who’ve stuck with and enjoyed the band’s material regardless of era or style, will find
Dead End Kings an enjoyably unambitious affair. In many ways, the formula isn’t far from what
The Great Cold Distance adhered to, but this time they permitted more of the passionate touches that
Night is the New Day showed a growing favor towards. Somewhere between recurring tension and foreboding ambience resides an album that seeks to filter the two ends out and make them equally accessible and memorable.
Dead End Kings is that balancing act.
