Lifting Shadows Off A Dream
Jonas Renkse is forging new landscapes in Katatonia’s gloom-laden prog metal world. Following the departure of founding guitarist Anders Nyström, a new-look line-up has released Nightmares As Extensions Of The Waking State. The vocalist and songwriter reveals the vivid dream that inspired the album and his plans for the new incarnation of the band.
Words: Phil Weller
Jonas Renkse is proudly pacing his own path with a new(ish) Katatonia.
Images: Terhi Ylimäinen
“I’m happy that we got to live this dream that we had together. What we’ve created together can’t be taken away from us, but some relationships go on for a long time, and maybe you don’t realise that you’ve grown apart.”
A lot has happened since Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström began writing the first Katatonia music – a raw and melancholic take on death/doom metal – in 1991. The vocalist and guitarist have evolved in more ways than one, quickly outgrowing their studio-only two-piece origins to become one of Scandinavia’s contemporary metal greats while sonically maturing far beyond those original borderlines.
Their sonic palette made space for more progressive peaks and tender lulls. Renkse’s growled vocals were left behind and a greater level of sophistication was woven into their music, with two career-redefining releases, Dead End Kings (2012) and The Fall Of Hearts (2016), major points in their evolution.
Then shockwaves were made in March when Katatonia released an official and to-the-point statement announcing Nyström’s departure after 34 years and 12 albums. It was, the statement ascertained, “a decision not taken lightly, but for everyone to thrive and move forward with their own creative preferences.” But the guitarist, left to tread his own path, soon indicated that the split was less than amicable.