Tag Archives: katatonia

ProgPower USA XVIII Day Four Musings (9/9/2017)

Contributor Steven Stolper was on point enjoying the findings at the annual ProgPower USA Festival that takes place in Atlanta, Georgia at the Center Stage Atlanta theater and as already noted in one of the earlier chapters, PiercingMetal has NEVER been to the event despite the occasional interest. Fortunately, Agent Stolper was sending a final transmission to the Metal High Command from the field about this mission. Here now are his transcribed views bout the fourth and final day of ProgPowerUSA XVIII.

ProgPowerUSA XVIII Day 4: 3 days of nonstop music and parties take a toll on the body and the mind, so difficult choices had to be made and some sets were skipped. Pain and Amaranthe namely. All of the Day 4 bands except the opener were from Sweden, a testament to the country’s great contribution to the genre and popular music in general.

Seven Spires (USA):
Australia’s Teramaze was originally scheduled to perform in the opening timeslot, but unfortunately had to cancel a few days before due to health issues. That was upsetting because Teramaze was one of the bands I was looking forward to the most. Their latest album, Her Halo, was a really tasty slab of melodic prog metal. Boston’s SevenSpires answered the call and rushed to Georgia to bring their brand of metal to the masses. Seven Spires play aggressively melodic euro power metal with a female singer named Adrienne Cowan, who does both clean and extreme vocals equally well. Their video single, Cabaret of Dreams, sounded true to its name live, like a metallized groovy cabaret number. Other songs were more traditional, with many pounding harsh voiced numbers. The band had a very energetic stage presence and did a good job whipping the somewhat sleepy audience back into fighting shape.
Continue reading ProgPower USA XVIII Day Four Musings (9/9/2017)

Katatonia @ Irving Plaza

The mighty melancholy of Katatonia will rise at Irving Plaza with their first appearance in these lands in a few years. You don’t want to miss them if its sorrow that you seek.

irving plaza logo

“Let Sorrow Reign”; Katatonia Announces “Fallen Heart Of North America” Tour For 2017

A short while ago a wave of sadness and dread hit Metal fans across the nation and the melancholy only increased as more and more reports about Katatonia returning to the USA for a month-long tour became apparently clear. Well, as clear as tears would let one see at least. The sorrow was palpable at the revelation and when it comes to Katatonia this is a very good thing. A friend once said to me “if listening to Katatonia music makes you happy then you’re doing it wrong” and with that I will share the bands revelations and dates along with a very solemn poster.

tour-katatonia-fallen-hearts-2017

The Band Commentary:
We’re excited to announce our ‘Fallen Hearts of North America’ headline tour in March & April 2017.

Guitarist Anders Nyström comments “We did three North American tours in support for ’Dead End Kings’ and it’s been three and a half years since the last one when we toured with Cult Of Luna, so having already embraced the new cycle of ’The Fall Of Hearts’ over here, we are eager to once again cross the Atlantic to continue from where we left off and to reap what we planted over there.”

Vocalist Jonas Renkse introduces the bands they have chosen to join them on the tour “We are very excited to finally announce our headline tour in North America for The Fall of Hearts. Also invited for this run are post-rock titans Caspian and young, promising act Uncured. Come out and celebrate the downfall of hearts (and everything else) with us!”
Continue reading “Let Sorrow Reign”; Katatonia Announces “Fallen Heart Of North America” Tour For 2017

“The Fall Of Hearts” by Katatonia

CD - Katatonia - The Fall Of Hearts

“The Fall Of Hearts” is the latest release by the Lords of Melancholy in Katatonia. It comes care of Peaceville Records and you can order a copy below.

Katatonia’s “Dance Of December Souls” Still Solemn After All These Years (12/14/93-12/14/13)

If Lord Seth only knew what he was setting in motion when he began penning the words for “Dance Of December Souls” so very long ago.

So this might shock some of the younger Metal fans out there but today is the 20th Anniversary of the debut album by Katatonia; a crushing, Doom-laden piece of Atmospheric Melancholy that snares you upon your first listen. The band was only three members in the proper lineup at this time with Blackheim (Anders Nystrom) on electric/acoustic guitars, Lord Seth (Jonas Renkse) on drums, percussion and voices, and Israphel Wing (Guillaume Le Huche) on bass. The keyboards were delivered by a session musician Day DiSyraah. Now I will admit that I would not find myself exposed to this band for a very long time and several albums later and I guess one of the primary reasons was based on 1993 being a very different geography for music (especially Metal) here in the United States. Our local region record stores (yes there were still plenty of those at the time) we stocked in full with the Grunge movement stuff and the debut by Radiohead but this kind of Metal was not going to be too easy to chance upon. Remember also that the World Wide Web was still only building as far as the public was concerned so your chance of discovering this kind of music as an early adopter was on the limited side. You would be most successful if you had friends from the country where the band came from who were letting you know about it or by digging deep into a European Metal magazine like Kerrang!!!
Continue reading Katatonia’s “Dance Of December Souls” Still Solemn After All These Years (12/14/93-12/14/13)