The Dark Night Rises

“Progressive is not always about being complex, it’s about doing stuff that’s out of the ordinary.”
Jonas Renkse

Back in 2009, Katatonia had just come off their biggest-ever tour. They had played more than 100 shows in the last three years, across 25 countries, in support of their seventh record, The Great Cold Distance. It was a huge step up for the Swedish progressive metallers, formed by guitarist Anders Nystrom and singer Jonas Renkse in 1991 when they were just 16 years old. Once a studio project with the odd gig here and there, they were now booking shows, making travel arrangements and juggling finances – jobs that had somehow fallen to Nystrom. Instead of writing material for another record, he was facing artistic burnout, and buckling under the weight of expectation.

“I had huge writers’ block,” admits Nystrom today. “I felt big pressure, and I didn’t know how to top . It’s almost perfect. I was dealing so much with the business aspect of the band;, he just presented demo after demo of finished songs that sounded amazing. And that was good, because it meant that the ship wasn’t sinking with my actions.”