A new chapter begins for Katatonia.

Although the first traces of the band date back to the late ’80s in Sweden under the name Melancholium, it wasn’t until 1992 that a demo was released under its current name. Working in the Doom/Death genre, after two albums the band moved towards a more Prog dimension, and began to gain more and more popularity.

In 2025, Jonas Renkse (vocals, ex-Bloodbath, ex-October Tide), Niklas Sandin (bass, Lik), Daniel Moilanen (drums, Runemagick, ex-Engel, ex-Heavydeath…) and Nico Elgstrand (guitar, ex-Entombed A.D., ex-Entombed) part company with founding guitarist Anders Nyström (Bloodbath), welcome Sebastian Svalland (guitar, ex-In Mourning, live for Pain and Hypocrisy) to announce the release of their fourteenth album, Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State via Napalm Records.

The album opens with Thrice, which offers a few seconds of heaviness before settling into a melodic, airy melancholy that lingers even as the sound becomes more powerful. More disquieting touches are occasionally heard, as on the central break, but Jonas‘s gentle voice provides the comfort needed to urge us on through the darkness to The Liquid Eye, where the tones are immediately more vaporous. Even the saturation becomes almost soothing in this composition, leading to the rocking groove of Wind of no Change, where choirs welcome us before returning to more jerky, catchy riffs. The track keeps getting progressively more aggressive, letting the pressure drop between occult choruses, but Lilac takes its place with an even more contrasting approach that gives pride of place to every aspect of the band’s music, without ever letting one overpower the others too much. Although the track has received a mixed reception, I find it quite heady, and its diversity is a pleasure to hear, as are Temporal‘s ominous tones, which skilfully metamorphose into a palpable intensity on its very luminous choruses. The introduction to Departure Trails is totally tranquil, but the drums disturb it with a slightly more lively Prog-style performance, as on Warden, which gently navigates between different phases of heaviness thanks to irregular patterns. The refrains are once again very melodious, even benefiting from a few backing vocals to reinforce the main song, then the sound becomes a little more energetic again on The Light Which I Bleed, adopting more complex moments as well as more majestic ones, like the final break where orchestrations reinforce the haunting riffs. The Swedes take us by surprise on the very gentle Efter Solen that follows, giving additional relief to the very minimalist instrumental that transforms into a fairly modern sound coupled with layers of keyboards, then In the Event of brings saturation back and lets us drift in this shimmering current where the band’s various influences, both modern and older, come together to blend and lead us towards the end of the album.

Katatonia continues to evolve with a new, very soaring album, highlighting its new sources of inspiration to create ethereal tracks. The band isn’t what it was thirty years ago, but Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State is rich enough to satisfy many fans.

85/100

Version Française ?

A few questions to Daniel Moilanen, drummer for the band Katatonia, about the release of the band’s fourteenth album, Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State.

Hello and first of all, thank you very much for your time! How would you introduce the band Katatonia without using the words “Doom” or “Progressive Metal”?
Daniel Moilanen (drums): Mope rock for the thinking man!

The band is now close to its 35th year of existence, and even if you were not part of the band at its creation, what does the name Katatonia means for you? How do you link it to the music you play now?
Daniel: The name Katatonia has, since I heard the band for the first time over 30 years ago, always been a carrier for more than just the music. Obviously we’re musically different now than before, and before before and even before that, but also kinda not? Dance of December Souls didn’t have any shredding guitar solos or polymetric quirks but it had a raw and honest feel, of sorrow (decently over-used word but..) and loss but with the tiniest power of hope somewhere in there; words and meanings that have been with the band regardless of any musical changes. We’ve always stayed the same, dark rock for fools searching for meaning. How’s that for progression?!

In a few months, Katatonia will release its new album, called Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State. How do you feel about it? Do you already have any feedback?
Daniel: The feedback has been pretty swell, from what I understand (and have heard). We’re very happy with it and feel that it represents the band perfectly. Slightly less “direct” than previous efforts it’s also darker and less Metal both in terms of songwriting and production. It’s tricky to write music not immediately accessible to everyone but I think we do a rather good job with it.

How would you sum Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State’s identity up in only three words?
Daniel: Bleak, rainy, scorching.

Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State is the first album without founder guitarist Anders Nyström, how did the creation process happen? Were there any differences compared to the previous releases?
Daniel: No difference in terms of creation as Anders hasn’t been a part of the process for the past two albums. Jonas writes and arranges the material, presents it to the rest of the band for feedback and for us to make our mark on the music. No different than the process has been for a good while now.

The band’s sound is made of Doom Metal, Progressive elements and even some touches of heavy Post-Metal/Rock, how do you create your own touch? Are there any new influences with time?
Daniel: I think our own touch comes from tuning in to what we’ve been doing in the past and where we are now. Sure, there’s always outside influences for everything, Katatonia wouldn’t have started out like it did without Paradise Lost and wouldn’t have evolved beyond that without band like Fields of the Nephilim and Slowdive and stuff like that. But there comes a time in one’s musical “evolution” where you kind of know what you’re doing and you start building on that instead. Personally my drumming for any new Katatonia album starts with where I left off with the previous one. Whatever my personal influences are outside of that just comes with the flow, but the flow starts where I left off.

Do you have a favorite song on Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State? Or maybe the hardest one to achieve for the album.
Daniel: There are a couple of songs on Nightmares’ that demanded some attention from me during recording, only because they are diametrically opposed in approach from each other. A song like Thrice needs a more technical groove while a song like Departure Trails demands a lighter touch, all the while they need to both be pulled into the entire concept of the album so as to not _sound_ diametrically opposed. Songs like that are the hardest to record as you want to keep the song and also bring something else into it. My personal favorite at the moment would be Efter Solen. It also has the best drum parts.

