Katatonia is a Swedish metal band formed in Stockholm in 1991 by Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström. Their earlier releases, such as Jhva Elohim Meth... the Revival and their debut album Dance Of December Souls, the bands music has Doom metal elements and influences with their progressive metal style, noting the overall bleak melancholy and despair sound.

In 1994, the band recorded an EP, For Funerals to Come, which was then released in 1995 through Avantgarde Music. All the songs on this EP later appeared on the Century Black release of their 1996 album, Brave Murder Day. After the release of the EP, Guillaume Le Hueche left the band, causing them to take a break throughout 1995 while struggling to form a permanent lineup. During this hiatus, Jonas formed a side project October Tide with Fredrik Norrman and recorded their debut album, Rain Without End. Jonas then decided to restart Katatonia and got Fredrik to join the band. For Brave Murder Day, Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt performed the harsh vocals as Renkse became unable to perform his harsh vocals properly. Åkerfeldt would return for the recording of their EP Sounds of Decay.

In 1997, Katatonia released the Saw You Drown EP marking a significant change in the band's style. From here on, their music would feature almost exclusively clean vocals as opposed to the distorted/harsh vocals of all previous works. This style was first heard on the song "Scarlet Heavens" which was originally featured on a split release with Primordial (released in 1996, recorded in 1994) but seen as something that the band "never intended to release," according to Jonas, as it wasn't their style at the time. In 1998, Discouraged Ones was released and would be the last release on which Jonas played drums, as well as the last release with Mikael Oretoft on bass. This album was reissued in 2007 with two bonus tracks, "Quiet World," and "Scarlet Heavens," both previously featured on the Saw You Drown EP.

The band's fourth full-length album Tonight's Decision was released August 31, 1999 through Peaceville and features drums by Dan Swanö of Nightingale. It was around this time that the band decided to stop using session members and finish a permanent lineup; Fred got his brother Mattias Norman to join as bassist and Daniel Liljekvist joined as drummer.

In 2000, the band recorded "Teargas," "Tonight's Music," and their fifth full-length album Last Fair Deal Gone Down, all released in 2001. The album's title comes from a song by delta blues singer, Robert Johnson. This album would be reissued in 2004 with the tracks "Sulfur," "March 4," and "Help Me Disappear" as bonus tracks.

In 2003, "Ghost Of The Sun" was released. This song would become a fan/live set favorite, frequently included in set lists. The album Viva Emptiness was then released. In 2004, Katatonia released Brave Yester Days, a double-disc release including all material from their EPs up to Saw You Drown, as well as select material from Brave Murder Day and Dance of December Souls and two tracks from a compilation album. They released a second compilation album, The Black Sessions, in 2005 documenting later releases and including a live DVD.

In 2006, the singles "My Twin," "Deliberation," and "July" were released. The album from which these singles come, The Great Cold Distance, was then released in the same year. It is placed at #8 on PopMatters' list of their Top Metal Albums of 2006. It was reissued on March 12, 2007 with two bonus tracks, "Displaced" and "Dissolving Bounds," and this release was mixed in 5.1 surround sound. A special Swedish edition of the album also exists - it came in a limited edition box with an exclusive poster, a set of postcards, and an enhanced video of "My Twin." Their appearance at the 2006 Summer Breeze Open Air festival in Dinkelsbühl, Germany was filmed and released as Live Consternation in 2007.

In 2009, Katatonia released their eighth full-length album, Night Is The New Day, an album that has received widespread critical acclaim. The band describes the material as, "our most varied, diverse and possibly strongest shit all together on one and the same album." The track "Day And Then The Shade" was the album's debut single with a music video directed by Lasse Hoile. The album sold more than 2,000 copies in its first week in the United States. A special digipak edition was released August 24, 2010 which contains the bonus track "Ashen," originally available on the Swedish original release. Peaceville reissued the album yet again in 2011 along with Last Fair Deal Gone Down in special editions with alternate artwork and bonus material from the now hard-to-find "Teargas" and "Tonight's Music" singles; Night Is the New Day would include bonus tracks from The Longest Year. In December of 2009, the Norrmans left the band. The band now has two support members, Per Eriksson and Niklas Sandin, who play guitars and bass respectively.

Katatonia went on their 20th anniversary "Last Fair Day Gone Night" Tour throughout Europe performing two sets for each show; the first set was Last Fair Deal Gone Down in its entirety and the second set consisted of select songs spanning their catalog. They went on their New Night Over Europe tour from March to April and New Night Over North America tour from September to October, playing "Departer" with Krister Linder to close their New York City show on September 10. The band is still touring for their 20th anniversary and have announced a North American leg of Last Fair Day Gone Night tour with four Canada and three US dates. They will also be performing in Lebanon for the first time at Rock Festival 2011 at the Roman Ampitheatre in Zouk Mikael on September 3 and headlining Spain's Madrid Is the Dark III festival on December 10, 2011.

Visit the band's official homepage at www.katatonia.com.

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