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General => General Music Discussion => Topic started by: abydos on September 13, 2009, 11:20:40 AM
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The search engine isn't finding threads about the band... a shame. Anyway, they are fucking awesome and they've released a new track which sounds awesome.
For the mp3: https://www.burningshed.com/store/peaceville/freedownload/20/
or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRrVjjQg5o8 if you don't want it on your HDD. If this is any indication for the quality of the new album... I'm pumped!
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Thanks man. We have three Katatonia cds, but the newest of those are from 2003, heh. You reminded me to check out their newer stuff before we see them (warming up for Porcupine Tree) in october.
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Discouraged Ones depresses me.
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:metal :metal i find it unique in a way. Soil's Song.
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Discouraged Ones depresses me.
For some reason, this CD reminds me of The Cure.
I have DO, Last Fair Deal, Vive Emptiness and Great Cold Distance. I really like VE, but haven't quite gotten into the other albums.
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I was never a big Katatonia fan, but their new album is awesome! I recommend it to everyone here. If you like Opeth, you will probably like this. It's called Night is the New Day.
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bump time!
I'm blown away by the new album. I was skeptical when Mikael Akerfeldt said that it's possibly the best 'heavy' album he's heard in the last decade, but WOW. By far their best album, it totally takes what Katatonia have done before, perfects that, and adds more!
All Opeth fans should get the new album now :D
(Did anyone else notice that on track 3 Jonas sounds almost identical to Akerfeldt :eek)
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Great band. I only own The Great Cold Distance but I enjoy it from time to time.
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Listening to the new album on myspace and its the first time I am listening to this band. Im liking it so far! I do have a question tho...
Am I the only one that thought it was Mikael Akerfeldt singing in Idle Blood?
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I only have Night is the New Day and its pretty awesome. Gonna have to give it a few more listens but its cool.
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Listening to the new album on myspace and its the first time I am listening to this band. Im liking it so far! I do have a question tho...
Am I the only one that thought it was Mikael Akerfeldt singing in Idle Blood?
I said that in my post a bit up (didnt name the song though)
Jonas (singer) and Mikael are bestest buddiest for 18 years now, they give each other private listening parties :hefdaddy
In fact, in Bloodbath (death metal supergroup) Jonas plays bass with Mikael on vocals.
Great band. I only own The Great Cold Distance but I enjoy it from time to time.
The new album is just like TGCD, but better in every single way.
Thanks man. We have three Katatonia cds, but the newest of those are from 2003, heh. You reminded me to check out their newer stuff before we see them (warming up for Porcupine Tree) in october.
How was the gig?
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It was really bad, actually :lol Just Katatonia, not PT of course. They just didn't do very well in a live setting, which is too bad...
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:omg: no way!
But they sound so awesome on their live dvd :huh:
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Either they had a really bad day the day I saw them or they've fixed up the dvd :P
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It was really bad, actually :lol Just Katatonia, not PT of course. They just didn't do very well in a live setting, which is too bad...
I agree with that.
I was a bit interested in Katatonia before, but a horrible gig, and i don't even consider listening to the new album now, which i did before the show.
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It was really bad, actually :lol Just Katatonia, not PT of course. They just didn't do very well in a live setting, which is too bad...
I agree with that.
I was a bit interested in Katatonia before, but a horrible gig, and i don't even consider listening to the new album now, which i did before the show.
That makes no sense, everyone knows they are great on cd. Who cares about a bad live gig? doesn't stop the cd being awesome.
Either they had a really bad day the day I saw them or they've fixed up the dvd :P
What was bad about them anyway, It can't have been Jonas' voice as that's always awesome. And most of the rest of the band are in Bloodbath with Akerfeldt too, and they were a blast live :huh: Sounds like a bad night.
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The vocalist is good in studio, but he's not controlled enough in a live setting it seems.
NOTHING happened on stage. They just...stood there- Ok, not everyone's a show man but come on. They sounded "off", like they were just a bit out of sync with each other all the time.
The sound wasn't the bestest either, but can hardly blame them for that :P
Luckily it wasn't a bad night, because after them it was Porcupine Tree, their sound guy did great and they were awesome ;)
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The vocalist is good in studio, but he's not controlled enough in a live setting it seems.
NOTHING happened on stage. They just...stood there- Ok, not everyone's a show man but come on. They sounded "off", like they were just a bit out of sync with each other all the time.
The sound wasn't the bestest either, but can hardly blame them for that :P
Luckily it wasn't a bad night, because after them it was Porcupine Tree, their sound guy did great and they were awesome ;)
I agree a lot with that tbh.
To me, they just stood there.
The singer didn't move at all during the whole concert, and his vocals drowned in the rest of the sound.
And somehow, all of the songs they played sounded like the same, except for My Twin, which i could separate from the rest (since i've listened to that album several times).
Anyways, i dont think they're bad, but they doesn't feel interesting to me.
However, Åkerfeldt did give the new album lots of praise, but right now i'm not that into Metal, so i dont think this is the time to listen to it. :p
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The song in the OP is pretty awesome, might have to check this band out.
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I agree a lot with that tbh.
To me, they just stood there.
The singer didn't move at all during the whole concert, and his vocals drowned in the rest of the sound.
Sounds like a bad sound for the night :P
Yeah, It doesn't surprise me Jonas not moving around much, he strikes me as more quiet kind of guy. But I've seen the DVD, and they don't stand utterly still. They still move around more than BTBAM though, and to be honest, there are some bands I go just for the experience and wouldn't care if they all sat on chairs, I just want the sound :)
trailer for the dvd here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkRpE4GyfIk
There's enough headbanging in there for me :)
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Listening now. "Idle Blood" is an early stand-out.
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I've listened to this album a lot the last few days after deciding that i should give it a try.
It's a great album, wouldn't go as far as saying "best of 2009", but it's probably in my top5.
Some of my reflections:
*Idle Blood - At first listen, i REALLY REALLY thought that this was Mikael Åkerfeldt from Opeth singing, and it still sounds like him. :-D
This song sounds like a mix of Porcupine Tree and Damnation-Opeth, but with a personal Katatonia-touch ofc.
*My favorite songs: Forsaker was the first song i fell in love with, but i'd say Onward Into Battle (i just love the chorus<3), The Promise of Deceit (lovely track), and Day and then the Shade.
I really like this album. :)
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I think that Departer might just be my favourite Katatonia song ever, it's so chilling, I get shivers every time.
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Yeah, makes me want to hear Linder on almost every other Katatonia song. He fits perfectly.
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Your ghost in the LIIIIIMELIIIIIGHT!!
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first listen...awesome song! will look at some other stuff tomorrow
this is really good stuff
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first listen...awesome song! will look at some other stuff tomorrow
this is really good stuff
Get their latest... 4 albums first ;D
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I have two of their albums. Their pretty good, but I dont listen to them often.
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I only have their latest album but I am really blown away! A strong contender for the album of the year IMO.
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All this talk of them being somewhat dull live worries me.
Shall I bother going to see them or not?
