Katatonia is a Swedish doom metal band formed in Stockholm in 1991 by Jonas… Read Full Bio ↴Katatonia is a Swedish doom metal band formed in Stockholm in 1991 by Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström. The band started as a studio-only project for the duo, as an outlet for the band's love of death metal/doom metal. Increasing popularity led them to add more band members for live performances, though outside of the band's founders, the lineup was a constantly changing, revolving door of musicians throughout the 1990s, notably including Mikael Åkerfeldt of the band Opeth for a period. After two death/doom albums, Dance of December Souls (1993) and Brave Murder Day (1996), problems with Renkse's vocal cords coupled with new musical influences led the band away from the screamed vocals of death metal to a sound combining elements of doom metal, alternative metal and progressive metal.

The band released two more albums, Discouraged Ones (1998) and Tonight's Decision (1999), before settling into a stable quintet lineup for all of the 2000s. The band released four more albums with said lineup: Last Fair Deal Gone Down (2001), Viva Emptiness (2003), The Great Cold Distance (2006) and Night Is the New Day (2009), with the band slowly moving away from their metal sound while adding more progressive rock sounds to their work over time. While lineup changes started up again into the 2010s, Renkse and Nyström persisted, and the band continued on to release their ninth and tenth studio albums, Dead End Kings (2012) and The Fall of Hearts (2016). After touring in support of the album through 2017, the band entered a hiatus at the beginning of 2018. The band returned from their hiatus in February 2019, with their eleventh studio album, City Burials, released in April 2020 and twelfth studio album, Sky Void of Stars (2023).

Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katatonia

Studio albums
Dance of December Souls (1993)
Brave Murder Day (1996)
Discouraged Ones (1998)
Tonight's Decision (1999)
Last Fair Deal Gone Down (2001)
Viva Emptiness (2003)
The Great Cold Distance (2006)
Night Is the New Day (2009)
Dead End Kings (2012)
The Fall of Hearts (2016)
City Burials (2020)
Sky Void of Stars (2023)

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Katatonia was a Polish death/thrash metal band. They released one demo, "It's Only a Dream", in 1993 before splitting up. See here: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Katatonia/55254

The Itch
Katatonia Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Movement
Subdued back then
So quiet now
Subsequent
Systematic violence
The great cold distance

The itch

The urge

Make way
Think of something
Thin out the fear
Past the tracks
Part the ways
One stand here
Medicate
Kill the itch
Check the air
And push to get there

Monochrome
Symbol on the surface
Reduced illumination
Chemical inheritance

The lies
The fever

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Katatonia's song "The Itch" depict a sense of inner turmoil and desperation. The opening stanza oscillates between thoughts of the past and the present, highlighting the stark difference between the subdued movements of the past and the quieter movements of the present. The subsequent systematic violence shows the progression of events that have led to the current state of affairs. The great cold distance creates a sense of loneliness and isolation.

The chorus of the song underscores the desperate and restless nature of the singer's emotional state. It portrays a sense of an uncontrollable desire to get beyond the current state of mind, to scratch the itch that is causing all the turmoil. The following stanza speaks of the need to think of something to thin out the fear and to move past the tracks that seem to be holding them back. The lyrics describe a burning desire to remove oneself from the current situation and to make way towards something new.

The latter half of the lyrics deal with the inherited chemical tendencies and how these tendencies drive the singer. The lies and the fever describe the mental state of the singer, a state of delusion and chaos.

Line by Line Meaning

Movement
Initially, there was some activity.

Subdued back then
Earlier, the activity was not very lively or energetic.

So quiet now
Currently, there is complete silence.

Subsequent
Following that silence, something happened.

Systematic violence
There was a calculated, controlled use of force.

The great cold distance
There is a broad, noticeable separation or detachment now.

The itch
There is a strong desire or urge.

The urge
This feeling of wanting something is unrelenting.

Make way
Clear a path or move out of the way.

Think of something
Try and come up with an idea or plan.

Thin out the fear
Decrease the amount of anxiety or concern.