Katatonia - Tonight's Decision (1999)^{Release ID: 9724}

Probably the least interesting of Katatonia's wonderful discography. Some nice moments, but just a bit bland to compete with the surrounding classics.

As concerning as it had been for a large portion of their fans, Katatonia’s Discouraged Ones album in 1998 had made it clear that the band had no intention of producing Brave Murder Day style death doom metal any longer. What was so surprising at the time is just how successful the Swedes’ first attempt at applying their depressive shades of gloominess to alternative rock was. Many of those anxious fans, myself included, eventually came to realise that most elements that made their earlier material so affecting were still entirely present in the new direction, only given a lighter and more accessible veneer. Peaceville Records clearly saw the potential of the evolution, as they quickly offered the band a boldly confident five album deal. Twelve months later and Katatonia once again entered Sunlight studio, albeit with a couple of considerable line-up changes. Firstly, Micke Oretoft’s short stay with the band came to an end, with guitarist Fred Norrman taking on bass duties for the recording. Secondly, and perhaps more significantly, Dan Swanö came on board as a session guest drummer, allowing Jonas Renkse to focus entirely on vocals. As with Discouraged Ones, Mikael Åkerfeldt assisted in the studio, helping to produce the vocals. With Anders Nyström still handling guitars and keyboards, it seemed all was in readiness for yet another brilliant Katatonia recording.

Did the resulting Tonight’s Decision live up to that prediction? I have to say that the answer for me is no. On paper, Tonight’s Decision would not appear all that far removed from Discouraged Ones. Just as the predecessor could be described as melancholic, doom-tinged, alternative rock with depressive vocals and a generally gloomy atmosphere, the same could easily be said for its follow-up. Yet despite being shaped utilising the same base ingredients, the resulting album is nowhere near as stirring or memorable. The reasons for this are twofold in my opinion, with the first being the band’s slight transition towards a more modern sound. Katatonia would eventually make great use of modern alternative riffs and production on their releases, but here their presence merely dilutes the tone, with occasionally disconcerting consequences. Going back and listening to fantastic tracks like I Break, Relention and Saw You Drown on Discouraged Ones makes it clearly apparent that their simplicity and focus ultimately works in their favour. The listener is immediately pulled in and all the elements work together towards a single goal of emotional efficacy, which is not something I can say for the inconsistent material found on Tonight’s Decision. Secondly, after praising Renkse’s switch to clean vocals for the last album, the increased complexity and emphasis unfortunately reveals the limitations of his ability (he certainly improved from this point onwards however).

There are fantastic sections spread throughout the near hour-long running time, most of which can be attributed to Nyström and Norrman. While the duo ventured further towards grungy alternative with some of their riffs, they still pull off gorgeous and memorable melodies to keep the listener entranced. Opener For My Demons is the highlight of the album, but other tracks like I Am Nothing, Right Into the Bliss and closer Black Session all have much to offer any fan of Katatonia’s later albums. Unfortunately, there are too many blah moments and even some painful ones in the likes of No Good Can Come of This, Strained and Nightmares by the Sea, the latter of which is a Jeff Buckley cover, for Tonight’s Decision to match the classic releases of this awesome band. Three and a half stars seems fitting to me as I still listen to this album from time to time, but there’s no doubt for me that it’s the least essential in their discography. As a final note, Tonight’s Decision is the first Katatonia release to contain artwork by the incredibly productive and talented Travis Smith. I think this cover, along with the one he produced for Opeth’s Still Life, really made a name for him, with his work now adorning literally hundreds of metal albums. It’s a relationship that continues to this day and a case of cover art perfectly capturing the spirit of the music contained within.