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If you like the songs - yes. check their live footage on youtube. It's more of atmospheric and less of a "show" from what I understand and this is right up my alley. I wouldn't miss them.
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Ok cool. I did look at some live footage on YT but I don't think you can necessarily judge from live DVDs because some bands manage to look awesome on DVD but are terrible in the flesh.
I'll probably go, only £12 after all.
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They're awesome.
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Night Is The New Day is an alright album. The first four songs are golden but from then on, the album loses its touch a little. Best song on the album in my opinion is "The Longest Year".
Their best album was The Great Cold Distance, which was the album that came out before Night Is The New Day. With the new album, it seemed like it was the structure of the songs were kinda repetitive, Jonas' vocal style was the same in every song, the verses were mellow with Danny on the ride, kick and snare with Blakkheim playing a mellow, clean riff and then a somewhat heavy and melodic chours.
It does, however, have some great parts in all of the songs. Worth a buy, but they've made better albums.
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Loses it touch? :| Are you sure we have the same album? I think the whole album is them finally getting the balance between heavy stuff and their prog tendencies sorted out, so it inches ahead of The Great Cold Distance.
Either way, just get one of the four latest and you won't go wrong.
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I do agree with WDADU. After the first few songs, the melancholy kinda fizzles into mere boredom. Still an awesome album though.
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I think the album is great, but well... it isn't perfect.
Even though i can listen to all of it, and i find like 85% of the songs on the album to be 5/5:ers, i still gotta say that the album (and maybe Katatonia in general) sounds a bit repetitive.
My favorites from the album would be "Onward Into Battle" and "The Promise of Deceit", also i think "Forsaker", "Idle Blood" and "Liberation" deserves to be mentioned.
But well, if i compare this album to other great albums that have been released this year, it still lacks something, i can't put my finger on exactly what.
So to keep it short; Great album, great individual songs, but lacks a bit of the "whole-picture-feeling" imo.
But that's my 5 cents. :hat
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I love how the album starts off. But every other song that comes around manages to sound duller than the previous one. Jonas' seems to have the vocal reach about the size of a minor 3rd interval. It's nothing. Cool voice though.
I've been trying, but I guess Katatonia isn't for me after all. The only songs that struck a bit of a chord with me are 'Leaders', 'Soil Song' and 'Forsaker'.
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Have you heard anything from Dance Of December Souls or Brave Murder Day? Great albums right there. Maybe Last Fair Deal Gone Down or Viva Empiness will tickle your fancy.
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I love how the album starts off. But every other song that comes around manages to sound duller than the previous one. Jonas' seems to have the vocal reach about the size of a minor 3rd interval. It's nothing. Cool voice though.
I've been trying, but I guess Katatonia isn't for me after all. The only songs that struck a bit of a chord with me are 'Leaders', 'Soil Song' and 'Forsaker'.
What about July? Ghost of the Sun? Teargas? The Future of Speech? Sweet Nurse? Idle Blood? Departer?
But also, I think that you have to be in the right mood for Katatonia, but yes, their music is pretty repetitive, but in a good way, like say... Swallow the Sun (if you know those guys).
Hell, i'm a big fan of the band, but I have to be in the right mood for them.
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"Forsaker" is an awesome song!
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Foreseeeeeeeeeeyyyy...ker
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:metal
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I thout you said Forseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey...ken
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*Defibrillation*
Katatonia's new EP is out guys, with one new song and two remixes, all of which are really great :D
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This album is starting to grow on me a bit. Still some dull moments, but its pretty good. New Night is a fantastic song. Still, The Great Cold Distance is their best album in my opinion.
And, yes, Swallow The Sun is a fantastic band as well.
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They were very good when I saw them a week and a half ago.
Review here: https://benfyffereviews.blogspot.com/2010/03/katatonia-highbury-garage-thursday-11th.html (https://benfyffereviews.blogspot.com/2010/03/katatonia-highbury-garage-thursday-11th.html)
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They were very good when I saw them a week and a half ago.
Review here: https://benfyffereviews.blogspot.com/2010/03/katatonia-highbury-garage-thursday-11th.html (https://benfyffereviews.blogspot.com/2010/03/katatonia-highbury-garage-thursday-11th.html)
Interesting you saying that he was great vocals, as someone else remarked that he was lackluster at the gig they went to.
Also, I really want to see them live. I saw Swallow the Sun supporting Apocalyptica, was really great :)
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They were very good when I saw them a week and a half ago.
Review here: https://benfyffereviews.blogspot.com/2010/03/katatonia-highbury-garage-thursday-11th.html (https://benfyffereviews.blogspot.com/2010/03/katatonia-highbury-garage-thursday-11th.html)
Interesting you saying that he was great vocals, as someone else remarked that he was lackluster at the gig they went to.
Also, I really want to see them live. I saw Swallow the Sun supporting Apocalyptica, was really great :)
I thought the vocal performance was superb, better than I was expecting. Doubt they're spot on every night though.
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I'm really getting into the band and going to see them on 31th March. Decided to start from The Great Cold Distance, and it's really great. :) Going to try the new album next, plus Live Consternation.
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I'm beginning to think the new one might be my favourite actually so definitely go for it!
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Yeah, you can't go wrong if you stick to last fair deal and onwards :tup
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Brave Murder Day is a great album too...but different to their later stuff
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OK, so I'm more or less finished with The Great Cold Distance (meaning I'm after eight full listens I think, switching to "listening on PC" mode), and it's definitely a great album. The thing is, that it's not the kind of album that has any "where the hell is my jaw?" moments, but it's just great from start to finish. I'm completely incapable to name better or worse songs (FOR NOW I think I can point Soil's Song and especially Rusted as favourites, but...) on it, and it just perfectly holds together. I love the heavy/light contrasts, the heavy parts have amazing riffs (Consternation...), the light parts are done with great feeling. And the atmosphere is just great, will definitely be one of my albums for "bad times listening".
And I've listened to Night is the New Day for the first time - one listen is definitely not enough, but at moments I was really like "wow... is this the same band?!?". The progression is amazing, it's great to see that it has more variety (calmer parts are far calmer, the heavy parts are really HEAVY), and the vocals... had Jonas done some serious vocal practice or something? His vocals on The Great Cold Distance are really good, but here... wow, it's like he reinvented his vocal style or something.
And two songs that already have a "potential masterpieces" badge: Nephilim and Departer.
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I love it how "Idle Blood" sounds EXACTLY like Mikael Åkerfeldt singing.
Seriously, listen to it... it's ridiculous.
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I love it how "Idle Blood" sounds EXACTLY like Mikael Åkerfeldt singing.
Seriously, listen to it... it's ridiculous.
I don't like Night is the New Day much because of that, Jonas Renkse sounds exactly like Mikael in Opeth's Damnation. And if I wanted to hear something like Opeth, I'd hear... Opeth.
I've become a Katatonia fan in the last months, and IMO TGCD was really good and NITND is pretty decent, but is nothing like what they did from Brave Murder Day to Viva Emptiness. 5 Depressing Masterpieces in a Row.
