Glasgow Cathouse, Wednesday 12 December, 7.00pm, £14
Swedes Katatonia have just released a strong new album, a fresh load of beautiful and melancholic melodies spiced up with super heavy riffs that they’ll now take to British shores. The band have released an impressive back catalogue in the just over 20 years of their existence, but it is also a very variable range of music. They started off as a Doom/Death-Metal act and released their first couple of albums in this style until they gradually changed into the gloomy heavy rock they play today. A journey similar to that of bands like Paradise Lost, Anathema or even Opeth, who all went from Death or Doom to super-melodic, soul soothing melancholia. Katatonia however can be considered one of the bands that brought this genre to perfection. The compelling vocals from Jonas Renske (also a member of Bloodbath) and the great proggy riffs from Per Eriksson (also Bloodbath) create a unique atmosphere that they are now going to demonstrate live and which of course works best in the gloomy atmosphere of a club. In this case it will be the Cathouse. To round off your perfect evening of borderline depressive yet beautiful melancholia, French shoe-gazers Alcest will be supporting the Swedish naysayers. A night that is not to be missed!
[Ansgar Hastenpflug]
qmunicatemagazine.com 