Katatonia at Hammerfest II
The night was drawing in on the Friday at Hammerfest II when Scandinavian melodic metal band Katatonia blasted onto the stage. The atmosphere suddenly became electric as the crowd came alive, the excitement level sky-high. I’d heard a lot of positive things about this band prior to Hammerfest II and I’m also a big fan of Scandinavian metal, so I was really looking forward to finding out what all the fuss was about.
As expected, the band’s powerful music had their fans in ecstasy, many singing along with the more popular tunes. It was obvious that the Scandinavians have a massive British following however for me it felt as though the band did not give the performance 100%. It was almost as though the guys were holding back which left me feeling frustrated and a bit disappointed when the set came to an end.
I expected big things from Katatonia but don’t feel that they lived up to the hype. I would like to see them at a gig that they’re headlining to see if they perform any better when they have more time to get into their stride. For me, it wasn’t up to the same standard as the other ‘big’ names at Hammerfest II.