UMUR
"Sky Void Of Stars" is the thirteenth full-length studio album by Swedish metal act Katatonia. The album was released through Napalm Records in January 2023. It´s the successor to "City Burials" from April 2020. The album features the same quintet lineup who recorded the predecessor. Once again lead vocalist Jonas Renkse is the main composer of the material as guitarist Anders "Blackheim" Nyström is still suffering from writers block (I read an interview with Renkse where he confirmed this).
While the material on "Sky Void Of Stars" is generally slightly harder edged than the material on "City Burials" (only slightly though, as this is by no means a particularly heavy release), this album still features a similar atmospheric and melancholic alternative/progressive rock/metal style to the predecessor. Renkse´s melancholic and emotional vocals are the focus of attention, but the tracks also feature solid instrumental performances. Katatonia are true professionals and it´s audible in everything they do. While the band have tweaked and developed their sound over the years, it´s been a few years and albums since they´ve released anything surprising and honestly monotony has begun to set in. It´s almost like they´ve become too accomplished at what they do, and every new release therefore sounds too safe and formulaic. I think I remember saying this about "City Burials" too, but I´ll say it again here...
...the sound production choices are also similar to the sound found on "City Burials" and again it would be nice to hear Katatonia travel down a different sonic road and challenge themselves and their audience. I´m probably being a bit unfair here, as "Sky Void Of Stars" objectively is a high quality release, and if this is your entry point to Katatonia you´re likely to love it, but to us old fans, who have followed them and the development of their sound since the early 90s, it´s pretty obvious by now that they´ve stagnated and are rehashing tried and true musical ideas. And when they do try something a little different like they do on "Birds", it´s really not that different, as that song more or less sounds like a cover of Paradise Lost (a band Katatonia have always had some similarities to) with Renkse singing.
"Sky Void Of Stars" features a clear, professional, and detailed sound production, where everything is audible in the mix. It´s very polished and could have prospered from some bite and rawness, but that´s not how Katatonia want their music presented anymore. Despite my reservations towards "Sky Void Of Stars", it´s still a quality release from Katatonia, although it´s often a bit dull and lacking punch. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.