Having nuked the earth with some of the gloomiest and best Doom / Death Metal in the early 90s and underwent several evolutions to transform into the Gothic / Doom Metal giants that they are today, KATATONIA have returned with a brand new release. "Dead End Kings" has a lot in store for all fans; it's quite addictive, well done, and a new gem into their discography.

KATATONIA's previous album "Night Is the New Day" was groundbreaking, and a metal masterpiece. It conveyed a strong approach towards Progressive Metal, and "Dead End Kings" picks up where the old album left off, not seizing to stop mining from the emerald cave that they discovered.

"The Parting" starts off the album with some magnificent cello playing that just possesses you and announces your teleportation into the album in the most proper and beautiful way possible. You'll find a lot of gems in the first half of the album, like the strong "Hypnone" and the mellow "The Racing Heart".

One thing that makes this record great is the emphasis on much calmer and softer elements to turn a bit away from their previous experimentation with countless horizons on heavy sounds and styles. The album overall is aimed to please all fans of the band, and to slowly reach a much wider audience; although, their sound has become softer with every album release. In the end it's catching 2 birds in one stone I guess.

The instrumentals are all well-done and lack no downsides; each member does his best to play his goal in making this record great. The bass deserves a mention here, it's abundant and sounds great, and takes the spotlight on some moments on the album. As for the vocals, Jonas Renske never fails to disappoint, he'd actually be the main engine if KATATONIA was a ship, since I've never seen such vocal strength and variety in this genre of music. He deserves all the recognition he's going to get on this album and on his career overall.

"Dead End Kings" is definitely fated to be the one of the best albums of 2012. Let's hope that KATATONIA would never lose this determination to produce one great album after another in such amazing musical quality, because this isn't just another great Metal album, it's a magnificent and one of the most unique Metal albums I've listened to.