NOT THE WELSH CATATONIA WITH A C — THE SWEDISH ROCKERS RETURN WITH THE LESS-THAN-JOLLY SKY VOID OF STARS
By Gregory Adams
KATATONIA’S SKY VOID of Stars marks the second album in a row to not feature songs by founding guitarist Anders Nyström — as with 2020’s City Burials, the band’s 12th long-player was helmed completely by vocalist Jonas Renske. But when it comes to how the Swedish six-stringer interprets his bandmate’s material — via percussively progressive riffage and a foreboding miasma of ambient effects-work — the gloom veteran is anything but muted on Katatonia’s latest release.
“Just by playing the guitar — and using different guitars — you leave your signature stamp on everything,” Nyström says of his impact on Sky Void of Stars. “Things like how hard you hit the strings, where on the fretboard you pick, what kind of vibrato you put in there, how you slide and glide from note to note… it all adds up to create your [personal] touch.”
If the experimental City Burials put a greater emphasis on synths and electronic production, Sky Void of Stars runs Katatonia’s guitars back toward the red. “Birds” is a pulse pounder full of fervent power-chording; deceptively-titled opener “Austerity” buzzes out the gate with densely distorted djenting, before lead guitarist Roger Öjersson unveils a doom-dripping vibrato lead. “There are some serious progressive moments coupled with some almost commercial pop stuff, but everything carries a deeper kind of darkness embedded within it,” Nyström suggests of the hook-loaded yet downcast drive of Sky Void of Stars.
Though Nyström and Öjersson get defiantly chunky in spots, Nyström also approaches Katatonia with an airier guitar style he calls “ventiler” (which is the Swedish word
