By: Phil Weller
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 20/05/2016
Label: Peaceville Records
These songs are harmonised and bolstered by each member, with
each instrument vital without ever dominating and as such, this feels like one
of Katatonia’s most well rounded releases to date. Ten albums in and they sound fresh,
replenished and polished, throughout the album as a whole, are some perfectly
placed and executed riffs. You feel a lot of the time they are holding back,
never fully going for the jugular, and that caged beast approach makes these
songs utterly compelling.
“The Fall of Hearts” CD//DD//LP track listing:
1). Takeover
2). Serein
3). Old Heart Falls
4). Decima
5). Sanction
6). Residual
7). Serac
8). Last Song Before The Fade
9). Shifts
10). The Night Subscriber
11). Pale Flag
12). Passer
The Review:
As I write this, I write on the dawn of a changed Britain. Amid
the dramatic shifting of both the British and the European political landscape,
there is, despite a majority vote for Britain to leave the EU, a gloomy
sense of dread residing over this little island, a sense of not knowing where
our future lies and how it will all pan out. Rain patters against my windows
pane and Katatonia’s
tenth studio album, ‘The Fall Of Hearts’
provides a fittingly greyscale soundtrack this morning.
Yet, beneath their frowns and sighs is a sense of
hoping, a light piercing through the dark. From the raw emotion of the
uplifting guitar leads in ‘Serac’ to
the delicate doting of ‘Decima’,
decorated by genteel acoustic and soothing strings, here is a record endorsed
by the Swedish band’s worldly experience and musicianship. Ten albums in and
they sound fresh, replenished and polished.
The record starts to unfold instantly, Jonas
Renkse, who also takes on co-production duties, purring atop cascading clean
guitars. Sprinkled throughout the track, and indeed the album as a whole, are
some perfectly placed and executed riffs. You feel a lot of the time they are
holding back, never fully going for the jugular, and that caged beast approach
makes these songs utterly compelling. These songs are harmonised and bolstered
by each member, with each instrument vital without ever dominating and as such,
this feels like one of Katatonia’s most well rounded releases to
date. The light and shade of ‘Takeover’,
which boats some excellent guitar work betwixt serene acoustics and dark,
ominous piano introduces the album perfectly.
Preceeded by the aforementioned ‘Decima’, ‘Sanction’, hinging on a monster riff, benefits from the calm before
the storm and stands as one of the record’s standout moments. ‘Passer’, for those wanting a little
more meat and potato offers just that – more savagery in the form of relentless
blast beats and gruff guitar work amongst the breezing vocals.
Yet, as much as there are stand out moments pocketed
throughout the record, the greatest success is just how well it flows from
start to finish: It sucks you in and before you know it all 12 tracks have
passed by. This is achieved through their signature overcast atmosphere, that
blackened mood that, contrary to first impressions, isn’t wholly surrendering.
There is hope and an inner strength lurking within and on a day like today it
is both cathartic and empowering. An excellent record.
“The Fall
of Hearts” is available here
