Katatonia

11,352,951 plays (170,226 listeners)

doom metal, progressive metal, metal, gothic metal, depressive rock… see all

Sweden (1987 – present)

There are two bands called Katatonia: 1) swedish - doom/progressive/death metal, depressive rock and 2) polish death/thrash metal band

1) Hailing from Avesta, Sweden, Katatonia was formed back in 1987 as Melancholium, originally playing a mixture of death metal and doom metal with harsh vocals. After the release of “Dance of December Souls”, the vocalist Jonas Renkse lost the ability to use harsh vocals due to medical problems and so the band invited Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth to record the harsh vocals on “Brave Murder Day”. Jonas claimed in an interview for Mark of “The Metal Observer” that he “lost the ability to make the real Death Metal screams,” so he has been forced to rely on clean to minimalistic death vocals. “Discouraged Ones” was the first album to use Renkse’s clean vocals exclusively and their next few albums exhibited a melancholic, gothic rock-influenced sound. Their last two albums, “Viva Emptiness” and “The Great Cold Distance”, have turned more aggressive and somewhat experimental.

The band’s official website is www.katatonia.com.

Not to be confused with Catatonia, indie-rock band led by Cerys Matthews.

Members:
Jonas Renkse (other projects include Bloodbath and October Tide)
Anders Nystrom (other projects include Bloodbath, Bewitched, and Diabolical Masquerade)
Fred Norrman (also of October Tide, Uncanny and formerly of Subdive)
Mattias Norrman (also formerly of Subdive)
Daniel Liljekvist (also formerly of Subdive)

Discography

Jhva Elohim Meth [1992] | Demo
Jhva Elohim Meth… the Revival [1992] | EP

The Great Cold Distance
Katatonia
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Last Fair Deal Gone Down
Katatonia
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Tonight's Decision
Katatonia
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Viva Emptiness
Katatonia
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Shoutbox

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anathemaddicted wrote:
5 hours ago

This shitbox will always be the same "ANATHEMA PWNS KATATONIA, NO KATATONIA ARE BETTER, NO ANATHEMA WERE KVLT3ZT, NO DANCE OF TEH DECEMBER SOULS > SERENADES", doesnt matter how much you try to stop it.

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karolcia_1993 wrote:
11 hours ago

stop comparing Anathema and Katatonia - they're both absolutely brilliant and unique.

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Bonald wrote:
yesterday afternoon

Any news about the new album?

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Cousin_Eddy wrote:
yesterday afternoon

It is a shame people hate on Anathema. Hey have had so many cool concepts to their albums.

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gaylord666-argh wrote:
yesterday morning

http://www.last.fm/music/FemalePenis

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Mephisto_NL wrote:
yesterday morning

I don't see why some people seem to dislike Anathema. I have to agree, Katatonia's first albums were better than Anathema's Serenades and those demos, but I think Anathema's later material is better than Katatonia's recent music. I don't say Katatonia is bad (far from it, actually). I guess it's a matter of taste, I like both. :)

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ObituaryOfDeath wrote:
yesterday morning

Yeah exactly, both Katatonia and Anathema are so awesome. Too bad Katatonia is just sooooo much more awesome!

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burntoffering wrote:
Saturday evening

Who cares, both Katatonia and Anathema are so awesome.

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kingofloss__ wrote:
Saturday evening

Anathema completely ripped off from Celtic Frost during their Doom/Death era.Even their perfect The Silent Enigma was a Into The Pandemonium rip-off.At least Katatonia did something more original for Doom Metal.Brave Murder Day is the best Doom/Death Metal album with Turn Loose The Swans I think.

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ketvirtadiene wrote:
Saturday evening

The new Anathema is quite sucky but their early stuff doesn't suck much, I really like some of it. Although Katatonia is much better than Anathema, imo... And, people, stop playing with the pics. :D

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Tamadrummer73 wrote:
Saturday afternoon

Astarot: to my knowledge (in other words, I could be wrong), there's been absolutely nothing released regarding the new album except for the fact that there will be a new album.

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Mar_Sexx_669 wrote:
Saturday afternoon

i fucking agree with Scapino! and i say more: anathema sux bizarrely! and Luke_UK said everything: Anathema has a pathetic vocalist.

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Astarot wrote:
Saturday afternoon

does anyone knows something about a new album?

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Cyru91 wrote:
Saturday morning

Best album is definetely "Tonight's Decision" ... the first three songs are so awesome and the following songs are great too.

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scapino wrote:
Saturday morning

Anathema is nothing compared to Katatonia when it comes to the old good days of Doom.

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DearSun wrote:
Friday evening

I've tried so hard to like Anathema. It seems like the majority of people who like Katatonia priase them a lot. I just simply don't find them very good, and when compared to Katatonia they especially don't come off as special.

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Karppaky wrote:
Friday evening

Dance of December Souls is like 1000 times better than any Anathema's Death/Doom album. Their later albums are ok, but not even comparable to Katatonia's.

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Tamadrummer73 wrote:
Friday evening

I'm not gonna lie, the first time I heard TGCD, I thought it was boring and repetitve. About 2 listens later I realized it was arguably the album of 2006. I hope they continue in that direction for sure.

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Luke_UK wrote:
Friday evening

DcdFgt has got it right. I think Anathema are alright musically but I can't stand the vocals. The lyrics come off as really cheesy to me as well. <-- They're pretty deep bro, not saying that Katatonia aren't, but Anathema nailed death/doom far better than Katatonia did. Plus I like to fly the flag of English metal.

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Luke_UK wrote:
Friday evening

Anathema has a pathetic vocalist. <-- 8/10 almost fell for it

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