Katatonia graced our zine in 2023 only as part of an effort to acknowledge the metal mainstream a bit better. Thus, Sky Void of Stars fell victim to our first lamestream n00b listing, and the RMR crew wasn’t quite impressed. Meaning, if you’re not a fan, you’re looking at things differently. Not that our cold, hard gaze at one of metal’s most established bands changed any diehard fans’ pre-established convictions. But given the hype and roar surrounding the act, one would expect bigger and better sounds to hit our turntables.
So, expectations aren’t sky-high for Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State to say the least. The bumbling album title already won’t bode too well. And the violent breakup between Renske and Nyström may well add another layer of trepidation with an uncertain outcome. Nomen est omen? Break out them energy pills!
One thing is certain, Nightmares here clinks itself safely into the end of the tracklist of its predecessor. If anything, the band’s progressive urges are a tad more on the backburner, whereas Gothic Metal gained more weight than is good for the record itself. And that’s about as far as the melancholy goes this time. The record gorges with large, quietly constructed soundscapes that this crew already explored previously. If anything, this piece sails closer to their 2016 piece, The Fall of Hearts, than Sky Void of Stars ever could. Now, the RMR scouts heard discreet whispers that with Nyström gone, Renske would push his rougher fantasies farther than before. But there’s not much testament to that rumor, either.
The opener – Thrice – indeed sports some refreshing bite at first, injected with some unexpected groove to boot. But the track loses itself somewhere in the woods later. And it will remain the only track with some juice to speak of. In truth, the review desk didn’t find a lot of astute metal madness in here, far from it. Wind of no Change sports some subdued yet deliciously heavy stomp that, if done right, may sound great on stage. The rest of it all comes down to some mix of relatively sturdy Gothic Metal mingled with weak-tea prog.
And speaking of which, the Progressive Rock1 sounds like some offshoot of modern-day Leprous. A finding that was less surprising once we heard that Adam Noble (mixing) and Robin Schmidt (mastering) played an important engineering role in the production. Both have worked on late Leprous pieces, and the influence shows in the somewhat meandering ebb and flow Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State is made of.
And that’s a pity. You see, the song structures are delicate and – at the same time – well chiseled. The riffing, the frequent bridges, the solos are often frugal but expertly executed. And yet again, the undead Ghost ov Solberg quietly haunts the soundscape at any corner of the record. Because, as Nightmares progresses, the tendency to weave and wave endlessly increases to no end. I daresay, a load of added juice and ruthless removal of fatty matter would have jacked up crispiness to new heights. Instead, the slow-moving mushiness culminated in Efter Solen. A track sounding like a mix of Rioghan and Leprous, with Ljungblut pulling his darkened strings in the background.
In the end, Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State didn’t hit us with some thunderblast of prog-filled melancholy. Instead, the record delivers a little something for everyone. It kinda sounds as if the artist wasn’t in the clear where this was going, finally, and made – music for the masses. A piece of mainstream with well-written chunks taken from rock, metal, and – in a way – some shadows where Dark Folk dwells. A production with just enough edge to avoid losing (most of) the metalheads and at the same time ensuring that the softer souls won’t just leave in disgust.
Record Rating: 6/10 | Label: Napalm Fucking Records | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 6 June 2025
- We’re loath to call that metal.-↩