Katatonia Singer Jonas Renkse Teams Up with Bruce Soord for “Frozen North”

“Too heavy” is not a complaint often leveled at Swedish alt-doomsters Katatonia, whose latter day work has pushed to the lighter reaches of the metal spectrum. I say that as someone who thinks the band’s past two albums have been their best yet.

But in case you ever wanted to hear what an even mellower version of Katatonia might sound like — without heavily distorted guitars or other metal hallmarks present — now’s your chance, in the form of Katatonia singer Jonas Renkse’s collaboration with Bruce Soord (The Pineapple Thief). Soord is the one calling the shots here, but Renkse’s smooth tenor is a nice compliment to Soord’s chilled out soundscapes. The music occasionally veers towards heavy via industrialized backbeats and almost sorta kinda heavy guitars, but mostly lives in a fairly laid back realm. It’s the kind of music that would make a fine soundtrack to a long drive through the unending darkness of night.

Check out “Frozen North” from the album Wisdom of Crowds below, out now through Kscope (order here).

Bruce Soord with Jonas Renkse – Frozen North (from Wisdom of Crowds) from Kscope on Vimeo.