Katatonia — Teargas EP

Jonas Renske is definitely a very troubled individual; he probably was second in the 'problem distribution' line (right after Bin Laden) if his lyrics are to be believed. Mind you, I'm not complaining - it makes great music!

But I should show a little compassion... Renske started writing about 'girl problems' on recent albums (and particularly 2001's great Last Fair Deal Gone Down), but the worst is that his troubles aren't only romantic and psychological! After telling us about the teargas in his eyes in the song of that name, he now tells us about the "sulfur in his heart" on this EP.

It contains 2 new songs, "Sulfur" and "March 4", and both are very good but "Sulfur" in particular is impressive; it's the home of one of the catchiest chorus I've heard in a while! I can't find a plausible reason why it wasn't included on LFDGD and I'm starting to wonder if the band is not writing so much good material that it doesn't even notice it anymore... Or maybe it was their plan to release some of it on EPs (another one is coming out oct. 22nd 2001 and it's called the "Tonight's Music EP") for the diehard fans, who knows?

There isn't much more to say about it; the running time is 13 minutes, there are two new song plus "Teargas" from LFDGD and the artwork is nice. The new songs are as good as anything on the band's last album so fans of it should keep their eyes open for the EP.

I don't give it a perfect score because it contains too few new material.. But be assured that if it had 25 minutes of music of this quality it would definitely get it!