So that new Katatonia album. It's called Sky Void of Stars, and I want to like it more than I do. A couple of records ago, the band seemed poised to embrace prog and all of the demure technicality that came with it. 2020 saw the release of City Burials, a calculated step towards accessibility or at least more compact songwriting. Sky is unsure of itself. Maybe I'm reading the wrong tea leaves, but these songs are lodged between flat pop sensibilities and intermittent spurts of scorching guitar solos. It's kind of weird. NOTE: This isn't a pop record. That's not what I mean. Still, Jonas Renkse's vocals sound as though they were imported from a bland pop...thing.
By the way, if my musings come across as disorganized, that's because they are - you guessed it - disorganized. That's the beauty of random thoughts. I don't need to make sense. As it happens, my opinion of Sky is contradictory. The best moments find Katatonia at their most sullen and rain-slicked (if you told me that they hailed from Seattle, I would believe you). Other moments are frustratingly rote and generic. Musically, the album almost feels restrained. They should have thrown a few Bloodbath riffs into the mix. Then again, every piece of music ever recorded could stand to be pepsinated with Bloodbath riffs.
Woah, is that where Pepsi got its name? Holy shit. Um, I also wanted to talk about Fates Warning. Looking at their career trajectories, Fates mirrored the progression (pun intended, damn it) made by Queensryche right up to the mid-90's. They both began as freewheeling power metal units. If we're judging early material, I don't have a preference. However, I'm ready to announce that Parallels is the mature hard rock crossover record that Empire wanted to be. And I dig Empire! In fact, I reviewed it, but that was years ago and I hate reading my old stuff. I'll leave it up to you to exhume that corpse.
PS-Shoutout to Tom, the guy responsible for my recent infatuation with Fates Warning. Man, we have great taste!
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