of death metal becoming popular in Europe at the time. The release was enough of a hit in the underground metal scene to garner the attention of a small music label, Vic Records, which re-released it as an EP in 1993, which helped gain more exposure for the duo. The newfound popularity found them recruiting a bass guitarist, Guillaume Le Huche, so the trio could play live performances, and returning to the studio to recreate a debut full-length album. The resulting work, Dance of December Souls, was released in late 1993. The album's bleak melancholy and despair of their sound continued to give them the classification of death-doom. After touring in support of the album, the trio recorded another EP, For Funerals to Come..., which was released in early 1995. However, Le Huche left the band shortly after, and issues finding a replacement found the band break up for a year, while Renkse and Nystrom worked separately on their own projects. Of note, Renkse started up a new band, October Tide, with guitarist Fredrik Norrman. After working some with Norrman on the project, Renkse decided to revive Katatonia with Norrman as the new third member. After the year off, the band reformed in 1996 to record and release a second studio album, Brave Murder Day. In addition to Fredrik Norrman contributing guitars to the album, the band also recruited Renkse's friend, Mikael Åkerfeldt of the band Opeth, to perform the screamed vocals, as Renkse became unable to do them himself anymore due to medical issues. The release, alongside the EP Sounds of Decay released with the same lineup the next year, were considered their last in the genre of doom/death metal, with the band starting to focus more on clean vocals in subsequent releases. To promote the album, the band recruited Mikael Oretoft to play bass and they embarked on their first European tour with progressive metal band In the Woods... Move away from death metal (1998–1999) While Renkse experimented with clean, melodic vocals over metal instrumentation as early as the 1994 recording of the track "Scarlet Heavens" (later released in very limited capacity on Katatonia/Primordial in 1996), the band did not feel ready to pursue that sort of sound at the time. However, after the band's 1997 releases, due to a desire to create more emotive and evolving music, the band decided to move in that direction. The first