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OK, a bit late, but I decided to write about the concert I've been to on Wednesday in Kraków. After really liking The Great Cold Distance, instantly LOVING The Night is the New Day and also really liking some older songs, I was really looking forward to it. It turned out there were two opening bands - Long Distance Calling and Swallow The Sun, and since I already know it's always worth to see everything, I was there on time.
And I was proved right once again. The first band, Long Distance Calling, was entirely instrumental, and pretty hard to categorize for me (last.fm claims "post-rock" and "progressive rock" - well, let it be). They sounded heavier live than what I hear on the album, and I greatly enjoyed it since I first heard them. They keep a nice balance between atmosphere and technicality, with some heavier and calmer moments, and sound different than anything else I've ever heard. I decided to buy their new album, called Avoid The Light, and got to meet the band after Swallow the Sun ended playing. They were really nice and signed the CD. :) Will be giving it more listens soon, and definitely recommended for everyone.
The second band was one I had heard of before, but never heard myself - Swallow the Sun. The first impression wasn't really good, since the first song felt a bit schematic and "loud but not heavy" for me, but later... it was FAR better. The second song was already better, and the third was what I love - some experimentation (a bit reminding me of later Samael), and HEAVY riffs, with real doom feeling to it. They had a very nice balance of softer and heavier moments (and also clean singing/growls), ranging from nearly Anathema-influenced parts to some really heavy death doom, and the last song was definitely my favourite - called Swallow, apparently from their first album, and definitely the heaviest and most doom-ish. I definitely enjoyed their set and they very nicely warmed up the crowd. And btw, I really liked their behaviour - the whole band was moving and headbanging, while the vocalist. Was. Really. Doom. I mean, he was nice and thanked the audience after every song, but he was really saying. It. With. A. Doooooom. Voice. It cracked me up. :lol
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And then, after around 25 minutes (after like 15 I was getting so impatient I thought I'm going to faint or something), a sort of epic intro with something sounding like movie samples, and 5 mysterious characters entered the stage, welcomed by great cheering of everyone (myself included). The intro ended, they turned around towards the crowd... tnnn-tnnn-tnnn... FORSAKER. Damn it, this song is a total KILLER live, the riff sounds even more amazing than on the album, and the chorus is just pure sing-along. After 30 seconds I was already in a bit of a different world, they can create an incredible atmosphere, and the sound and performance was simply BRILLIANT. There's absolutely nothing, no matter how difficult, they got wrong (instrumentally and vocally - I had been afraid Jonas may not be able to pull off some parts live, he did better than I could have expected), and also the sound was nearly perfect, everything sounded clean, but the guitars had this amazing, crunchy sound I love. After Forsaker they played Liberation, which I also really like, and also proved a great song. Then there was the "crowd favourite but I don't worship it" :lol type of song - My Twin. I won't describe all songs in detail, as ALL worked great, including the older ones I hadn't known, but I have to make some exceptions.
The first, and greatest one, which was hands down one of the most amazing live experiences of my life... I had heard it on Live Consternation, and knew what to expect. So, Jonas announced it like always: "This is another song from the Viva Emptiness record - this one is called GHOST..."
[immediately joined by me] ...OF THE SUN!!!
"TOTAL KILLER" is an understatement for this song. The opening riff is one of the most amazing live things ever, and the chorus beats every other powerful sing-along chorus on this side of the galaxy. It was like 5 minutes of total positive insanity. I don't remember anything comparable.
The second one is a song I had been waiting for, and finally... "time for another song from The Great Cold Distance - this one is... RUSTED!". Well, my reaction was fairly obvious. Like expected, it was completely incredible, since the calm guitar at the beginning, through the killer heavy part, to the ending. And third... it was the second and last encore. (It was also the worst thing happening to my throat in a few months. :P) "So, let's see if you recognize this song..." I needed one second. LEADERS! I was singing along louder than EVER, and I absolutely loved what they did to the after-chorus part - instead of the "DO YOU" screams, Jonas just did a sort of dramatic singing (the only good comparison I have is the ending of Riverside's "Parasomnia" - something like this) instead, and with the riffs it sounded amazing. It's one of these weird cases when an album opener is an excellent live closer, and seriously at one point I thought I lost my voice or something... :lol And that was the end. 1:40h passed like 30 minutes. I wondered if there's a chance to meet them afterwards, but it seemed there isn't...
One more thing - the audience was absolutely amazing, to the point Jonas said at one point that they're on tour for one month... but we're definitely the best, and repeated it later. I have no comparison obviously :lol, but they certainly had a point...
So, this was hands down one of the most amazing live shows I've even been to. I don't know what happened when those who claim they're a poor live band have seen them, but probably something weird. Amazing atmosphere, perfect performance, excellent contact with the audience, killer setlist. When they come to Poland - or anywhere close - again, I'm going even if it's 700 kilometres away, and nothing will stop me...
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Glad you enjoyed it and I agree with you on most points.
Shame you didn't get to meet them afterwards but if you want to let any of them know how much you enjoyed the show you can actually email them (Jonas, Anders + Daniel) through the Katatonia website ;)
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I did e-mail Jonas. It's hands down one of the most incoherent things I've ever written :lol, but I think I managed to express what I wanted.
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I really want to see them live now :(
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Sounds awesome! :tup
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I've decided to check this band out... any suggestions where to start?
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I think there are two ways, depending on your preference:
- if something more varied overall, and not too depressive - go for the new album Night is The New Day. It's a great album overall, varies from really heavy songs (Forsaker) to really calm and subtle ones (Idle Blood, Departer), and the atmosphere is also rather diverse. Also, probably the best one vocal-wise this far, Jonas sounds like if he reinvented his vocal style on this album.
- if something darker and more depressive - Viva Emptiness. This albums combines amazing, dark atmosphere with incredible catchiness of the songs (good luck with listening to Ghost of The Sun or Criminals and not having the chorus stuck in your head for the next day), and it's really accessible overall, despite being really atmospheric.
After the two, try The Great Cold Distance, which is even darker than Viva Emptiness and not less catchy, but as I have found out, it needs more time to grow... But it's absolutely amazing.
That's what I can say, maybe there's something from the earlier albums I'm missing, but from what I've heard the last three are the most accessible.
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Thanks. I actually decided to check these guys out by browsing last.fm and seeing that you were listening to them. :lol
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What, you mean there's anything weird in them making it to #8 within two months? :P
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They must be excellent then.
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I love it how "Idle Blood" sounds EXACTLY like Mikael Åkerfeldt singing.
Seriously, listen to it... it's ridiculous.
I thought it was for weeks until I checked the wiki. I love the album, such a great atmosphere.
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They must be excellent then.
For me, yes. But totally addictive without doubt.
I love it how "Idle Blood" sounds EXACTLY like Mikael Åkerfeldt singing.
Seriously, listen to it... it's ridiculous.
I thought it was for weeks until I checked the wiki. I love the album, such a great atmosphere.
I still don't hear it at all. It doesn't sound like Jonas' singing on previous albums, but it doesn't sound like Mikael either except for one or two moments.
