We all fall into our old habits now and again, glancing at an album and automatically thinking we know what it sounds like. So we just leave it, not really taking the time to explore the record and prove ourselves wrong. Sometimes we’re right, but many times when we finally hear the record and love it, we wonder how we missed it in the first place!

Katatonia may run into this indiscernible human trait with their new record, Night Is The New Day. Some will decide not to listen after seeing the cover art. But, I’m stepping in to help steer you in the right direction and to ignore this familiar fault.

Formed in 1991 by vocalist and original drummer Jonas Renkse and guitarist Anders Nyström, this band has weathered 18 years of the Swedish metal scene, evolving from doom metal into a more melodic, synth-driven gothic sound. The album has an overwhelmingly melancholic feel, more so because of Jonas’s vocals; no longer able to produce the guttural growl he displayed on earlier records, he now sings with an unexpected softness.

For the first twenty seconds of “Foresaker,” the music lives up to the doom-y image on the cover and then, in a split second, things change, as the vocals wash over your eardrums like a warm blanket. Juxtaposed with cold, mechanical drums and chugging guitar riffs, Katatonia turn in a beautiful song, which sets the mood for the remainder of the record. Additional tracks like “Liberation,” “New Night,” “Day & Then the Shade” use this same pattern – they first pull you in with blazing guitars and thundering drums, then lull you into a hypnotic state of calmness.

The two standouts are “The Promise of Deceit” and “Nephilim.” The first, with its pulsing bass, blinking guitars and driving drums, feels like you’re being led along a dark, cavernous corridor, chasing the dots of daylight just ahead, only to be lost, deeper inside the darkness. “Nephilim,” which is Hebrew for “fallen ones” (and in some references attributed to giant fallen angels), feels exactly like it should, like you’re falling. Anders' and Fred’s dropped-tuned guitars are really spectacular - and really slow - on this track; you feel like you’re being dragged down with each note, and no matter how reassuring Jonas’s chanting may be, the distorted bass lines and pounding drums during the closing minutes let you know you won’t land softly.

The album does end on a softer note with the help of Enter the Hunt vocalist Krister Linder and string/keyboard arrangements from Frank Default. “Departer” displays a fragility not present in the rest of the tracks. It’s a beautifully crafted song and a fitting end to a record that is more influenced by Bauhaus/Love and Rockets than Candlemass.