Katatonia went on hiatus in 2017 to re-evaluate the band, and came off hiatus this February to celebrate Night Is The New Day turning 10 years old. In an interview with The Metal Tris, guitarist Anders Nyström said the band has "always wanted to come back" from hiatus and that "taking a break is actually needed in order to gather everything that creates a band." Regarding the band's future plans for a followup to 2016's The Fall Of Hearts, he says "people should keep their fingers crossed and give us their prayers."
"I think we really have found a good sound now. We have a great sound — we know exactly where we do good both on record and on stage, and I wouldn't do a 180-degree thing here [and] go away from that for the sake of being different. I want to maintain the sound we have, but I also want to put new elements in there, keep it fresh. I'm personally a huge fan of mixing contemporary, modern productions with vintage sounds… This year, it's all about celebrating the Night Is The New Day anniversary. We're starting from there. We're enjoying it very much, which is a great sign, and hopefully down the road, we'll be looking at some good news about our next album. It's way too early to go into any details of that, but people should keep their fingers crossed and give us their prayers."
Nyström also talks a little bit about making Night Is The New Day.
"The only memory I have of that is wasting an entire summer down in a basement. We never saw the sun — hence the title. At that time, we were still recording at Ghost Ward. It was in a little shithole. We called it 'The Rat Hole,' because it was a little hole in the wall. You got in there, locked the door behind you [and] forgot about the outside world [and] just did your thing. It was in a really sketchy place. What went on above us actually turned into headlines in the newspapers — some really, really devious, murky stuff going on."
Watch the full interview below.