And it's probably my favourite song vocal-wise on the album together with New Night and Departer.
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You were right about "Criminals". :metal :metal
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Yeah, it's very good. But from straightforward songs, Ghost of The Sun defeats everything for me, and live it was in the top 5 of the most amazing moments of my life.
Overall, it's an album full of amazing songs. But then, so is Night is The New Day. And The Great Cold Distance even more. And...
Damn it.
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Overwhelm me some more, please. :lol :P
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I heard Mikael's good friends with the guys in Katatonia and got to hear the album before it came out. I guess that's where I got the Mikael thing partially, but it still sounds like him to me.
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Overwhelm me some more, please. :lol :P
Sorry. :lol
I heard Mikael's good friends with the guys in Katatonia and got to hear the album before it came out. I guess that's where I got the Mikael thing partially, but it still sounds like him to me.
Yes, they are. But well, if I hadn't heard that "it sounds like Mikael singing" thing, I would have never even thought of any similarities. There are one or two similar moments in the verses, the rest is all different, especially the chorus. And instrumentally it's completely different to anything Opeth, especially the rhythm.
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Oh, I was only referring to his actual voice, not the music. The verses anyway, not the whole song. It just sounds like the type of vocal line Mikael would write, and sung in a similar style.
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The first few lines sound like Mikael to me, but after that not really.
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I guess the big difference is that Mikael is a way better singer. :neverusethis:
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I guess the big difference is that Mikael is a way better singer. :neverusethis:
Obviously
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Also obviously in the same genre and his singing style is meant to achieve exactly the same thing in his music.
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Holy shit Darkes. I'm so glad I checked out your last.fm page and saw these guys. Viva Emptiness really is incredible.
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Holy shit Darkes. I'm so glad I checked out your last.fm page and saw these guys. Viva Emptiness really is incredible.
:tup
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I was browsing through my Comcast On Demand music video section, when I scrolled past "Day And Then The Shade". I remembered hearing a lot about Katatonia, and decided to give them a listen.
Holy shit I love them now.
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"In the White" and "Omerta" are now 2 of my favorite songs, ever. It happened that quickly.
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Now I feel complete. :D
Great to hear, although I admit I prefer the darker and heavier side of Katatonia a bit (Leaders, Ghost of The Sun, Wealth, The Itch, etc.), but both are really good songs too. The choruses of In The White are one of my favourite moments on the album vocal-wise.
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Sorry for ultra-bump, but just wanted to ask...
I probably will review some Katatonia albums soon, not sure when (which can mean either 4 reviews in 4 days or 1 review a month, I'm lazy and random), and just wondering if anyone is interested here.
And if anyone's interested, apparently they're going on a North American tour during autumn... https://katatonia.com/tour-dates/
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I have the newest album and it's great, and I love Jonas' voice! Haven't got round to checking any of their other albums yet though, so some reviews would be good to get an idea for what to check out next.
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Well, I'll definitely do the last three and Live Consternation, eventually also Tonight's Decision. For now I can say Viva Emptiness or The Great Cold Distance may be a good idea. Viva Emptiness is easier to get into, TGCD is heavier, more complex and definitely darker.
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Viva Emptiness is better than TGCD and, like Darkes says, more accessible, so I'd go for that one next.
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In the long run, I found out TGCD is nearing perfection, so I wouldn't say VE is better, just more accessible ;) (though still very good)
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I agree, I like TGCD more.
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Well, it took time. For the first two-three weeks of listening to Viva Emptiness I thought like "this is one of the best albums ever", and over time I found it a bit weaker than the last two (and now also Tonight's Decision). The Great Cold Distance was the opposite, at first I really liked it but wasn't greatly impressed (except for Leaders, Soil's Song and Rusted of course), and now... I think it may enter my top 5 of all-time favourite albums...
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My god Soil's Song is so awesome.
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In the long run, I found out TGCD is nearing perfection, so I wouldn't say VE is better, just more accessible ;) (though still very good)
TGCD is boring in the middle. True story.
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Yes, but "In The White" is :metal :metal :metal :metal :metal :metal :metal
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In the long run, I found out TGCD is nearing perfection, so I wouldn't say VE is better, just more accessible ;) (though still very good)
TGCD is boring in the middle. True story.
Let me think...
Consternation boring? I think it's time to go brutal death metal :P
Follower - needs time to grow. Great song and incredibly atmospheric, but it's one of the toughest on the album to get into (probably the most).
Rusted - I hope you didn't mean it, because this means blasphemy of the highest level.
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Katatonia has some good individual songs, but it's a struggle for me to get through an album.
The latest did click pretty good, but listened to TGCD 8-9 times without anything coming off as better then average.
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Well, for me they're one of the most consistent bands I've ever heard... there's a total of *one* song that I can say I don't really like this far.
I feel like a fanboy, to be honest. But I don't mind. :lol
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I picked up Tonight's Decision a few days ago. It isn't up there with Vive Emptiness in terms of a very good album, but I've only listened to it twice, and I like it better than Last Fair Deal Gone Down.
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Excellent album, I've been addicted to it for the last month. Black Session is competing for my favourite Katatonia song, A Darkness Coming is close behind.
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I've had this idea for a long time now, and am curious what DTF thinks...
Is Vive Emptiness a concept album? I think it is, even though it's not entirely clear. I could also just be clutching at straws... this is my favorite Katatonia album and have listened to it many, many times :metal
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I think not. Like most/all of their albums, it has a theme running throughout, but I don't think it's a concept. Although... I'm not sure. Maybe you can try asking at the Katatonia board, they probably know more :)
I really like Viva Emptiness but, I don't know, just as The Great Cold Distance has incredibly grown on me, the same way VE has lost a bit over time. I absolutely loved it at first and now it just doesn't grab me that much somehow...
I need to finally listen to Last Fair Deal Gone Down, a lot of people claim it's their best album and I wonder what's it like.
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Bump.
I got into Katatonia recently. I bought Night is the New Day and was hooked! Earlier this week I got Brave Murder Day, Discouraged Ones and Tonight's Decision. I haven't yet listened to them enough to judge but I think BMD and DO are the best albums. BMD is a 10/10 album for me! :metal
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I still need to get into them, but they are on tour in the US now. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
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I only have Night is the New Day and The Great Cold Distance and both are amazing.
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The Great Cold Distance is my favorite. I love "July" and "In The White"
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The Great Cold Distance is my favorite. I love "July" and "In The White"
Those are probably my two favorites of TCGD too.
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I had Discouraged Ones, but I couldn't get into it.
I've been listening to older Katatonia (currently Day on youtube). It's a very haunting song.
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I've always only been a fan of new Katatonia to be honest.
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Brave Murder Day is incredible, as also is Discouraged Ones; but you need to be in the mood for listening to them, Specially Discouraged Ones. I think it won't do anything to you if you listen to it while you are in a happy-go-lucky day.
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Do I have to bump this again? :lol
I got Last Fair Deal Gone Down and The Great Cold Distance as Xmas presents. Both are very good albums! Now the only Katatonia album I don't have is Dance of December Souls. I've noticed that it's quite difficult to rank Katatonia albums! Many are almost equally good. But I think I like Tonight's Decision the least.
