When band frontman Jonas Renkse recently stated, prior to this release, that It's a devious life and this is a soundtrack to it, you just knew that Katatonia weren't going to deviate from their long-trodden path of bleak, sophisticated gloom anytime soon. So now that the album has finally arrived, what is immediately striking is just how cold it really is, even by their standards.

Starting life as a death-metal band, schooled on the doom-death hybrid made famous by legends such as Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride in the early 90's, Sweden's Katatonia garnered significant critical acclaim for the early classic Brave Murder Day (1996, Avantgarde Music). However, it was the follow-up, The Discouraged Ones (1998, Avantgarde Music), which really put them on the map and paved the way for their brave new musical direction. They have been a consistently prolific band ever since, enthralling their listeners with their finely-crafted dark rock sound, complete with influences as diverse as Celtic Frost, Tool and The Cure.

While Last Fair Deal Gone Down (2001, Peaceville Records) saw them forsake much of their earlier heaviness in favor of a more melodic approach, 2003's Viva Emptiness marked a return to a more aggressive, metallic sound. In essence, The Great Cold Distance carries on stylistically from where it's predecessor left off, delivering an album which is aggressive and brooding, arguably their heaviest since the aforementioned Brave Murder Day. Witness the stunning opener Leaders for evidence of their renewed thirst for powerful riffs. Yet most crucially, the album never loses sight of the finely-honed melodies which made those late 90's albums so great and thus there are plenty of quieter, more atmospheric moments, such as the dynamic Soil's Song.

As previously stated, The Great Cold Distance is an incredibly dark album thematically. In fact, it is at times impenetrably dense. Those used to the more accessible (albeit melancholy) tones of Last Fair Deal Gone Down and expecting a repeat of this will be disappointed. This is not an immediate album, by any means. Indeed, even a long-time fan such as myself required several listens to really get beneath the songs on show here. Suffice to say that this album is very much a grower, one which rewards the listeners perseverance.

Across the board, there is much to admire about The Great Cold Distance. While it does at times lack the catchiness of their career-defining masterpiece Tonight's Decision and forgoes the immediacy of Last Fair Deal Gone Down, it is certainly an improvement on the sometimes lackluster Viva Emptiness. Existing fans will be happy with this, while the uninitiated could do much worse than pick this up as an introductory album to one of metal's finest contemporary bands.