By the time this album
came out I had almost given up on Katatonia. The previous few albums
weren't doing much for me and I checked this one out on a random whim.
Needless
to say my interest was quickly rekindled with Dead End Kings. The band
found new life on this one and managed to create a collection of songs
that not only got me interested in the band again - but after listening
to the album for a good decade now - this may be their finest moment.
My
goodness where do you start with this thing? This album is venerable,
fragile, powerful, depressed, and wounded all at the same time.
Most
of the deep emotions from the album come from Jonas' voice. He really
figured something out with this album. He sounds so incredibly venerable
throughout the album, especially on The Racing Heart. That song in
particular has become a top five song from the band for me.
While
the vocals are the star of the show here, the music does not slack
either. The guitars are well produced and manage to have a terrific
balance between clean and distorted sections. It creates dynamic songs
that compliment the vocals exceedingly well. The quiet of songs like
Undo You and The One You Are Looking for is Not Here create quite the
contrast to heavy hitters such as Buildings.
Like most good
albums its difficult to fully describe why I adore Dead End Kings. In
truth this album simply has more character to it than the past few
releases from Katatonia, and by doing so they have elevated their sound
to arguably the highest point of their long and sordid career.
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