Eagle-eyed viewers will have already seen a Velvet Thunder news story last week about Katatonia & Solstafir heading out together in January and February 2022 on the “Twilight Burials” tour, a 31-date co-headline tour of the UK and Europe. This follow-up fills in the details from Katatonia’s point of view!
The coming together of these two revered masters of melancholy seems only natural. For over a quarter of a century both artists have favoured the emotional connection that their music brings over all else. Theirs is a world where ‘heavy’ is a force of nature; where progress comes from within, outwardly changing their musical output into something almost unrecognisable from the extreme metal that carried it in the early days.
This immense tour will see Katatonia be able to take their most recent studio album, CITY BURIALS, out on the road as, their touring plans like many bands had to be put on hold.
Jonas Renkse comments “With over a year now since we played our last live show, it’s an understatement that we want to get back on stage. Add to that an album released during the pandemic with no ways to promote it through touring, it is with a good portion of hope we present you this European tour together with Iceland’s own Sólstafir. Even though a return to normality is joyous, why not celebrate it with some melancholy? This tour will bring a lush twilight shadow over Europe. Join it!”
TWILIGHT BURIALS – UK & EUROPE 2022
Tickets on sale Friday, 16th April @ 11am CEST: http://bit.ly/2aTR23t
21/01 – Tampere, Tullikamari
22/01 – Helsinki, Kulttuuritalo
23/01 – Tallinn, Helitehas
25/01 – Warsaw, Stodola
26/01 – Berlin, Huxleys
27/01 – Stuttgart, Longhorn
28/01 – Frankfurt, Batschkapp
29/01 – Prague, Roxy
30/01 – Vienna, Arena
01/02 – Budapest, Akvarium Klub
02/02 – Munich, Backstage Werk
03/02 – Zurich, Komplex 457
04/02 – Milan, Live Club
05/02 – Lyon, Ninkasi Kao
07/02 – Madrid, Kapital
08/02 – Barcelona, Apolo
09/02 – Toulouse, Metronum
11/02 – London, O2 Forum Kentish Town
12/02 – Manchester, O2 Ritz
13/02 – Bristol, SWX
14/02 – Glasgow, Garage
15/02 – Wolverhampton, KK’s Steelmill
17/02 – Luxembourg, Rockhal
18/02 – Haarlem, Patronaat
19/02 – Cologne, Essigfabrik
20/02 – Paris, Trianon
22/02 – Antwerp, Trix
23/02 – Hamburg, Gruenspan
24/02 – Copenhagen, Amager Bio
25/02 – Oslo, Rockefeller
26/02 – Stockholm, Fållan
[Tour artwork: Error! Design)
Formed in 1991 by Jonas Renkse & Anders Nyström, and transitioning from early pioneers of the rising black/death/doom movement to powerhouses of the progressive metallic rock genre, 2020 saw Katatonia present their eleventh studio opus, the poignant City Burials, to unanimous acclaim.
With a somewhat unforeseen global event transpiring and touring being made all but impossible for artists internationally, just as Katatonia were releasing City Burials, the band still wanted to perform for their fans and so conducted a more intimate “lockdown” show which was streamed live from Studio Grondahl, Stockholm on May 9th, this show was released as Dead Air in late 2020 and gives fans a full 88-minute set containing 20 tracks from the band’s extensive and illustrious repertoire to date including a selection of fan favourites.
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Revered masters of melancholy for nearly 30 years, Katatonia have always pursued a profound emotional connection with their music and those who listen to it. Formed in Stockholm in 1991 by now vocalist Jonas Renkse and guitarist Anders Nyström, this most free-spirited of modern metal bands have taken a slow and steady but endless fascinating journey from primitive beginnings in the extreme metal underground to their current status as darlings of both the metal world and the progressive rock scene.
From early attempts to channel their sorrow like seminal 1993 debut Dance Of December Souls and its much lauded follow-up Brave Murder Day (1994) through to post-millennial masterworks like Last Fair Deal Gone Down (2001) and Viva Emptiness (2003), Katatonia’s ever-evolving sound and utterly unique atmospheric identity has cast its spell over generations of music fans, culminating in a recent run of flawless records and ever-more celebrated live performances that few modern bands could hope to match. Most recently, the Swedes’ tenth full-length album The Fall Of Hearts (2016) was universally acclaimed and seemed to herald a long-deserved surge of popularity and prominence: acknowledgement, perhaps, that Katatonia have clicked into yet another higher gear.
But for all the momentum generated by their story so far, the band surprised their legions of admirers by taking an unexpected break from Katatonia, following the conclusion of the last album’s tour cycle. Joyously, 2020 brings the news that they are not only back, but newly armed with arguably their finest album to date, the enormously vivid and powerful City Burials.
“After the whole tour cycle was over, we decided to have a little bit of a break,” explains Renkse. “It was the first time we’d ever done that with Katatonia. We’d been doing the band for such a long time we thought we might all focus on something else for a while, to see if we still have the drive and the hunger to do Katatonia. As it turned out, we all missed it very much. It’s been a good thing, because it really showed us that Katatonia is a very crucial part of our lives and we need to move forward with it.”
Katatonia are:
Jonas Renkse – vocals
Anders Nyström – guitar
Niklas Sandin – bass
Daniel Moilanen – drums
Roger Öjersson – guitar
