Darkness Rising

When Katatonia went on hiatus in December 2017, singer Jonas Renkse prepared himself for the worst. In the back of his mind, he knew he wanted to continue with the band he’d invested 26 years in, but he didn’t know if the others felt the same. He missed it very much and, as he’s wont to do as a defence mechanism, mentally prepared himself for the worst-case scenario – that they would never make music again. But he kept writing material, which he hoped would eventually find a life in Katatonia, and he endeavoured to remind himself of the band’s achievements.

“I was trying to focus on all the positive things I’ve got from being in this band, and it definitely over-shadowed the negative feelings, even if the loss would be immense in the beginning,” he explains. “But thinking of everything that we’ve done, and done together, all the bandmembers that we ever had, it’s like a museum of memories that are very precious. So it’s not like you’re losing everything at once – you still have the memories.”