Katatonia will be making their Canadian concert debut on June 6 at Foufounes Électriques in Montréal. They'll be making the one-off gig as part of their trip over to the States for the Brave World and Bloody Knuckles 6-Pack Weekend Festival in Cleveland, Ohio on June 4.

Mattias from Katatonia is the latest member of the band to become a father. Congrats to him and his new baby girl.

Katatonia will grace American shores for the second time in their career when they play the Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles 6-Pack Weekend festival in Cleveland, Ohio on June 4. Hopefully they'll play some other dates while they're at it.

Go here to check out top 2003 picks from various metalheads such as Michael Amott (Arch Enemy), Jonas Björler (The Haunted), Jonas Renske (Katatonia), Kenny R2D2 (...And Oceans) and tons more (incl. a number of hasbeen 80s rockers): http://whiplash.net/forceframe.html?/especiallist.mv?rec=416

Amaran guitarist Ronnie Backlund fractured his right arm and subsequently will be unable to participate in the band's upcoming European tour with After Forever and Nightmare as well as their Finnish support dates with Katatonia. Esa Orjatsalo of Dreamtale will be filling in.

Katatonia will release a special two-disc set called "Brave Yester Days" featuring a collection of all their previously out-of-print mini-CDs along with a few samples from their proper albums and one unreleased song. Here's the full tracklist:

Disc One:
01. Midwinter Gates (Prologue) ("Jhva Elohim Meth")
02. Without God ("Jhva Elohim Meth")
03. Palace Of Frost ("Jhva Elohim Meth")
04. The Northern Silence ("Jhva Elohim Meth")
05. Crimson Tears (Epilogue) ("Jhva Elohim Meth")
06. Gateways Of Bereavement ("Dance Of December Souls")
07. Velvet Thorns (Of Drynwhyl) ("Dance Of December Souls")
08. Black Erotica ("War Compilation Vol One")
09. Love Of The Swan ("War Compilation Vol One")
10. Funeral Wedding ("For Funerals To Come…")
11. Shades Of Emerald Fields("For Funerals To Come…")
12. For Funerals To Come ("For Funerals To Come…")
13. Epistel ("For Funerals To Come…")

Disc Two:
01. Murder ("Brave Murder Day")
02. Rainroom ("Brave Murder Day")
03. Nowhere ("Sounds Of Decay")
04. At Last ("Sounds Of Decay")
05. Inside The Fall ("Sounds Of Decay")
06. Untrue (Previously Unreleased)
07. Nerve ("Saw You Drown")
08. Saw You Drown ("Saw You Drown")
09. Quiet World ("Saw You Drown")
10. Scarlet Heavens ("Saw You Drown")

I wonder what the band thinks of this, since these sort of releases are often done without their permission. Anyhow, look for it on February 23 from Avantgarde Records.

Add another baby to the Katatonia family: guitarist Fredrik Norrman and girlfriend Hilma just had their first child, a daughter, this last Saturday. Congrats.

Katatonia and Amaran are rumored to be planning a Scandinavian tour together to begin in February, but there's no confirmed dates yet. Otherwise, Katatonia is still busy editing their upcoming DVD and say it now also include one or two unreleased tracks from the "Viva Emptiness" sessions.

Congrats to Daniel Liljekvist of Katatonia who just became a father of a baby daughter.

No Tolerance Records has announced the onset of 'Operation Grindstorm', "a new phase of punishing grooves, tortured vocals, hi-speed attack drumming and guitars like carpets of cluster bombs" taking form as the new CD "The Art Of Today" from Relevant Few. As with most grind releases, they promise the fast parts are faster, the heavy parts heavier etc etc which of course adds up to everything being more brutal than ever, but you can decide for yourself by listening to some samples: "Is there no hope?" / "Lustrous Pattern".
The record comes out November 24 and sports cover art from the oft-utilized Travis Smith (Opeth, King Diamond, Katatonia, Anathema).

Katatonia is currently assembling footage for an upcoming DVD to be released early next year, the group's first. No word on what it will contain, but they say they'll post details soon.

Katatonia guitarist Anders Nyström's (aka Blakkheim) sideproject Diabloical Masquerade has entered Studio Castillo in Stockholm with engineer David Castillo to begin work on the band's fifth album, tentatively due out early next year on Avantgarde Music. The music is said to be a cross between the bands last two albums or, in other words, "lots of horror, weirdness and METAL!"

Jonas Reske from Katatonia will be participating in an online chat on Seismic Radio this Saturday, September 13 at 2-6 PM EST (20:00-24:00 CET).

Katatonia has updated their website with a new design scheme, pictures, member profiles and more.

Go here for the full tracklist, Derek Riggs cover art (known for his work with Iron Maiden) and a bunch of other tidbits concerning the forthcoming Stratovarius album "Elements Pt. 2".

Due to a situation beyond their control, Katatonia has been forced to cancel their remaining summer festival dates. The full statement from the band:

"It is with great regret we must announce that the coming Summer festivals Katatonia had every intention of playing, have been confirmed cancelled by the organisers. These festival opportunities have been pulled from beneath the band by a third party and Katatonia had nothing to do with these decisions. This third party (that are NO longer working nor representing the band in any way) has given out false information such as "internal band problems" etc, that apparently should have been reasons for Katatonia not participating in any of the festivals. That is simply NOT true. The band members themselves were all recovering and enjoying their private holidays when they were informed about the situation yesterday and sincerely apologize to everyone who planned on coming to see them this Summer, and hope to see you at another time in the short future. Thank you for your understanding."