Katatonia at the O2 Ritz, Manchester

By Anya Baxter.

Swedish heavy metal band Katatonia brought darkness and frost to Manchester's Ritz, to be greeted by a crowd of excited fans as they stopped by on their joint tour with Icelandic post-metal group Solstafir.

Photo by Anya Baxter

Having earned the final slot of the night, Katatonia took to a dimly lit stage, beginning the set with "Austerity". They have a gothic sound, teetering on the edge of doom metal influences reminiscent of past albums, combining this with a melodic form of progressive rock.

Photo by Anya Baxter

Led by frontman Jonas Renkse the quintet performed tracks from their various twelve studio albums, including 2023 release, Sky Void of Stars. New songs such as "Birds" and "Opaline" were scattered amongst those dating back to 2003.

Photo by Anya Baxter

Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström is the other founding member, alongside Renkse, and the pair have added other musicians throughout the years, allowing the band to see multiple changes in lineup. A notable addition was Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt for a time. The current lineup has been around for some time now, and the audience were thrilled to see each member perform.

Photo by Anya Baxter

"Old Hearts Fall" and "Untrodden" ended the main portion of the set, before the band returned for an encore of "July" and the oldest song of the night "Evidence", featured on the 2003 album Viva Emptiness.