Katatonia - Tonight's Decision
How can gloomy metal sound so uplifting? Gloomy metal is probably a little unfair as a lot of the material is upbeat with strong melodies, but Jonas Renkse's downbeat vocals always carry an air of melancholy. The flipside of this is that it lends the material a certain depth and maturity.
This album cemented the move from death/doom to a more gothic metal sound. The songs here all follow a similar pattern; heavy, driving metal with a downbeat edge and huge anthemic choruses. This is difficult to review because it's hard to say much more than that. That's not to say this is bad. On the contrary, this is a classic with many of these tracks still being live staples.
The wistful, haunting This Punishment deviates from the formula and as a result has a greater impact. A Darkness Coming is delicate yet brooding whilst Black Session is epic with huge sounding guitars.
This album's main strength are the choruses and In Death, A Song and Right Into The Bliss have very strong refrains. No Good Can Come Of This has mechanical, precise riffing and a massively catchy chorus. Strained's chorus of 'I'd like to try and live my life again, I'd like to see where I was going wrong' highlights how they can make miserable lyrics seem joyous and positive. An excellent album.
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