With Dance Of December Souls and Brave Murder Day, Katatonia created some of the darkest and most sorrowful music ever heard, merging haunting Black Metal with Gothic overtones to provide a morose, deeply melancholic atmosphere. In 1995, the voice of Katatonia, Jonas Renske, released an album with his side project, October Tide entitled Rain Without End, which was a perfect companion peice to the early efforts from his full time band. While Katatonia gradually drifted away from the harsher aspects of its orginal sound into something that has more in common with The Cure than with early Paradise Lost, Jonas, along with fellow Katatonia guitarist Fredrik Norrman and session vocalist Marten Hansen ( of A Canarious Quintet) released the second (also turning out to be the final) chapter of October Tide, under the title of Grey Dawn.

Carrying on with the dark and melancholic vibe, Grey Dawn is the album for those who long for Katatonia to return to the sound featured on its debut, although the material that makes up this album has more in common with Brave Murder Day with its minimalist song structures and often hypnotizing pace. Marten Hansen's harsh vocals perfectly compliment the atmosphere of depravity that runs through these songs, although nowhere near the throat torture that was Jonas's performance on early Katatonia efforts. "Sweetness Dies" is the song I feel best represents the October Tide sound, with its beautiful mid section and utterly painful ending. This song is possibly the most effective combination of melody and dark atmosphere within a Metal foundation I've had yet to hear, while "Heart Of The Dead" really harkens back to the heavier, slightly more aggressive nature of realy Katatonia and Paradise Lost, featuring an opening riff to die for. One of the most effective moments on the album appears within "Lost In The Dark", midway through the song, an acoustic guitar strums over a steady tempo, which sets up an absolutely crushing, painfully sorrowful riff...bringing you down to your knees to wallow helplessly in your own sadness. Very powerful. "Into Deep Sleep" contains some great melodic guitar work while album closer "Dear Sun" is an acoustic instrumental leaving you to dwell on the utter sadness of it all. A perfect way to end this magnificent album.

Packaged in beautifully somber black-and-white imagery, this is a must have for anyone who worships early Katatonia, Paradise Lost or anything dark and melancholic. While Jonas's main band continue to evolve their sound into the future, October Tide harkens back to the past with Grey Dawn, standing as a monument of dark despair...the soundtrack for a bleak existence...

...grey dawn, everlasting...

This review is credited to:
palewake