The Fall Of Hearts disarmingly begins with a cymbal crash, which at this point in Katatonia's career is unexpected. As this Stockholm band has moved further and further away from immediacy over the last decade, the group has de-clawed itself in much the way Opeth has, even if Katatonia hasn't entirely explored Opeth's gentle and giant places. Roughly speaking, Katatonia’s discography can be divided into thirds -- the doom/death of Dance Of December Souls and Brave Murder Day; the grey, post-punk inflected Euro rock from Discouraged Ones through to The Great Cold Distance; and the proggier, less conventional moroseness from Night Is The New Day to the present -- and given the attributes of all three of these eras, it’s not controversial to say that Katatonia’s most revered and dynamic era is probably the second one (especially the untouchable triumvirate of Tonight’s Decision, Last Fair Deal Gone Down and Viva Emptiness), even if Brave Murder Day remains shrouded in its own lore. Which should tell all of us, band included, something about Katatonia’s enduring appeal and eventual legacy.

But, then again, maybe that’s just the opinion of a biased cohort: 15 years later is when the nostalgia ripens to perfection, right? And to Katatonia’s credit, despite the pining for another Last Fair Deal from a great deal of its fanbase, the band certainly hasn’t remained stagnant and has continuously moved forward with its own sense of grace. Somewhat surprisingly given that Katatonia is now 25 years into its career, a spot where the lukewarm water feels just fine for most bands, Katatonia guitar player Anders Nyström says of the group, “Currently with this five-piece, there's nothing hold back or limiting Katatonia's potential, neither in the studio nor on stage … our ever growing ambition may now begin to manifest our vision.” Potential, growing ambition, manifesting of vision – those are usually the words of groups writing their fire-on-fire debuts. Respect is shown Katatonia’s way for still having so much of this kind of drive (or finding it once again, perhaps?).
 
That said, as has been the case since Night Is The New Day, that kind of vigor doesn’t entirely translate on to record (then again, for those of us craving some extra teeth, we do indeed have the back catalogue -- and the immensity that is Bloodbath -- to spin at our leisure). But despite this lack of vigor, when we listen to The Fall Of Hearts objectively on its own merits, it becomes clear that the Katatonia of 2016 and the Katatonia that defines Katatonia for so many of us are operating on different spheres entirely: Katatonia ’16 is a matured, sophisticated entity, one that eminently and continuously reflects the ambition Nyström speaks of. As The Fall Of Hearts does its work, we realize that this is a very good record.

In that vein, lead single “Serein” is among the finest songs Katatonia has written as the track is potent, memorable and soaring, its true spiritual home being 2003 career milestone Viva Emptiness. “Last Song Before The Fade” is equally affecting, the track wholly meriting its title through its strong riff that is consistently juxtaposed with the grace of its piano, mellotron and fog-encased passages. “The Night Subscriber” might be the best Damnation-era track Opeth never wrote, though its Meshuggah passages that menace halfway through bring welcome grit and sandpaper, even if this is the smoothest sandpaper you’ve ever heard.  And then there’s final track “Passer”, the song beginning with extended soloing that gives way to a simplistic piano line that projects nothing but falling rain, as Katatonia is so wont to.

As The Fall Of Hearts’ rain truly soaks in, a couple of important things become clear and apparent. First, that Katatonia sounds focused and extremely ambitious here, and that is very much to be commended given the group’s almost three-decade run. And second, though The Fall Of Hearts will never capture the time and place and context and circumstances of “For My Demons”, “Dispossession” and “Evidence”, this current sleek version of Katatonia still makes tonight’s decisions, even when those decisions are sometimes in different forms.