My relationship with Dead End Kings has evolved almost exactly as I expected it to beforehand. In other words, it's deja vu from 2009 and Night is the New Day. On the first couple listens I thought it sounded good but not particularly remarkable. I was disappointed that the band had continued in such a similar vien as the last couple albums, but not surprised. By now I've probably listened to the album 15 times, and I am fully infatuated with it.
Putting aside their early death metal work, Viva Emptiness was Katatonia at their most aggressive. The heavier parts of the album displayed jagged, splintered rhythms and claustrophobic walls of noise. The Great Cold Distance kept many of the polyrhythmic tendencies and metallic guitars of Viva Emptiness, but incorporated them into a disarmingly listenable framework.
Night is the New Day was in many ways a continuation of the same evolution. The songs became more expansive; even cinematic. Despite my sense that albums like Last Fair Deal Gone Down contained more raw emotional power, beneath the polished and concise songs lay a level of sophistication unmatched in the band's career. To cheapen it with categorization, it was the most exquisite pop for prog-metal fans. I eventually forgave the lack of overt musical progression because the album was just damn good.
As much as I love every song on Night is the New Day, it could get a little tiring halfway through the album. While Departer, Forsaker, Idle Blood, Inheritance and Nephilim were distinctive, the rest of the tracks had a tendency to blend together. Not to say they weren't memorable; but the emotional arc of the songs and the verse/chorus structure were similar.
In that respect, Dead End Kings holds up a lot better. Looking through the lyrics to Night is the New Day, I realize just how rigidly the verse/pre-chorus/chorus structure is followed. That's probably why, when listening to opening track "The Parting", I was expecting it to either repeat itself or end. Instead the track moves into a beautiful bridge section which is a highlight of the song. A subtle progression to be sure, but a meaningful one for the flow of the album. A song like "Ambitions" goes farther - it still contains the verse/pre-chorus/chorus structure, but there are multiple additional sections, one of which is revisited in a couple different contexts. Despite the general added complexity of the songs, they still feel just as concise and economical, which is a testament to the writing.
The music is a bit more varied between tracks as well. The album has a few stylistic outliers like the jagged metal of "Buildings", the sprawling prog leanings of "Dead Letters" or the subdued "The Racing Heart". But the rest still have some musical trait to distinguish them - like the keyboard driven "Leech" or the energetic and dynamic "Lethean", which must be the only Katatonia track with a genuine guitar solo. In general, while the keyboards and guitars are present throughout, they are more likely to play dynamic lines and trade off, with one or the other acting as the lead voice. The swelling keyboard textures of Night is the New Day aren't gone, they're just used more sparingly.
The more I think about it, the integration of keyboards as a full instrument rather than a kind of added flavor is probably the biggest improvement the band has made. I doubt it's a coincidence that the keyboards are now credited to main songwriters Renkse and Nystrom, where they were performed by someone outside the band previously.
At first glance, Dead End Kings seemed to be another step in the same progression that lead to Night is the New Day. Aesthetically, it's even more accessible to the non-metal fan. It's rich with keyboard backdrops and subtle guitar or percussion embellishments. But on further examination it seems that the band is reaching back towards the winding song structures and dynamic spirit of Viva Emptiness while retaining the pristine control of texture and space that they've gained in the meantime.
Once again my initial disappointment with the band's refusal to leave their comfort zone melted away with repeated listens. Anders Nystrom alluded to their musical continuity in a recent interview, saying that Night is the New Day still feels like the "new" album and that everything since The Great Cold Distance still feels up to date. It's important to remember that there's nothing inherently wrong with a band continuing to write in a similar style - it's only the fact that this typically indicates a lack of inspiration. Katatonia has clearly not exhausted their inspiration for this style of music.
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