Record: Katatonia 'Dead End Kings' (2012)

I've been a massive Katatonia fan for just under a day now, and it's mostly down to this (their most recent) record. I saw them live last week opening for Opeth and liked them (especially Nille, because holy **** I want a grey Warwick LX 5 just like his), but was too caught up in being psyched about seeing Mendez & Åkerfeldt et al live for the first time to really get into these guys. Until I got past Watershed  and The Raven That Refused To Sing in my stack of to-listen discs and tossed this one on my work playlist this morning. Ten hours and three-point-five full listens later... I love it. I love it so much I don't even know what to do. It's like everything that's bad for me in one gloriously, self-indulgently, bleakly-bespattered-with-carrion-birds package delivered by deliciously gloomy Swedish deliverymen with, collectively, at least a mile of hair over their faces. It's like going on a diet of only things that are unhealthy but also unspeakably delicious. It's like - fuck, just go listen to it already. You know you want to, and anyway I can't concentrate on writing this review anymore because I need to go and listen to Dead Letters again.