Review by Adam M on July 5, 2016.

Katatonia's newest finds them delving into a more progressive sound than on the past recordings. It has an undeniable easy listening flavour, though the tracks themselves are actually somewhat difficult to appreciate. I had to listen to this album a few times before it began to sink in.

This mode of depressive music does have an emotional impact on the listener, however. The effect is a depressing one for the most part. When you combine the emotions with some progressiveness, a fairly interesting listen is inherent. However, this hasn't completely dug into the emotions like earlier material or fully realized the progressive aspect like some releases from that genre. This means the music is stuck at halfway and not able to have a complete impact in any particular direction. Some songs like the single 'Serein' are more effective than others at portraying the passion than others. However, many songs just don’t seem to be completely committed to atmosphere or progressiveness. This leaves a quandary that the album seems like a bridge to some later progressive leanings that might be more fully committed in that respect. There is still a lot of music to like here and most songs are able to convey their vision to some extent. It's just that this seems like the first album from Katatonia that seems like it’s partially stuck in between different visions.

The emotional moments, while sometimes gripping, just don't seem as fulfilling as something from their Last Fair Deal Gone Down album, for example. Thus there could be more of an impact with the songs then there is. Don’t get me wrong there is plenty of interesting music on this album and it is another solid entry for Katatonia. I just don't think The Fall of Hearts is the very best that this band is capable of creating. I hold high standards for this band, however, and there is a great deal of worthwhile material to be found here.

Rating: 8 out of 10