With Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State, Katatonia return to blur the boundaries between consciousness and the subconscious. As the title suggests, this new album is a sonic journey through nightmare-like reflections of everyday life, where emotional decay meets existential melancholy.
Sonically, the band remains faithful to the post-progressive doom sound they’ve refined in recent years, though this time with a slightly more ethereal, dreamlike atmosphere. The guitars are more atmospheric and less heavy but still carry the necessary weight. Jonas Renkse’s voice is as hauntingly expressive as ever, guiding the songs with melancholic grace—a trademark of the band’s identity.
Nightmares… is not an album for casual listening. It’s full of subtle nuances, with compositions that deconstruct and rebuild within minutes, like watching a dream shift into a nightmare and then back again. The lyrics are poetic, ambiguous, and deeply personal—reminding us that Katatonia create not to impress, but to move the soul.
Standout tracks include “Disintegration of Presence”, with its hypnotic buildup, the darker and more rhythmic “Lucid in Regression”, and “Sleepwalkers”, a piece that encapsulates the album’s philosophy in just a few minutes of music and silence.
The production is flawless—dark yet crystal clear, emphasizing contrasts between noise and calm, light and shadow. Every detail feels carefully crafted, as we’ve come to expect from Katatonia.
Conclusion: Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State is perhaps one of Katatonia’s most mature, profound, and existential works. It doesn’t offer instant gratification but instead asks for attention, emotion, and introspection. Another nightmare well worth experiencing—with eyes wide open.
Spyros Tribos
8/10
Tracklist:
1.Thrice
2.The Liquid Eye
3.Wind of No Change
4.Lilac
5.Temporal
6.Departure Trails
7.Warden
8.The Light Which I Bleed
9.Efter solen
10.In the Event Of
