Katatonia

‘Stagnation’ is not a word in the Katatonia dictionary. Since breaking through as masters of death/doom, Stockholm’s freethinkers have transcended genre, consolidating goth, shoegaze and prog into bleak, melodic songs. Now, after three decades of invention and reinvention, Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State marks another bold leap – not to mention singer, founder and lead songwriter Jonas Renkse’s most personal effort to date.

Following the immediate anthem-making of City Burials (2020) and Sky Void of Stars (2023), Katatonia’s 13th album gets more experimental and more metal without holding back on catchiness. The dark hooks and tender vocals remain, yet the band also drive in unpredictable directions while delivering their hardest riffs in years. It’s an indelible introduction to new guitarists Nico Elgstrand and Sebastian Svalland, who replace longtime member Roger Öjersson and co-founder Anders Nyström.

“Nightmares… is a very riff-based and very guitar-heavy album,” says Jonas. “When I was writing it, I knew that we would have a couple of new guitar players coming in. And, if you have two guitarists joining, you don’t want to present them with songs that are 60 percent keyboards. Maybe I subconsciously felt that I had to come up with some cool riffs so that they’d still want to join the band!”

The force and fearlessness throughout Nightmares… is clear from the start of the very first track, ‘Thrice’. Thunderous chords give way to an ambient verse, before the music builds back up to a wall of open-string chugs. On ‘The Light Which I Bleed’, Nico and Sebastian lead a loose, proggy jam that ratchets into a hard-hitting doom riff. ‘Wind of No Change’ even bridges the present and Katatonia’s earliest past, bassist Niklas Sandin and drummer Daniel Moilanen laying down a goth pulse while Jonas croons “Hail Satan” in a throwback to the band’s extreme metal roots.

“I just had this riff going, and I thought it had a bit of a heavy metal feel to it, or even a Slayer vibe,” the frontman explains. “And then I thought, maybe I should write something Satanic, because I haven’t really touched that with Katatonia since we did our first demo.”

In the lengthy Katatonia tradition of keeping listeners on their toes, Nightmares… also packs songs which rebel against the rest of the album. The verses of ‘Departure Trails’ de-emphasise the six-string, with the ballad stacking layers of keyboards and synths to near-symphonic levels. Meanwhile, ‘Warden’ boasts one of the most pop-friendly choruses in their catalogue.

Jonas calls his band’s ongoing rejection of musical rules “subconscious”. He adds, “Touring is great, but it gets tedious if you play the same old style of songs all the time. You want to change it up in some way, and I think it’s the same with the records.”

In October 2024, Katatonia holed up in a converted church in rural Sweden owned by Tore Stjerna (Mayhem, Watain, Tribulation) to track drums, then recorded the rest of the instruments in their own studio in Stockholm. All the while, Jonas was getting closer and closer to his 50th birthday and found himself in a reflective mood. “I’ve been like that for the last couple of years, especially last year,” he admits. “50, it’s a big number, and I’ve been doing this for so long now.”

That introspection manifests across this new set of songs. After coming up with the album’s title, Jonas penned ‘In the Event Of’: the climactic finale narrates a nightmare he had more than 10 years ago, with a soundtrack of ominous synths and sorrowful chords. The artwork of Nightmares… is a direct illustration of those lyrics.

“It was supposed to be day, but it was super dark,” Jonas remembers of his haunting dream. “Looking at the sky, you could see flashes of fire behind dark clouds. And there were chains coming from the sky. The last line of the song is, ‘Mothers waiting in rows for the shadows of their children.’ I could see fences, a place where you would keep people captured, and mothers standing there, waiting for their children to come back.”

Just as soul-bearing, if not more so, is lead single ‘Lilac’, which voices a desire to forget painful memories. Jonas also sings in his own language for just the second time ever during ambient piece ‘Efter Solen’, which he co-wrote with Joakim Karlsson, a close friend and collaborator in synth-rock project Korda.

He reveals, “It’s the first song we ever worked on together, and it wasn’t done. While I was writing this album, Joakim was on to me, saying, ‘We should finish that song! I want it finished because it’s so good.’ I said, ‘Yeah, but maybe we should use it on the new Katatonia album.’ When I was finishing the song, I was so used to hearing it in Swedish that I had to write the rest of the lyrics like that.”

Now more than a dozen albums deep into a 30-year-plus career, Katatonia’s well of inspiration still hasn’t run dry. If anything, Nightmares… is one of the bravest and most vulnerable releases to bear their name. And, going forward, the band’s confidence will only continue to grow, thanks to the new blood in their ranks.

“This is a great place to be in,” Jonas says of the Katatonia of 2025. “Inspiration-wise, it’s so good to be surrounded with people that come in with energy and ideas and a strong will to take part, to take the band further. I want people to feel at home in this band and feel like we’re making a difference together.”

– Matt Mills, March 2025

Primus

Deathcore was once dismissed as a trend, so it’s ironic that it now has trends within itself. Downtempo, slamming and now blackened variants of the style have dominated its scene at various points, with many bands jumping ship.

Pittsburgh’s Signs of the Swarm aren’t just any band, though. They’re a once-a-generation beacon that radiates the sounds that surrounded them, preserving history by reframing it. On fourth LP Absolvere, they’re bleak without being blackened, smashing without being slam, and downtempo as a choice rather than a stylistic confine. And as many of their deathcore peers experiment with adding singing, often gruff in tone, they add a more ethereal style that soothes on “Dreaming Desecration” and “Death Whistle.”