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I recently got Brave Murder Day. I need to give it a few more listens to give it an opinion. After the first listen it is pretty good.
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Do I have to bump this again? :lol
I got Last Fair Deal Gone Down and The Great Cold Distance as Xmas presents. Both are very good albums! Now the only Katatonia album I don't have is Dance of December Souls. I've noticed that it's quite difficult to rank Katatonia albums! Many are almost equally good. But I think I like Tonight's Decision the least.
Nooo :( I absolutely love TD and it feels very underrated for me, the only thing I'd change on it is get rid of No Good Can Come of This and Strained as they're pretty weak and put the 2 B-sides (No Devotion and Fractured) in there instead, as they're much better. It has an amazing atmosphere, and it's very consistent other than these two songs overall.
Well, TGCD is an absolute masterpiece imo, but Last Fair Deal Gone Down... for me it's an album of really good songs but I don't know... It has the least of this "you should listen to this as an album" feel from all Katatonia albums imo. It's just not so atmospheric. I like almost all of the album, but for some reason the whole thing doesn't grab me that much...
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Do I have to bump this again? :lol
I got Last Fair Deal Gone Down and The Great Cold Distance as Xmas presents. Both are very good albums! Now the only Katatonia album I don't have is Dance of December Souls. I've noticed that it's quite difficult to rank Katatonia albums! Many are almost equally good. But I think I like Tonight's Decision the least.
Nooo :( I absolutely love TD and it feels very underrated for me, the only thing I'd change on it is get rid of No Good Can Come of This and Strained as they're pretty weak and put the 2 B-sides (No Devotion and Fractured) in there instead, as they're much better. It has an amazing atmosphere, and it's very consistent other than these two songs overall.
Well, TGCD is an absolute masterpiece imo, but Last Fair Deal Gone Down... for me it's an album of really good songs but I don't know... It has the least of this "you should listen to this as an album" feel from all Katatonia albums imo. It's just not so atmospheric. I like almost all of the album, but for some reason the whole thing doesn't grab me that much...
Yeah, there are many great songs on TD (For My Demons, I Am Nothing, Black Session), but it doesn't grab me as a whole, unlike the other albums. The production isn't very good either, I wonder why they had to doubletrack Jonas' vocals for most of the album. Anders has mentioned that he hates Fractured (https://thearsource.com/archives/anders-nystrom-katatonia-top-5-worst-katatonia-songs)! :lol
TGCD is definitely a masterpiece and LFDGD is a very good album too.
Has anyone listened to October Tide? It was formed by Jonas Renkse and Fredrik Norrman. I have Rain Without End and it's definitely a masterpiece! :metal Jonas was (and still is, judging by the live videos of Murder) a great growler! But I have to say he's better at clean singing.
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I know he hates it. :lol But still, imo it's way better than No Good Can Come of This which is repetitive, and Strained which is even more repetitive, and that's a very rare problem in case of Katatonia. And I like this production because it's a bit... dirty. It sounds pretty unique actually, especially the guitars. I love the sound of the main riff in For My Demons.
Oh, and I forgot the most important thing. The instrumental at the end of the album... there are no words...
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Oh yeah, 6th May, Koko. Bring it on.
20 years of Katatonia going strong calls for a celebration and we’ll be doing just that by throwing five very special anniversary gigs in Europe this coming May presented as the ‘Last Fair Day Gone Night – An Evening With Katatonia’ tour 2011.
We’ve decided to play the entire ‘Last Fair Deal Gone Down’ album front to back as that’s the one album that got us true worldwide recognition for the first time, but 2011 is also the album’s 10th anniversary so re-visiting this album seems more fitting than any other record we’ve done. A second set will follow that will see us play a mix of tracks from the rest of our catalogue. We’ll be doing some fan favourites classics but also look into a couple of obscure B-sides and such that we’ve never or hardly played live before. Together you should get over two hours of live music on this last fair day gone night
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Why the hell LFDGD? Disappointment for me.
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Why the hell LFDGD? Disappointment for me.
Pretty much how i felt when Opeth decided to do BWP for their anniversary. :-[
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BWP is at least somewhat representative, LFDGD... not really.
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Viva Emptiness would probably be the more obvious choice but I don't care. It's still gonna be awesome.
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TGCD would be the best choice.
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TGCD is too new, i'd say the big reason of performing an album in its entirety would be how special it is.
TGCD was released in what, 2006 or 2007? :P
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Still I've no doubt it was the breakthrough album. It's pretty obvious. And it's actually a consequence of something, LFDGD just appeared out of nowhere and save for 2-3 songs isn't any similar to either TD or VE.
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VE is miles better than TGCD
1. Viva Emptiness
2. Night Is The New Day
3. Brave Murder Day
4. Last Fair Deal Gone Down
5. The Great Cold Distance
6. Discouraged Ones
7. Tonight's Decision
8. Dance Of December Souls
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VE is miles better than TGCD
I agree with this.
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TGCD is the ultimate perfection of what they've started on Discouraged Ones and improved until Viva Emptiness. Then there's Night is The New Day which is something entirely different as it's simply not possible to record something better and more perfect than TGCD in this style.
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Still I've no doubt it was the breakthrough album. It's pretty obvious. And it's actually a consequence of something, LFDGD just appeared out of nowhere and save for 2-3 songs isn't any similar to either TD or VE.
You know I actually disagree, but I think it all resides in different tastes. LFDGD Is one of my favorite albums by Katatonia and I think they should play it live in its entirety again. I love that album. Of course, they should play TGCD When it reaches its anniversary.
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What disappoints me the most is that it will be the next DVD...
And imo seriously, LFDGD is the only Katatonia album that lacks atmosphere. The songwriting is good, but it has nothing of the darkness the other albums have, especially TD and TGCD.
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I wish I lived in one of those cities... :( Fortunately there'll be a DVD! :metal I think it's the right thing to play LFDGD as this year is its 10th anniversary. I think LFDGD is unique 'cause it's the "least metal" Katatonia album. I'd love to see a full performance of Brave Murder Day but I know it won't happen because of Jonas' inability to growl for more than 2 songs in a show. Maybe they should ask Mikael to do the vox! Hopefully they'll play something else from that album than Murder in those shows.
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At least I hope for some more TD songs on that setlist. I only got to see For My Demons myself and that was still when I didn't know the album :\
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does the massive gap between south america and europe tours mean there will be a usa leg?
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does the massive gap between south america and europe tours mean there will be a usa leg?
I don't think so. They toured USA in the fall, so I doubt they'll go there that soon again.
My ranking of the Katatonia albums I have ATM:
Discouraged Ones
Brave Murder Day
The Great Cold Distance (needs more listens)
Last Fair Deal Gone Down / Night Is the New Day
Viva Emptiness
Tonight's Decision
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Bumping this thread again. The 20th anniversary tour setlist looks great!
