katatonia: hello to hallow’s

Maybe it’s the change in seasons or maybe I’m just feeling particularly dour lately, but for the last week or so all I’ve wanted to listen to is metal. I’ve been kind of a passive fan for a while — my tastes skew black and Satanic, but short of keeping tabs on the stuff that comes out on Candlelight or Relapse, I really only devote a few days every month to serious metal listening. And then I discovered Katatonia’s Brave Murder Day.

This is the kind of record that drives me to make sweeping clichéd proclamations like, “It’s the metal record for people who don’t like metal records!” The first time I played it, I was convinced I’d accidentally cued up the wrong album on my iPod. Instead of the “OH MY GOD WE’RE GOING TO HELL” riffing that powers Emperor and Mayhem records, Brave Murder Day opens at a slow gallop. It sounded more like Murder City Devils or even Swervedriver, a pattern of steadily-clawing guitars that gives way to a kind of shoegazy haze. Soon after, Opeth’s Mikael Akerfeldt starts growling, and the record’s infernal nature is revealed in full.

The vocals are probably what’s going to break most casual listeners — they’re grunted and gurgled, sub-tonal, straight-up fake-demon-possession. It may seem a little comical, but over time it becomes strangely bewitching. It’s actually the vocals that make the record work for me — the juxtaposition of something so over-the-top horrific with guitar patterns that are clean and precise.

Another thing that makes Brave Murder Day so compelling is the way it keeps changing. After the back-to-back assault of “Brave” and “Murder” we get “Day,” a slow, ethereal ballad with low, aching vocals. As a song it doesn’t completely work, but the radical downshift in tone is so alarming that it gives the record added heft and dimension.

Brave Murder Day is flawed — it doesn’t change much rhythmically or sonically, but there’s something about that enforced monotony, that same steady chug of guitars, that I find completely hypnotic.

Disappointingly, the rest of the band’s work seems to explore further the guitar-goth sound they were fiddling with on “Day.” I haven’t quite cottoned to any of the later records the way I have to Brave Murder Day, though I’ll keep trying for a bit to see what happens. For right now, though, I know what record is going to be on repeat in my iPod straight on through Halloween.

You should try: “Brave” or “At Last” to see if this is for you.