To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the band’s formation, Katatonia have released Mnemosynean, an offering to the goddess of memory. Encompassing 2 CDs, this extensive collection of rarities, B-sides, unused album songs, special edition bonuses, covers and remixes, will delight all long-time fans of the band, especially since it includes a new band biography written by music journalist Eleanor Goodman, as well as full lyrics and comments on the origins of every track by founding members Anders Nyström and Jonas Renkse.
Originally playing deathly doom, Katatonia rose to prominence when they changed their sound to a more gothic, dark and progressive variety of metal. Their style of music, based on themes of urban and social decay, massively contributed to the overall rise of post metal and dark prog. The sound of numerous post metal, goth rock and shoegaze bands can be traced directly back to Katatonia. The wave which these Swedes helped to get going has circled the globe many times already and is still showing no signs of ebbing away.
Mnemosynean features 27 tracks divided onto two discs, 12 on the first and 15 on the second. All tracks are arranged in reversed chronological order, meaning they span from the newest to the oldest song. As was probably to be expected, the younger material is stronger regarding production and performance, and sounds more familiar to today’s ears. I would go as far as to say that disc no. 1 could have formed a pretty good stand-alone Katatonia album with tracks Vakaren, Ashen and Unfurl as highlights, representing Katatonia as we think of the band today. Vakaren, opens the compilation and is a yearning, heavy-hearted piece of music making extensive use of electronics and reminding me of Manes’ latest album although it was released earlier. Featuring lyrics in Swedish, this is definitely the track that stands out the most. Ashen and Unfurl, on the other hand, display music we are well familiar with: dark and heavy, of a melancholic shade, with well-recognizable vocals and melodic guitar lines.
Disc no. 2 is a different story entirely. This set of songs is less compact and lays evidence to a band experimenting and searching for its sound. While the majority of the material is not as convincing as that on the first CD, this does not mean that there is nothing of appeal to be found here. In fact, Wait Outside, the first song, is my favourite track on the whole release. Its mixture of heavy guitar riffs, melody and Renkse’s clean, sorrowful vocals makes it an instantly engaging piece of music. Simultaneously, it is a piece of living prog metal history, containing elements that span from bands like Only Living Witness to Tool. Another song that is interesting in terms of metal music history is Scarlet Heavens. With a runtime of over ten minutes, this is the release’s longest track by far and deserves to be singled out. Having a new wave/industrial vibe, it is an unusual piece of music for Katatonia, but it shows the amount of influence the sound of The Sisters of Mercy had on metal bands of the 1990s.
If you are a fan of Katatonia, there is no doubt that this release with all its extras will put a smile on your face and provide material for hours of reflection and reminiscing. If, on the other hand, you are someone who’s not that familiar with the back catalogue of this influential band and would like to get to know them better, CD no. 1, even without containing Katatonia’s most famous tracks, will get you acquainted with the band’s sound. And even if you do not belong to either category above, Mnemosynean might still be an interesting release, because it does not provide just a trip down memory lane for one band, but for a whole subgenre of metal.
(7.5/10 Slavica)
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