Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Katatonia Sanctitude Company: Kscope Release: 2015 Genre: Heavy, prog Reviewer: Greg Watson

Lack of aggressive instrumentation

In support of "Dethroned and Uncrowned", a reworking of the tracks from 2012's "Dead End Kings", post rockers Katatonia have released a live album called "Sanctitude".

Taken from the show at London's Union Chapel during their "Unplugged & Reworked" tour in 2014. This live album features a hefty dose of the tracks off of "Dethroned" as well as reworked tracks from the bands prior albums. Featuring guest musician Bruce Soord (vocalist and guitarist for Pineapple Thief) and guest vocalist Silje Wergeland (vocalist for The Gathering), the album provides classic material as well as more modern material in a very raw, stripped down form. While the band performs admirably, there are a few things that don't sit well with me about this. First off, the interaction between Jonas and the fans basically consists of Jonas saying "Thank you so much" and maybe a few other choice words. The performance seems robotic--where is the emotion, where is the interaction with your fans? Secondly, the stripped down material gets old really quick. I like the sleeker sound that Katatonia have been headed towards lately, bordering on the prog side and taking a page from Opeth, but in a live setting, it's almost like a lullaby. The lack of aggressive instrumentation, or as aggressive as Katatonia is nowadays really made the album feel very stiff and hard to really enjoy.

This one is definitely for the Katatonia fanatics or those friends and family who want metal without all the heaviness and anger.