Katatonia (SE)

About

Also known as: 카타토니아

Formed in Stockholm in 1991 by Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström, Katatonia started as a two piece death metal studio project before evolving into one of the most distinctive acts in heavy music. Their early records leaned into black and doom metal, but a turning point came when Renkse's vocal cords gave out, pushing the band toward clean, melodic singing and eventually a more progressive rock sound. That willingness to reinvent themselves is basically the Katatonia story: each album cycle, they shifted a little further from their extreme metal roots, picking up atmospheric and progressive textures along the way. Over more than three decades and thirteen studio albums, the band has put out records ranging from the death doom of Brave Murder Day to the brooding progressive rock of The Great Cold Distance and Night Is the New Day. Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth stepped in to handle screamed vocals during the mid 90s when Renkse could no longer do them, which gives you a sense of the circles they moved in. Their most recent album, Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State, arrived in 2025, proof that Renkse and Nyström are still very much at it.