Where do you find your inspiration to create music?
Daniel: For the past year or so, I find more and more inspiration from cinema and literature than actual music. I try to juxtapose different ideas and concepts in my approach to music and sometimes it works out great, most times it’s a mess. But when it gets messy I feel like a kid playing in mud, I can tear things down and try to build them up again and I allow myself to let it all slip my grasp and I go home and make dinner. It’s not that important. These days I play more than I’ve done in a long while, it’s less about rehearsing or practicing for me, more about trying to open my mind. But I’m also a lousy advocate for drumming. I just listen to some cats play and try to do something different while thinking about what they were thinking about when doing their stuff and hopefully that makes me do interesting stuff. Don’t know and at the moment, don’t really care either. But it’s fun!

Do you think you improved yourself as a musician/songwriter with this new record?
Daniel: Sure. But stuff like that comes with time and territory. I have a bunch of new tricks up my sleeves and I approach my playing in a vastly different way from when making Sky Void of Stars. But, I don’t necessarily think that affects the playing on the record. It’s a Katatonia album after all and anything new we make pushes us all onto roads we’ve not walked. But we already knew how to walk, we just needed to bring different shoes, if that makes any sense at all.

I remember attending a Katatonia show in Paris, back in 2023 (with Solstafir and SOM), do you have some special memories from this concert? Or for the whole tour? Do you enjoy playing in France?
Daniel: Even though I’m poor at retaining memories from specific concerts there is a special place in my heart for France. I’ve always loved playing for the French crowds, I love visiting France – the vineyards of Beaune, the cafeterias of Montmartre, walking around Pigalle..  Ever since watching Les Parapluies de Cherbourg and reading Céline (Louis Ferdinand Céline, French author, ed.) as a teen, I’ve had a romantic notion about France and that never really goes away. The tour itself was logistically a bit tricky as we were co-headlining with Solstafír but also a treat as we were just starting out playing the Sky Void stuff, and with Nico on guitar as well!

The band of course played a lot of concerts all around the world, so how do you get prepared for a concert? Do you have some kind of pre-show routine?
Daniel: We just try to get warmed up. For the final hour before going on stage we lock ourselves in our dressing room, blast some music, have some fun and loosen up. I do some sticking exercises, maybe I’ll have a drink or two or none. Then a couple of minutes before the intro hits we have our pre-show shot, saluting both the geography of man and the lord of lies. During the final 60 seconds before our TM flashes our front of house engineer to start the show, we focus on regretting any and all decisions that led to us being there, ready to go up on stage and then.. time to rock and/or roll.

I know you have a European tour scheduled with Evergrey and Klogr, how do you get prepared for this one? How do you build the setlist?
Daniel: Setlists are becoming more and more difficult, which is the firstest of first world problems. So many albums to choose from, all while wanting to play as much as possible from the latest one, all while also having (and wanting, don’t get me wrong) to play old fan favorites. We’re also getting old. We don’t have 3 hours of stage time in us. So it’s difficult. We’re gonna try to keep it interesting and intense, that’s for sure. For this upcoming tour we have some ideas for stage production that we’re hopefully gonna try out, we also have two new guys in the band that we’re gonna push and be pushed by so hopefully our energy output on stage will be immense, matching what the front-row bangers and dreamers are giving us!

Are there any musicians or artists you would like to collaborate with? Whether it is for one song, or maybe more.
Daniel: In the Katatonia context, not really. Outside of that, also not really. I think there’s a time and place for everything and even though there are specific artists or musicians I would love to collaborate with, there isn’t really a place for that. I’m happy where I am, with the people I’m there with.

What do you know about the French Metal scene? Are there any bands you know and like?
Daniel: There’s SO many good bands and artists from France, it’s silly. Some current favorites are Blasphéme, Antaeus, Diapsiquir, Sortilege, Massacra and Ycare.

Despite some breaks during Katatonia’s whole history, the band has been alive for many years now. Did you notice some changes in the underground scene? Whether it is the local or international scene.
Daniel: Honestly wouldn’t know. I’m rubbish at following the goings on in “the scene”. But from what I’ve seen emerging and that I do find interesting is that nothing really changes. Now that the HM-2 stuff seems to have petered out a bit I’m just waiting for the mid 90’s melodic bm scene to hit again. Maybe it already has. There are very few bands or artists, specially in the metal scene, doing anything new or interesting these days. My favorite “new” bands aren’t even new anymore and they’re really not re-inventing the wheel either, ya know? The “newest” band I like is Century from Stockholm and it’s really just Gotham City with a hard-on.

If I ask you to create a poster with Katatonia as headliner and three other bands for the release of Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State, which bands would you like to play with? Even unrealistic answers are accepted.
Daniel: Jeez. Four bands? What is this, Hellfest? I’ll give you this: Katatonia (exclusive release party for Nightmares) – 3hr set. Might even pull out Love of the Swan for this. Morte Macabre – plays Symphonic Holocaust in its entirety (special guest). Sewer Election/Treriksröset collab (opener). Not even unrealistic, says me.

Last and funny question: which dish would you compare Katatonia’s music with?
Daniel: Swedish yellow pea soup with onion, smoked pork belly, thyme and mustard. Very yummy, hearty and comforting but the reason you’re eating it is because you’re poor and it’s been raining for what feels like 3 years.

That was the last question for me, so thank you very much for your time and your music, last words are yours!
Daniel: Si vous n’aimez pas la mer, si vous n’aimez pas la montagne, si vous n’aimez pas la ville, si vous n’aimez pas la Katatonia… allez vous faire foutre. Cheers.