1st set:
Last Fair Deal Gone Down album
2nd set:
Brave
I Break
Right Into the Bliss
Wait Outside
Dissolving Bonds
My Twin
July
Forsaker
The Longest Year
The Promise of Deceit
Nephilim
New Night
If this will remain the same for the London gig (which will be filmed for a DVD)... :metal :metal :metal
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interesting how the second set goes in chronological order, and they went for a couple of b-sides ("Wait Outside" / "Dissolving Bonds")... looks awesome!
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I guess they didn't include any Dance of December Souls songs because of playing Brave. Jonas couldn't have probably growled for more than 10 minutes. I REALLY hope there'll be a live video of it on Youtube soon! I like how they played so many of my favorite songs: Brave, I Break, Dissolving Bonds, Nephilim...
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Great setlist! Can't wait for the Live DVD, hopefully it will be great.
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tomorrow is going to be awesome!
anyone else on here going?
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Ah fuck, there's a live dvd? And katatonia are touring? Fuck! I would have gone :(
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Bump. I love this band. I recently got into them and I'm ashamed I never did sooner. I love the combination of heavy guitars and Jonas' soft crooning. :heart
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The Great Cold Distance :heart
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Listening to it now. :hat
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Their latest album is clearly the best :D
You guys know Akerfeldt growled on one of their old records, right?
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Their latest album is clearly the best :D
You guys know Akerfeldt growled on one of their old records, right?
So I've heard. Brave Murder Day?
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Yeah, it's a great album, but its drastically different from their newer stuff.
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I love me some Katatonia occasionally.
They can get a bit one-dimensional or 'samey' at times, but as long as I listen to them in right doses, they are really great. :tup
Viva Emptiness or Night is the New Day would be my favorite, The Great Cold Distance is up there.
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The Great Cold Distance is the best thing that they have ever done, in my opinion.
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The Great Cold Distance is the best thing that they have ever done, in my opinion.
I like you.
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I've been listening to them like crazy lately because of the tour announcement. Is July a staple song in their live set? It's become my favorite.
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I've been listening to them like crazy lately because of the tour announcement. Is July a staple song in their live set? It's become my favorite.
Yeah July, My Twin, Leaders are the staple songs from that album. Awesome SET when I saw them live!
Day and Then the Shade
Liberation
My Twin
Onward Into Battle
Complicity
The Longest Year
Soil's Song
Omerta
Teargas
Saw You Drown
Idle Blood
Ghost of the Sun
Evidence
July
Criminals
Forsaker
Leaders
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OMERTA :heart
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Brave live! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9v4-VFUJ7k)
Jonas' voice sounds a bit strained, but a good performance nevertheless.
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NIGHT IS THE NEW DAY is still soooo good.
Can't wait to see them live again and this time with OPETH :metal
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Live Consternation was quite cheap in the local store so I bought it. No regrets about that purchase! :metal Wish it was longer, though. Fortunately the upcoming DVD with the 20th anniversary show in London will fill my needs!
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finally got Viva Emptiness on vinyl — comes with a sweetass holographic stickerposter thing that is just nuts.
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The Great Cold Distance is the best thing that they have ever done, in my opinion.
I like you.
Why, thank you, sir :)
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US and Canadian fans should find this interesting: https://katatonia.com/2011/07/last-fair-day-gone-night-20th-anniversary-north-american-dates/
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Love this band. They kind of remind me of an "alternative rock"version of Opeth. Some of the elements are similar with sad guitar lines and vocal melodies but the songs are shorter and the atmosphere is great in the songs.
I saw them live last year around this time and will be seeing them with Opeth on Friday :metal
Favorite album- Night is the New Day
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The Great Cold Distance is the best them. :P
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I can't pick one favorite album, but my top 4 is (in no particular order): Brave Murder Day, Discouraged Ones, The Great Cold Distance and Night is the New Day.
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I'd probably say Viva Emptiness or Night is the new day.
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For me The Great Cold Distance followed pretty closely by Tonight's Decision, which is a very underrated album.
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I keep listening to Viva Emptiness, but it hasn't really clicked. Some of the songs just seem odd, especially evidence and criminals. I'll keep listening. I do however LOVE Day and then the Shade and Forsaker! Fantastic Songs! I guess just nothing on Viva yet.
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Criminals is one I listen to a lot besides Soils Song.
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I keep listening to Viva Emptiness, but it hasn't really clicked. Some of the songs just seem odd, especially evidence and criminals. I'll keep listening. I do however LOVE Day and then the Shade and Forsaker! Fantastic Songs! I guess just nothing on Viva yet.
That's understandable. It took a while for it to click with me. When I first heard it, I hadn't listened to Katatonia before so his vocals seemed weird to me. When it clicked, it clicked big time. It's one of my favorite albums of all time now.
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I keep listening to Viva Emptiness, but it hasn't really clicked. Some of the songs just seem odd, especially evidence and criminals. I'll keep listening. I do however LOVE Day and then the Shade and Forsaker! Fantastic Songs! I guess just nothing on Viva yet.
That's understandable. It took a while for it to click with me. When I first heard it, I hadn't listened to Katatonia before so his vocals seemed weird to me. When it clicked, it clicked big time. It's one of my favorite albums of all time now.
I'll certainly keep trying, also that is the earliest album of theirs that i own! maybe that has something to do with it, not understanding how their sound has changed. Burn the Rememberance I believe stood out to me as a great song!
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Viva Emptiness has Omerta though. :heart
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Viva Emptiness has Omerta though. :heart
You seem to really like that song! I'll tell you what, when I'm done listening to KOYAANISQATSY I'll listen to omerta!
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I think most people on this forum really likes it, I know I'm not alone at least. :)
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VE is actually my 3rd least favorite Katatonia album; it's not bad but it pales in comprarison with masterpieces like BMD, DO, TGCD and NITND.
BTW, I find it funny how things have changed: 10 years ago Katatonia was supporting Opeth on their Blackwater Park tour and they were the softer band, as Opeth still had growls. Now they're on Heritage tour and Katatonia is notably heavier!
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Forums have too many damn acronyms! if there were any albums PRE Viva that I should get (note i'm a fan of rusted, and most all of night is the new day) what would you recommend?
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Forums have too many damn acronyms! if there were any albums PRE Viva that I should get (note i'm a fan of rusted, and most all of night is the new day) what would you recommend?
Haha! :lol I assumed most would understand those! Get Last Fair Deal Gone Down, many people call it one of their best albums and they're playing it in full on their 20th anniversary shows. However, it's quite different from the latest 3 albums; more like alternative rock, guitars are tuned less low and there isn't any double-bass drumming.
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Forums have too many damn acronyms! if there were any albums PRE Viva that I should get (note i'm a fan of rusted, and most all of night is the new day) what would you recommend?
Haha! :lol I assumed most would understand those! Get Last Fair Deal Gone Down, many people call it one of their best albums and they're playing it in full on their 20th anniversary shows. However, it's quite different from the latest 3 albums; more like alternative rock, guitars are tuned less low and there isn't any double-bass drumming.
will absolutely do. i thought their earlier stuff was more death/thrash metal similar to early anathema?
