The latest CD from the Swedish band Katatonia is Night Is The New Day, which is getting great reviews and is destined to appear on many best of 2009 lists. I caught up with the band’s guitarist Anders Nyström, who is also in Bloodbath along with some of his Katatonia bandmates and members of Opeth. He gives the scoop on the new CD, the early days of Katatonia, the band’s upcoming tour plans, and if his former band Diabolical Masquerade will get back together.


Chad Bowar: How has the band’s sound progressed/evolved from The Great Cold Distance to Night Is The New Day?
Anders Nyström: Well, we definitely aimed to tear down a few walls on what people or even ourselves thought couldn't be done. Musically, I still think the direction takes off from where we left with The Great Cold Distance, but emphasizes on a lot more depth and atmosphere as cornerstones. The sound picture is therefore bigger, and there's a lot more stuff going on in the background. The album feels more dynamic and ranges from brutally heavy to swirling soft, not only between parts in one and the same song, but also from song to song.

It feels like a more progressive album as we're definitely not stranded at the same spot. We have a couple of songs that are a bit different like “Idle Blood” that takes on a more ‘70s approach with acoustic guitars, Fender Rhodes and mellotrone etc., and we have “Nephilim” which can be seen as a heavy doom metal tune. There's a few songs that reach fully into the electronic sound picture of our “Unfurl” sound that people came to love, and there's last but not least a few tracks that are heavier than ever bearing the Katatonia trademark.

This album holds a lot of more variation, but within the walls of what is to be considered Katatonia, of course.

Was your songwriting and recording process any different than usual?
I was confident we were onto something exceptional once the pre-production demos were done. Before that, we'd been wandering back and forth not knowing if we were on the right path and if we'd be able to outdo ourselves. This search and journey took its time, but we knew we had made it when songs were written pretty much by themselves. You know, things fell into place, the magic came back and everything was exciting again, which are essential feelings necessary to carry on. We had to kick our own asses a lot harder to find the motivation and set the sails and head out on unknown murky waters and drift off.

I think we've reached the level of experience where we can allow ourselves to record our most heartfelt and professional performances, and each time we're in the studio to push the musicianship up a notch. I think that's natural. It would be sad if it was the other way around. I'd say this time we were able to go where we haven't gone before and enhance the whole listening experience. The electronics are foremost there to increase the atmosphere, they're not the center and front of the mix, but rather in the background. We're not turning into an all out electronic band.

How do you and Fredrik divide up the guitar parts?
It's from part to part. Depends on what you want to achieve with it. It's not like we divide lead and rhythm to each person and so on, it's more the feeling of the actual riff or melody and if you've a certain intent or vision by performing it, you should. Often things end up more accurate if one person puts down all layers of a part, especially when overdubbing.

What inspired the album title?
It was just something we'd been talking about not long after the last album came out, and we kinda reserved it as a potential album title. I think this album title sums up the underlying concept, although the songs themselves don't constitute a chapter each in a red thread. We've kept our last couple of album titles with a certain twist of irony. This one continues that tradition, but it still has a serious and deep undertone, so you can go off in two directions with the same title.

The tongue in cheek approach obviously deals with the the wordplay on what's "the new black" and how people choose shallow ways over anything else just to be in with the latest fashion, while the undertone of the title deals with a bleak outlook on the future, which is and will be very dark and ultimately the end of everything. That feeling is definitely what the album leaves you with when “Departer” has faded out. It leaves a void in a deep mental state.

What has the early response to the album been like?
It's been fantastic! Amazing reviews and positive feedback keep pouring in here on our negative work of art.

What are your expectations for the US release?
That our U.S. fans will really dig the album and appreciate our effort and time it took to make it available.

What are your upcoming tour plans? Will you be coming to North America?
We just came off a tour with Porcupine Tree in Scandinavia and a UK run with Paradise Lost. Right now, we're looking at maybe doing some one-offs. I think India is on the map actually and then in the Spring we'll embark on a full European headline tour followed up a North American headline tour. So keep your eyes open for the billing on those. When they're done it's already the summer festival season and we're getting booked on a heavy load of them already, so it's gonna get busy!

Where haven’t you played live that you’d still like to get to?
Japan, Australia, South America…

When you’re packing to go on tour, what are your van/tour bus essentials?
The laptop above anything else. Then I'll grab my cell phone, passport and wallet along with one's personal clothes. The rest you can get along the way.

How do you go about putting together a setlist when you have so much material to choose from?
That's the compromise. The setlist won't please everybody, not even ourselves, but we're trying. We kind of go with what songs we know go down well live, but also what the audiences and ourselves favorite songs are for the moment. When you have a really short stage time, let’s say as an opening act or at a festival there's only so many songs you can squeeze in there. On headline dates it's easier to deliver the goods.