Anders Nyström criticizes the release of the new album

Artist: Katatonia | Photographer: Francesco Castaldo | Date: 10 October 2016 | Venue: Alcatraz | City: Milan

“Due to how things have been interpreted, speculated and even officially manipulated, here is a following to my last statement. I publish it here, because I feel that the current social media channels of Katatonia I am no longer my place.

Regarding the scenario on the “new against old” material of Katatonia Which was inflated as the main reason for my exit from the group, I did not say (and never said) that I wanted to return to the old sound and make a new album in that style with current training. Some people are too fast to project their hypotheses into a sort of pseudo-reality.

Listen, I always said that until i Katatonia They are a group that makes tour, which we should have included pieces of all our albums in the concert setlists, to honor our history. This is a nice gesture towards our fans. Furthermore, I certainly did not claim to base the setlist only on the old material. Obviously, most of the songs would always remain in line with the contemporary cycle, but i Katatonia They are doing a bad job in maintaining contact with their past.

Therefore, I even suggested an alternative idea to simply make an old school special set from time to time, or to make a spectacle of the 'An Evening with …' type, where the ladder would have been focused exclusively on the old era and would have allowed us to include much more than that material only. A bit like when showing shows for the anniversary of an album, playing it in full. But lifting the question was like talking to deaf.

The state of the old material remains at 0%, and frankly, I am tired of insisting on this thing. So why is all this really a big problem? Well, apparently unlike others, my integrity is still 'connected' to our past, because it enhances every step that has led to another step. You can't delete where you come from! As for the people who care only the new material and does not give a damn fucking the old man, or vice versa, is fine, but as far as I am concerned it is more a loss of your than mine. I was lucky to be part of all this and I continue to be passionate about it.

Now, there have been statements that I would have been out of too long and in the last decade I would not have given my contribution to the band, so 'nothing I say counts more'. Okay, let's try to analyze the thing. In fact, I was out of live activities for a long time, that's true. Complicated like life, it happened that I could not take the first two tours in 2023, so I found a substitute that replaced me in the first, but I could not do it for the second, so I can rightly be accused of having put the band in a difficult situation at that moment, since they ended up relying on the foundations to replace my parts.

I remember that the same thing happened a few years earlier when Roger He had skipped a tour, which ended with only me on the guitar and his parts according to. Of course, it was strange and compromising, but it served as a temporary solution instead of erasing the tour. However, before the summer of 2023, when the festivals were upon us, I was informed that 'the band had decided to continue using the musical foundations instead of making me return' … did it mean that I still had to be held responsible for the band's decision to continue on that road? Could there be another solution? At the same time, Jonas He left the Bloodbath As a white point, and with all those coming concerts I dedicated my time and my energies to make sure that things were standing in that band.

With a dense calendar of concerts for both bands in front of us, we respected all the commitments. A long time has passed before I discovered that Roger He had been forced to leave the band, and he and I (or rather the foundations in my case) had been replaced by new guys on tour. I contacted Jonas To tell him that I wanted to block all this the situation, but I have not received an answer. Our dysfunctional communication was already a fact and it was managed badly, by everyone. Perhaps because of the complex nature of our relationship (we both have reason and wrong, whatever happens), or of the non -diagnosed personal traits that hover through the whole band, or simply all this and much, much more, we fought and even before we had clung to the beginning of the end several times. The curse of Katatonia.

So, for the second part about 'not having contributed to the band in the last decade', let me give you a simple idea of ​​how it was in a band for so long as we did. An approximate estimate of how long and effort, or even sacrifices, I had to put to make the band always be my priority in the last three decades? Just because I don't have an author credit for a certain song/album, do you really think that's the problem?

You don't know how much workload and how many distractions I have removed from the shoulders of Jonas so that he could focus on doing what he loves most. You have any idea what decisions I made during the recording and production of our music (including the big songs of Jonas) and how that process is creatively and artistically intertwined? There is some meaning in taking care of the artistic direction and helped to design most of our albums and merchandising and the band themes from the beginning, including the logos and symbols of the Katatonia?

How can my efforts be supported in managing most of the communication, negotiations or even to be what the figure of the villain must always do when dealing with conflicts that others were too uncomfortable to face? I saved a lot of money on the band by not shaking my shoulders or putting their heads in the sand when things went wrong. Most of all this was taken for granted. All these things that happen behind the scenes are not considered worthy of being included in the credits of a booklet, nor on a wikipedia page that you can consult, but in the same way they are all connected.

So, in addition to writing songs, there are many more wheels in the mechanism that run and that contribute to the maintenance of a professional career by an artist.
I don't pretend to have perfected this band alone, I could never have! Each member has done their part over the years, but I have always done everything possible for the katatonia when no one would have done it. Nobody can contest that a management helps with the administration or that a crew helps the band during the tours, so think twice before questioning someone's relevance. It is only by chance that the people who discovered i Katatonia only recently they can't understand that a third of their life had already passed before they even knew who we were?

We have a story that brought us where we are now. If you perceive what or who are i Katatonia only based on the fact that Jonas It is the frontman and he has the author credits in the last two albums, then go and enjoy your bubble! But don't think for a second that I am diminishing his role or his importance for the band, because it is both a co-founder and now the main author and is rightly recognized as such by everyone. I have always encouraged it to be our frontman. Twenty years ago I even asked him to come forward and claim that position! Nothing will take this away, but despite all his talent and his dedication in song writing, it does not mean that he has more or less sovereignty on the name of our band compared to me. It is our creation from the first day and this is the main point.

So legally and spiritually, the conclusion offers us only two alternatives. Either the name goes to hibernation, which gives anyone the freedom to go on their way and go on under a new name, or we agree each other on the fact that we both have the right to continue using our name. From the fact that Jonas Now he is publishing a new album of Katatonia Alone, it seems that the second of the two alternatives has been indirectly chosen and, in this case, it is not unrelated to me to consider what can be done with the neglected material. In this strange situation in which we put ourselves, before our destiny and business have been defined, continue to play live is one thing, but plan and write a new album secretly, putting together a new training to record it, take pictures and shoot videos without anyone telling me anything? In addition to this, publish a new official biography full of contradictions … What else can I say?

Keep in mind that only a few years ago, 'City Burials'It was originally foreseen as the first solo album of Jonas and he should not be published under the flag of the Katatonia. I was convinced to transform those songs into a return album of Katatonia which would have actually put an end to our previous break, but up to that point, Jonas He wanted it to be his solo debut. So, what exactly does the situation we find on now does theoretically different? I thought perhaps this would be another opportunity to finally make that solo album, and for this, Jonas He would certainly not have needed to ask and wait for my permission. I would have supported it to the end, but apparently, now it will be published once again under the flag of Katatonia and under the same record contract on which my name is. I could not help but notice that the bird in our logo has been removed and the font has been modified, but for what purpose? Artistic? Or was it just to try to trace another line …?

Not even once throughout this time I have ever said I decided to leave or give up on Katatonia And nobody asked me, until last month when I was told that 'the band wants me to be officially replaced.' People asked me: 'But you had to know …?' Well, if silence can actually be a way to tell you that if outside, I imagine that it is that this story ends. Although now I have officially agreed to separate from the current version of the 'band', I will never separate from my inheritance in the Katatoniawhich will follow my soul beyond the tomb.
Always looking for the alternative ending,
Anders “Blakkheim” Nyström