Katatonia are now seasoned veterans of Sweden’s metal scene. Having started out in the early nineties as a doom metal band, over time the band has moved to a more elaborate sound that has given them widespread acclaim. Now the band has finally confirmed an Australian tour, as part of the No Sleep Til Festival. Drummer Daniel Liljekvist is only too happy to have been given the opportunity that this festival offers. “We’ve never been to Australia before.  We’ve been talking about it for years now but finally we’re coming. I have only positive things to say about music festivals. It doesn’t matter what band you are, it’s always going to be a big show with the crowd that comes to a festival.”

The band is currently in the middle of a European tour, but they aren’t resting on their laurels. After completing the No Sleep Til Festival tour, they’ll be playing the Mood Indigo Festival in Mumbai. Liljekvist is perplexed by this, as India is not known for its metal scene, let alone the fact that Mood Ingo is not a traditional music festival, but rather a cultural event. “It’s a little bit strange to me. I didn’t believe that India had a scene for metal at all. Guess I was wrong.”

Katatonia’s latest release, Night Is The New Day, has been hailed as the band’s strongest release to date. Featuring the band’s trademark ominous riffing and Robert Smith-esque vocals of Jonas Renske, the band has been exploring ambient synths and sequencing reminiscent of Massive Attack. Liljekvist is not sure how he would explain the band’s sound to someone new to Katatonia. “It’s hard to describe our sound now. I think we’re doing a lot more keyboards and clean vocals these days. We’re also exploring how to incorporate electronics with metal. The sound needs to be sweet and crisp and very dark.”

The band’s evolving sound is largely down to Renske and guitarist Anders Nystrom. Liljekvist has mentioned that with only three official band members (Katatonia use touring guitarist Per Erikkson and touring bassist Niklas Sandin) Renske and Nystrom tend to dominate the recording sessions. “We’ve been working with different people in studios. We messed up on a couple of albums in the past.  We keep the mixing and mastering to the people that handle those things.  Jonas and Anders are the guys that write the music and know how it should sound, they’re always in the studio working.”

Catch Katatonia as part of the No Sleep Til Festival at Arena Joondalup on the 12^th of December!