Biography:

Katatonia was born in 1987 in Sweden. The band was founded by 13 year old Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström (guitars, bass, and keyboards later) and Jonas "Lord Seth" Renkse (drums, vocals). The boys were playing like Bathory in these days. But in this early period nothing interesting was recorded and the band split up. Later in 1991 Katatonia was reborn. The band was working on their own sound style and they soon gathered support from the underground. In June of 1992 Katatonia recorded their first...... Expand full biography»

Biography:

Katatonia was born in 1987 in Sweden. The band was founded by 13 year old Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström (guitars, bass, and keyboards later) and Jonas "Lord Seth" Renkse (drums, vocals). The boys were playing like Bathory in these days. But in this early period nothing interesting was recorded and the band split up. Later in 1991 Katatonia was reborn. The band was working on their own sound style and they soon gathered support from the underground. In June of 1992 Katatonia recorded their first demo cassette called "Jhva Elohim Meth" in the Gorysound Studio. This demo was recorded with Dan Swano's help as a producer. The music didn't change much from the previous releases. Vic Records offered to release this demo in the form of MCD and so it was done. In December 1992 the new basist joined Katatonia. It was Guillaume Le Huche (Israphel Wings). But the best thing was that the band signed the contract with the label No Fashion Records to release their debut album. The album "Dance Of December Souls" was recorded again in Unisound Studios with Dan Swano as a producer. This album is great! It's still similar to the previous releases, but now the whole music is much more desperate and sad. Despite of normal No Fashion Records releases, Hellion Records decided to release "Dance Of December Souls" on vinyl limted to 500 copies. In 1994 Katatonia recorded 3 new songs in Unisound: "Scarlet Heavens", "Black Erotica" (later named "12") and"Love Of The Swan". The band signed new contract with Italian label Avantgarde Music. This label re-released "Jhva Elohim Meth... The Revival". In the same year Katatonia recorded in Unisound their new EP "For Funerals To Come". Soon later Israphel left the band. It was very fortunate that Katatonia found a new member - Fred Norrman who became the second guitarist. It seemed that everything went good, but the band split up for undefined reasons. In 1995, Wrong Again Records released a compilation called "WAR Compilation Volume 1" where the tracks "Black Erotica" and "Love Of Swan" were published. In the same year Avantgarde Music released "For Funerals To Come" as MCD (the first 100 copies had a white logo and name, and the rest of the copies had these 2 elements in purple). Only deaf would say that Katatonia is not evolving. The music gained on melody and transparency. The interesting fact is that label released "For Funerals To Come" as a picture disc limited to 1500 copies. The band started to work on their second full album. It was very unexpectedly that Jonas lost his growling vocals. Can you imagine - he wasn't able to growl! The help was offered by Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth. This maestro recorded all growling vocals on "Brave Murder Day" which was released in the mid 1996. He did it just perfectly! His voice gave music another dimension. Katatonia wrote the music which was more cold and desperate than ever before. "Brave Murder Day" is build from monotone and repeated riffs. Only in one song ("Day") there are 100% clean vocals made by Jonas. In the same year Katatonia recorded split album with Primordial. There is the most interesting track ever - I'm talking about "Scarlet Heavens" which is 100% gothic song with Renkse's clean vocals. Later in 1996 Micke Oretoft joined the band as basist for a while and helped Katatonia on Europe tour where "Brave Murder Day" was promoted. In 1997 "Sounds Of Decay" EP was released. Again with Akerfeldt who did vocals. This release is nothing more than a great continuation of the second album. Still in 1997 many many things happened to Katatonia. First of all, Century Media offered to release "Brave Murder Day" in the USA. "For Funerals To Come" was added to this release as a bonus. Second thing, Katatonia started to cooperate with Tomas Skogsberg in Sunlight Studio. "Saw You Drown" EP was recorded first and released in 1998 (limited to 1500 hand signed copies). "Discouraged Ones" surfaced the earth a bit later (despite of the CD, there is also a vinyl released by Century Media in USA). When I listen to this CD I'm impressed by how much Katatonia has changed. The music became easier, more melancholic and desperate. I consider that "Discouraged Ones" is one of the most depressing albums i have ever heard in my life. There are only clean vocals made by Renkse, full of abandonment and grief. I can't think optimistic when Im listening to this album... monotone and repeated riffs are heightening my impression. Jesus it's a masterpiece!!! Katatonia gained the same amount of fans as enemies with this release for sure. Meantime, the contract with Avantgarde Music came to an end. Katatonia signed new papers with Peaceville to release 5 CD's. Micke Oretoft left the band... The new album was recorded again in Sunlight Studios in 1998 with Dan Swano on drums. New CD is called "Tonight's Decision" and is similar to "Discouraged Ones". Sound and atmosphere are different and even more melancholic. It's a good CD but in my personal opinion not as good as the "Discouraged Ones". But it's still worth listening to! Katatonia began to play at many gigs (tour with Paradise Lost in Scandinavia). The best thing is Mattias Norrman joining the band as a bassist and Daniel Liljekvist as a new drummer. In 2000 Peaceville released "Tonight's Decision" and the band started to record their 5th album "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" in Sunlight Studios. Interesting thing is that Hammerheart Records released "Jhva Elohim Meth" on blue vinyl limited to 500 copies. The band played on festivals in Poland and USA. The year 2001 Katatonia must consider as very successful year. Before the release of the new album, "Teargas" EP was released. "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" was released by Peaceville in the same year. Soyuz Music released it in Russia. This CD is perfect! It's fresh and intriguing. It's in the style of "Discouraged Ones" which is brought here to a total perfection. After all this, "Tonight's Music" EP which was recorded in Black Lounge Studios was also released. Katatonia played on Europe tour with Opeth. "Viva Emptiness" was recorded in 2002 in Studio 303 and Studio Kuling. Century Media released "Dance Of December Souls" in USA in the same year. On the other hand, Irond Records released the debut album in Russia. Katatonia as usual, visited many scenes. "Viva Emptiness" surfaced the earth in 2003 (they also released a promo "Ghost Of The Sun" before the whole album). This album is one of the greatest Katatonia releases ever. It's more heavy than the previous album but it's done in, now characteristic, Katatonia style. It's full of mystery and dark, sadness and melancholy. The End Records released this stuff on vinyl (1000 copies). Souyz Music released "Viva Emptiness" in Russia. Katatonia was touring in Europe hit the scenes on couple of festivals. The year 2005 brought 2 compilations - first with the old Katatonia material - "Brave Yester Days" (including an unrealesed track of "Sounds of Decay" sessions - "Untrue"). And the second one - "The Black Sessions" with the newer material (including DVD bonus in the form of gig recorded in Cracow during the "Viva Emptiness" tour and the unreleased track "Wait Outside" of "Viva Emptiness" sessions). Katatonia also toured Europe again and visted Russia for the first time in their carreer. The year 2006 was very busy for the band. First, Katatonia released "My Twin" single and then the whole album "The Great Cold Distance". What can I say about it? This album is the pattern and shows how the dark, atmospheric and heavy music should be played nowadays. It's definitely the highlight album of 2006 in this music genre. However, some people hate it for undefined reasons. But personally I think it will become classic in few years. At least "The Great Cold Distance" deserves it! After this "Deliberation" single was released. In late 2006 Katatonia finally toured Europe for the first time. The dream became true. And the saga continues... (source: http://www.katatonia.of.pl) «Collapse biography