Katatonia - 'City Burials' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. Heart Set To Divide

2. Behind The Blood

3. Lacquer

4. Rein

5. The Winter Of Our Passing

6. Vanishers

7. City Glaciers

8. Flicker

9. Lachesis

10. Neon Epitaph

11. Untrodden

Well I very nearly made a juvenile schoolboy type error with 'City Burials', I almost dismissed it as Soft Rock run of the mill stuff. Upon multiple listens there is so much more. There is a dissonance running through the tracks, something not quite sitting right which puts the listener on edge. In this state the listener is forced to pay more attention. I mean sure there are riffs a plenty, there are ballads, everything you would expect, but it still leaves you not quite comfortable.

It’s said that great art has to be difficult to view, maybe the same goes for music? If it’s too easy to listen to then what’s the point? Katatonia really don’t need to worry, not on 'City Burials' at least.

My only criticism is there is no real “big moment” in any of the tracks. I’m left feeling a bit short changed. Could be me being greedy of course.

By track six Katatonia have gone a bit Nine Inch Nails, a very different feel to previous tracks although the dissonance is still in there. This change in style can be seen as keeping the recording fresh or jarring depending on the listener’s mood. On this particular listen it’s not sitting well with me, the track “Vanishers” feels like its dragging on too long (even though it’s only nearly five minutes long).

Sad to say that 'City Burials' for me starts to lose its way until track ten “Neon Epitaph” where it gets some of its pep back. By then though it's lost my attention and although a bit more upbeat it fails to match the earlier tracks. 'City Burials' is definitely an album of two halves, sadly they fail to gel to make a whole. The musicianship is excellent, the mixing and production is fine, it just doesn’t hold together as a body of work.