"Dance of December Souls", Katatonia's first studio album, was not the first Katatonia album that I listened to - that was 2001's Gothic rock breakthrough "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" - and I would actually not recommend it as the first Katatonia album to try if you want to get into the band as a whole. This is because of how much Katatonia changed their style after this album. They kept the dark, gothic feel, but otherwise, even their following prog/death/doom release "Brave Murder Day" was radically different, and thus this album is not representative of Katatonia as a whole. But what about this album's quality?
Well, for what it is, it's pretty damn good. You really have to be in the mood for this brooding, dark, heavyish stuff, but if you catch this album in a mood like such, you can really feel the atmosphere that lasts throughout this album. Even if you aren't in such a mood, some - albeit, not all - tracks on this album stand out and may have you coming back to them.
TRACK-BY-TRACK FOLLOWS
The intro track, "Seven Dreaming Souls", serves only as an eerie, creepy intro, not only to this album but also fittingly to Katatonia's career as a, by nature, dark band. I can't rate "Seven Dreaming Souls" but it does effectively lead into the first real song, "Gateways of Bereavement". "Gateways of Bereavement" starts out with a very dark, doomy feel. You hear that Jonas Renkse's death vocals are harsh and are different from his friend Mikael Akerfeldt's lower, guttural vocals. You soon hear that Katatonia have quite a thing for instrumental/guitar melodies - they would keep this focus on instrumental melodies throughout their career even when they shifted to cleanly sung melodic vocals. The melodies in "Gateways of Bereavement" fit the dark atmosphere well, as per Katatonia's specialty. I don't find myself going back to this song outside of listening to this whole album, but it establishes the sound of the album, and fits in the album nicely. 8/10
After "Gateways of Bereavement" is "In Silence Enshrined". This song has a similar feel to the preceding track, although the main guitar melody is somewhat more memorable. At this point, I note that the use of synths - guest-played by none other than Swedish mega-producer/multi-instrumentalist Dan Swano - on this album has been very effective so far. At about 4:05 the tempo picks up a bit for a melody. The song then returns to the main melody. The first two songs have had a great doomy, dark feel so far. 8/10
Following "In Silence Enshrined" is perhaps the greatest from "Dance of December Souls", "Without God". This song is powerful. The lyrics and their delivery fit the atmosphere of the instruments very well. This is also the first song on the album that I find myself easily nodding my head to; it's somewhat more up-tempo, but don't get me wrong, this is still very dark and doomy. The chorus - "I raise my fist to the sky..." - is exceptionally powerful, and delivers the message - "God is dead..."- more than effectively. A sad-sounding clean interlude follows the first chorus before the song comes back to being heavy. The song progresses until it reaches the final chorus, in which Jonas Renkse raises his death vocals to a chill-inducing, raspy shriek, to deliver the final resonating lines: "Your fucking god is dead and shall forever be." This is probably my favorite song on this album. The first two songs effectively gave a sense of doom and despair, but it isn't until "Without God" that this album really gave me direct feelings of such because of the power of its atmosphere. 9.25/10
After "Without God" is the calm interlude track "Elohim Meth". Despite being such, "Elohim Meth" builds up to a point and keeps the feeling of despair that this album has held so far. Although this is an instrumental interlude track, it still effectively conveys the mood of this album and is actually, when it comes down to it, nice to listen to. Because of what it is, though, I won't rate this one.
"Velvet Thorns (of Drynwhyl)" is after "Elohim Meth". This is the longest track on the album, at an Opeth-like 13:58. Shortly after 1:50 is a nice melody, again, the sort which Katatonia have a thing for. At about 3:43, the tempo ups a bit, and the vocals, similarly to the final chorus in "Without God", raise to a frantic, raspy shriek. At about 5:20 the tempo slows once more to help the doomy atmosphere. There are some nice melodies in this song, but I have to feel like it kind of lacks great, memorable moments like on "Without God" and the following "Tomb of Insomnia", until an eerie clean part/melody around 11:40, which goes dynamically between clean and distorted until the track comes to an eerie, quiet end. 8/10
Following "Velvet Thorns" is my 2nd favorite on the album, "Tomb of Insomnia". This is the 2nd longest track, at 13:10. Like "Without God", "Tomb of Insomnia" is mostly slightly more up-tempo and likely to get heads nodding, while keeping a very doomy and dark atmosphere. That said, there are still slower parts that are used effectively. At 3:42 the song enters the first of multiple clean guitar breaks; these clean breaks are actually my favorite parts of the song, with the final clean break being my favorite out of the 13 minutes. The clean parts effectively transition to the heavy parts, but are also just nice to listen to. The final clean part starts at 9:05 and builds up quickly to a beautiful synth melody. About a minute later the song returns to heaviness. The song's final melody is pretty memorable in itself, and gives the song a strong sense of coming to a conclusion, after 13 minutes. 8.75/10
The closing track on "Dance of December Souls" is the instrumental "Dancing December". The melodies in this song are memorable and, as always, have a dark feeling to them. The keyboards in this song add very nicely. The song - and album - come to a somewhat abrupt but somewhat fitting end. Unlike most instrumental interludes I feel I can rate this for what it is: 8.25/10.
END TRACK-BY-TRACK
Katatonia show here that they really have a thing for nice, dark instrumental melodies. This album really has a dark feeling of doom (...dark feeling of doom...? uh... anyway...) and despair throughout, and that's really what it's best for. Katatonia may have abandoned this specific style of black/death-doom after this album, but the band left us with a more-than-solid album that would hold its own within that genre, which other bands like Anathema and Paradise Lost also started with but moved away from. I think you really have to be in the mood to listen to this sub-genre to fully appreciate this album, but it's good for what it is. This is more of an album that you will listen to as a whole for the experience, than one that holds singles that you will keep going back to. Anyway, while you can see how the band evolved from this sound, this also isn't much like anything else Katatonia have ever and probably will ever again come out with, but that's not a bad thing at all; just, if you are a first-time listener, do not expect the rest of Katatonia's discography to hold much from this album besides the bleak, melancholy feelings. 8/10
TL;DR:
Rating: 8/10
Highlights: Without God, Tomb of Insomnia
Recommend: Try if you like black/death-doom metal and don't expect it to sound like any Katatonia you otherwise know