The band contrasts that with some of the most brutal moments in their eight-year career, with riffs more punishing than pensive and a rhythm section that frames them in creatively cacophonic ways. Above it all, they’re utilizing vocalist David Simonich monstrous range in a much fuller capacity than on his debut, 2019’s Vital Deprivation.

That transitional album found the band experimenting to re-find their footing, which here lands on solid ground through the addition of guitarist Jeff Russo, a former bandmate of Simonich’s fin Improvidence. The proof is in the placing, with Absolvere landing at #15 on “Current Hard Music Albums,” #21 on “Top New Artist Albums” and #139 on “Heatseekers.”

Behind the cohesive crusher is drummer-turned-bassist-turned-drummer Bobby Crow, who acted as de facto producer, arranging the riffs written across Skype to make the songs more than the sum of their parts.

This gave Simonich a lofty platform from which to roar about the real (loved ones struggling with addiction, submitting one’s self wholly to art despite negativity swirling about) and the surreal; he or his characters beg for the release of death only to be denied. “Nameless” centers around a character collecting souls marked by death to receive its blessing, while “Blood Seal” follows a ritual to summon it. “Dreaming Desecration” and “Hollow Prison” are two sides of the same coin. When one finds themselves trapped in a meaningless existence, they can either attempt to escape through murderous hallucinations or succumb to the grave, respectively.

“Death Whistle” is the penultimate song, closing the album and the writing sessions for Absolvere with a tale concluding in sweet release. The piercing screech of the titular whistle contrasts with a subtle serenade.

Indeed, sometimes contrast can be a perfect complement, but more often that effect is achieved when paired with something more in-line. So it is when Ben Duerr (Shadow of Intent) and Alex Erian (Despised Icon) join the band for growls and shouts, where Signs of the Swarm filter their guests’ bands through their own sound. Instead of taking away from their identity, it expands it.

They’re steadily expanding their global reach, too. In the few short months since Absolvere’s release, Signs of the Swarm have toured with the likes of Fit for an Autopsy, Born of Osiris and Shadow of Intent. Forthcoming domination campaigns of Europe and Australia will be added to their tenure with Aborted, Lorna Shore, Brand of Sacrifice and more. Forget the signs, the swarm is already here, and it’s growing larger and louder every day.

Behemoth

TOUR BOOKING CONTACTS:

DARK FUNERAL (Europe excl SE/NO/FI/DK)
📧thorsten.harm@napalm-events.com
📧 ben.ward@napalm-events.com
🌐 www.napalm-events.com

Sound Talent Group (North America)
📧 eric@soundtalentgroup.com
🌐 www.soundtalentgroup.com

Live Nation (Sweden, Norway, Finland & Denmark)
📧 christian.maatta@livenation.se
🌐 www.livenation.se

A JOURNEY THROUGH DARKNESS

1993 marked the unholy inception, when Lord Ahriman and Blackmoon [1993–1996] founded what would become one of the most iconic and intense forces in Black Metal: Dark Funeral. The band’s legendary, self-financed debut EP was recorded at Dan Swanö's Unisound Studio in January 1994 and unleashed upon an unsuspecting world on May 4th that year. The black flame was lit — and it has burned ever brighter since.

Over the decades, Dark Funeral has released a series of now-classic albums, survived multiple lineup changes, and taken their infernal message to over 45 countries, sharing the stage with bands such as Dimmu Borgir, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, and Immortal.

The 2001 album "Diabolis Interium" was nominated for Best Metal Album at P3 Guld, and in 2002 the band made history by becoming the first foreign metal act to play in Singapore in over a decade.

Their highly praised live album, "De Profundis Clamavi ad Te Domine", cemented their reputation as a devastating live force. Then came 2005’s "Attera Totus Sanctus", produced by Daniel Bergstrand and Örjan Örnkloo, an album that stormed the Swedish metal charts at #3 and marked a new peak in intensity and precision.

Two official DVDs, "Attera Orbis Terrarum – Part I & II", followed, showcasing ferocious performances from Europe and South America — the latter capturing the insane energy of some of their most rabid fans.

In 2009, the band returned with the monumental "Angelus Exuro pro Eternus", recorded with Peter Tägtgren at Abyss Studio. The video for the track "My Funeral", filmed in an abandoned mental hospital, caused such a stir that MySpace banned it — while YouTube views skyrocketed.
THE MODERN ERA OF DARKNESS

2016’s "Where Shadows Forever Reign", with artwork by Necrolord, introduced Heljarmadr on vocals and signaled a triumphant return to their roots — a chilling blend of atmosphere and brutality that earned awards from Swedish P3 Guld and German Metal Hammer.

In 2018, Lord Ahriman was honored with SKAP’s Metal Award, praised for his mastery of dark moods and for creating music that “sends shivers down the spine.”

Now entering their third decade, Dark Funeral have delivered what is arguably their most ambitious and aggressive album yet: "We Are The Apocalypse". A new era, a new inferno. Produced once again by Daniel Bergstrand, the album brings forth a sound that is simultaneously more expansive and more unrelenting than ever before — a true testament to Lord Ahriman’s vision and commitment to the genre.
THE CRUSADE CONTINUES

As 2025 unfolds, Dark Funeral remains on the frontlines, touring globally in support of their latest releases. Witness the darkness live — do not miss them when they unleash their ritual in your city.
CURRENT LINE-UP:

LORD AHRIMAN – Guitars / Founder
HELJARMADR – Vocals
CHAQ MOL – Guitars
JALOMAAH – Drums
ADRA MELEK – Bass

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Katatonia

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