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Not thrash, but death/doom, yes. However, their stuff was more melodic than Serenades-era Anathema. I'd recommend Brave Murder Day, it's death/doom with shoegaze influences and a great album. It also has Mikael Åkerfeldt doing the grunts! :metal
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Took me all this time to come to this conclusion, but I think NITND > TGCD. But they are very close so it doesn't really matter. Can't wait for their new one whenever they decide to make one.
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I've started listening to Katatonia in preparation for the Opeth show. So far I've only listened to Viva Emptiness. It's decent, although I'm not very excited about the tracks they're playing live. I think I'll be a bigger fan of their earlier work; I'm going to try Dance of December Souls next.
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I keep listening to Viva Emptiness, but it hasn't really clicked. Some of the songs just seem odd, especially evidence and criminals. I'll keep listening. I do however LOVE Day and then the Shade and Forsaker! Fantastic Songs! I guess just nothing on Viva yet.
I really like Viva Emptiness but for me it's the darker songs that stand out - Ghost of The Sun and Wealth are both very heavy but with some really beautiful (and sad) parts, while A Premonition is just tearing apart with emotion.
And personally I find the popularity of the songs on VE to be very weird. Why is Criminals which is nothing special at all popular, while Will I Arrive which is far more powerful and with far more character is totally overlooked? I don't get it.
Took me all this time to come to this conclusion, but I think NITND > TGCD. But they are very close so it doesn't really matter. Can't wait for their new one whenever they decide to make one.
NITND is definitely a great album but it's not as consistent as TGCD for me. On the latter I still cannot even decide on my favourite song (it's a never-ending battle between Leaders, Soil's Song and Rusted), and basically the whole album is on an excellent level. NITND has amazing songs (Departer! Also, Forsaker and of course Liberation :biggrin:), but also some that are just "ok" for me (The Promise of Deceit).
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saw this band open for Opeth the other night.
They were one of the worst opening bands I've ever seen. NOT for me.
BC
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lol fail
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^Exactly!
NITND is definitely a great album but it's not as consistent as TGCD for me. On the latter I still cannot even decide on my favourite song (it's a never-ending battle between Leaders, Soil's Song and Rusted), and basically the whole album is on an excellent level. NITND has amazing songs (Departer! Also, Forsaker and of course Liberation :biggrin:), but also some that are just "ok" for me (The Promise of Deceit).
Same for me: NITND has higher highs, but also lower lows, whereas TGCD is consistent throughout.
I've started listening to Katatonia in preparation for the Opeth show. So far I've only listened to Viva Emptiness. It's decent, although I'm not very excited about the tracks they're playing live. I think I'll be a bigger fan of their earlier work; I'm going to try Dance of December Souls next.
If you want to recognise the songs when you go to the show, I'd recommend The Great Cold Distance and Night is the New Day, since they seem to play mostly stuff from these 2 albums on the Opeth support tour. But if you like melodic doom death, you'll probably enjoy DODS, and possibly Brave Murder Day.
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DEPARTER
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I don't know how they are now, but when I saw them open for PT, they were pretty bad.
Which sucks, because I like them as a bad, but the sound was just pretty lame, and I guess better equipment and them being the main act probably would have made it much better.
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I don't know how they are now, but when I saw them open for PT, they were pretty bad.
Which sucks, because I like them as a bad, but the sound was just pretty lame, and I guess better equipment and them being the main act probably would have made it much better.
I've heard mostly positive comments about their headlining gigs, and some people have said that the 2 new guys (who joined at the end of '09) are more energetic than their predecessors. However, their festival shows have been said to be less good.
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I've started listening to Katatonia in preparation for the Opeth show. So far I've only listened to Viva Emptiness. It's decent, although I'm not very excited about the tracks they're playing live. I think I'll be a bigger fan of their earlier work; I'm going to try Dance of December Souls next.
If you want to recognise the songs when you go to the show, I'd recommend The Great Cold Distance and Night is the New Day, since they seem to play mostly stuff from these 2 albums on the Opeth support tour. But if you like melodic doom death, you'll probably enjoy DODS, and possibly Brave Murder Day.
Thanks. That's my goal, so I'll check those two out instead.
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Hey I just listened to Omerta :tup it's very filled with emotion! Kind of an abrupt ending, and a bit short, but one of the best on Viva I've heard! I like the "do you remember that I used to sing?" lyric!
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So I decided not to go to a one-off headlining show for these guys in Rochester.
Did I make the right decision? :P
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Hmm... I saw them live 2 times and they were great.
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So I decided not to go to a one-off headlining show for these guys in Rochester.
Did I make the right decision? :P
You made one of the worst decisions of your life!
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Hey I just listened to Omerta :tup it's very filled with emotion! Kind of an abrupt ending, and a bit short, but one of the best on Viva I've heard! I like the "do you remember that I used to sing?" lyric!
The ending is intentional. "What is it I have been drinking?" - poison.
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I only have NITND and LFDGD, but, so far, NITND is... okay. Kinda boring metal I guess. Some good songs, but nothing that really jumps out as amazing.
Last Fair Deal Gone Down, however, is pretty great. It definitely has more of an alt. rock sound, but that's okay, because their heavier parts are pretty forgettable.
I'm gonna give Night Is The New Day a few more listens before I pass judgement but it's not looking good.
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Hey I just listened to Omerta :tup it's very filled with emotion! Kind of an abrupt ending, and a bit short, but one of the best on Viva I've heard! I like the "do you remember that I used to sing?" lyric!
The ending is intentional. "What is it I have been drinking?" - poison.
I can see that.
I've always had this idea that VE is a concept album, or at least has a theme through it. I've thought of it as the "Sopranos Ending" (Omerta means a code of silence, so maybe the singer broke the code and is killed, abruptly ending the song).
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Well, it seems to have a bit of a crime theme running throughout. A lot of the songs have something related or that could be interpreted as related.
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So I decided not to go to a one-off headlining show for these guys in Rochester.
Did I make the right decision? :P
You made one of the worst decisions of your life!
This, if I had a chance to go to a 22-song Katatonia show but didn't go there, I would regret it afterwards.
Well, it seems to have a bit of a crime theme running throughout. A lot of the songs have something related or that could be interpreted as related.
Yep. I recall Jonas saying that he didn't write it as a conept album but there are similar themes in the lyrics.
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I've started listening to Katatonia in preparation for the Opeth show. So far I've only listened to Viva Emptiness. It's decent, although I'm not very excited about the tracks they're playing live. I think I'll be a bigger fan of their earlier work; I'm going to try Dance of December Souls next.
If you want to recognise the songs when you go to the show, I'd recommend The Great Cold Distance and Night is the New Day, since they seem to play mostly stuff from these 2 albums on the Opeth support tour. But if you like melodic doom death, you'll probably enjoy DODS, and possibly Brave Murder Day.
Thanks. That's my goal, so I'll check those two out instead.
I ended up liking The Great Cold Distance more than Viva Emptiness, so I was pretty happy with the setlist afterall. The show wasn't very good, though, because the vocals and lead guitar were nearly inaudible. Luckily, Opeth's sound was significantly better.
