Katatonia gets consistently more commercial with Last Fair Deal Gone Down, adopting more of the time-tested “soft verse, loud chorus” pop songwriting. I don’t mind it if I like the songs enough, but I can’t put my finger on why I don’t like this album as much as their others. The hooks don’t really register with me after listening. I’m fighting the urge to call this Katatonia’s most “generic” album, because I can’t articulate why. Anders Nyström plays some cool mellotron beats in the background, which is something new that adds a bit of atmosphere, but only in “We Must Bury You” does it really carry a song.

Still satisfying and enjoyable. I can’t believe I’m saying this about a Katatonia album, but maybe Last Fair Deal Gone Down needed to be more melodramatic.