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This band was so awesome live. I want to see them again.
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Someone recommend me a Katatonia album....
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The Great Cold Distance
GOGOGOGO
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I downloaded Night is the New Day... Enjoying it. will check out The Great Cold Distance tomorrow.
This shit is aaawesome
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Anyone else like A Premonition? I think it's the most underrated Katatonia song, along with Last Resort and the whole Sounds of Decay EP. They should play it live someday; the outro, where all the instruments stop playing one after another, is awesome!
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Definitely. It's one of my favourites from VE. The change of mood from neutral to scared/pleading and then back again is incredible.
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Katatonia got referenced in Skyrim.
(https://i.imgur.com/xUa3Ah.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/LloMFh.jpg)
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Yeah I saw that on their Facebook, cool stuff.
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Lucky Swedes! (https://katatonia.com/2011/11/even-more-guest-appearances-at-stockholm-show/) I guess Mikael would appear on that gig too if he wasn't touring with Opeth.
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Did they record the show with Linder for a DVD? There are a few shitty clips on youtube but Departer sounds killer live with him.
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The show they recorded was in London last May so no Departer or Linder, unless they film the gig in Sweden (which doesn't seem very probable).
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That's just sad.
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Seen them live twice.... First one was at a festival where the sound system sucked... It seemed as if they were performing bad live... Two years later I saw them at KOKO London... this time they were :omg:
So those who didn't like them at the first time around should give them another chance.... me thinks....
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Jonas mentioned in an interview with Finnish metal magazine Inferno that they try to include some stuff from the final 20th anniversary shows as extra on the DVD so I guess there's a chance that Departer might be on there too.
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Wow, they played Unfurl with Frank Default in Stockholm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTLKKh547Mk :omg:
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KATATONIA To Release New Album Before Next Summer - Dec. 31, 2011
https://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=167792
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YES
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YES
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sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet
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I thought the new album wouldn't be released until Fall, this is great news! :metal
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From Facebook:
UPDATE! It's been a busy time lately and the hard work has finally paid off. We have now thirteen songs in the bag and hey, that means the recording of our new album can and shall begin. We're starting with the drums on Monday and we'll be once again work together with David Castillo (who engineered and mixed 'Night Is The New Day'), so even though we always strive to improve our productions, it should sound sweet that it's the same team putting this one together, just throw in some new gear, gadgets and toys with that! The recordings as well as the mix will be divided between Ghostward and our own HQ over the next month and we'll keep you posted on the progress.
So, how does the material sound like? Well, you got the lush textures, the moody melodies, the heavy parts, the progressive touches, the mellow bits and so on... Is it metal? Is it rock? Is it alternative? Is it singer/songwriter? Actually at times it feels like we're exploring territories where Katatonia would be an orphan in the land of "genres". We can't tell where and to whom we belong and the goal is that it doesn't even matter, because before and above any genre there's first an acceptance level of music being good, or being bad. Katatonia might be bad people, but we create good music. Amen.
We also hooked up again with keyboard maestro extraordinaire Frank Default and regardless of the internet speculations, he's not to "blame" for the increased use of electronics since the last album. That part has been called for as we simply feel that it has grown to fill a hole in our sound inside, or alongside, the classic formation of instruments. In our world, we allow mellotrones, hammonds, rhodes and strings to integrate with loops, distortion and filters to manifest in the katatonic maelstrom. It's our time to marry contemporary with vintage. Here's our 9th album to be delivered!
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yes!
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Great news!
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Great news!
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Great news!
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The new album will be called "Born From Nothing." Tentatively due in September.
https://legacy.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=173916&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter (https://legacy.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=173916&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter)
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Actually the title isn't Born from Nothing: https://www.facebook.com/notes/katatonia/false-album-title-circulating/10150885826047384 Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to hearing the album! :metal
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Oh well :laugh: That would have been a pretty cool title though.
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The new album title has been revealed, (for real this time! ;D) the release dates and some artwork can be seen in this pic: https://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/414791_10150925777879907_5954199906_9594593_1542342895_o.jpg
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Both titles are cool, but I like "Born From Nothing" a little bit better.
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The new album title has been revealed, (for real this time! ;D) the release dates and some artwork can be seen in this pic: https://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/414791_10150925777879907_5954199906_9594593_1542342895_o.jpg
:corn YES
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(https://external.ak.fbcdn.net/safe_image.php?d=AQB8aaxr0ZUpRgt4&url=http%3A%2F%2Fkatatonia.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F05%2FKatcvr1fltF-1024x1024.jpg)
Awesome artwork, I must say. I'm just hoping for more variety on this album... That's pretty much the only thing that Katatonia's missing.
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:metal
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The cover is awesome.
Tracklisting for ‘Dead End Kings’ (not in final running order):
THE PARTING
HYPNONE
UNDO YOU
THE RACING HEART
BUILDINGS
LEECH
THE ONE YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IS NOT HERE (featuring Silje Wergeland)
FIRST PRAYER
AMBITIONS
LETHEAN
DEAD LETTERS
I'm very curious how the song with Silje will turn out.
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The artwork looks like a mix between Night is the New Day and Brave Murder Day. Awesome.
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(https://external.ak.fbcdn.net/safe_image.php?d=AQB8aaxr0ZUpRgt4&url=http%3A%2F%2Fkatatonia.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F05%2FKatcvr1fltF-1024x1024.jpg)
Awesome artwork, I must say. I'm just hoping for more variety on this album... That's pretty much the only thing that Katatonia's missing.
The last album had a lot of variety IMO with songs like Idle Blood, Inheritance, and Departer
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The artwork looks like a mixture of Brave Murder Day and the latest In Flames album - the dead bird is back!
Both titles are cool, but I like "Born From Nothing" a little bit better.
Born from Nothing is ok, but IMO it's too typical for a depressive/atmospheric metal album. Dead End Kings sounded weird at first but after reading Jonas' explanation for it I started to like it a lot.
I'm just hoping for more variety on this album... That's pretty much the only thing that Katatonia's missing.
The last album had a lot of variety IMO with songs like Idle Blood, Inheritance, and Departer
I agree 100 % and Anders said they have pushed the extremes even further from each other so DEK should be the most diverse Katatonia album.
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I've never been a fan of Katatonia, but now that I see they're playing with Devin Townsend, I figure I should get acquainted with the music. Where should I start? I'd like both your favourite, and the best album to start with.
Thanks!
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Their most recent album is going to be what most of their set is going to be like.
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Night is the New Day and The Great Cold Distance.
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I've never been a fan of Katatonia, but now that I see they're playing with Devin Townsend, I figure I should get acquainted with the music. Where should I start? I'd like both your favourite, and the best album to start with.
Thanks!
My personal favorite changes all the time, but the best introduction album would be Night is the New Day since it's the most diverse one and represents their overall style very well.
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Their most recent album is going to be what most of their set is going to be like.
??????????????????
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I´m really looking forward to Dead End Kings! I have a question for you all: Are you always in the mood to listen to Katatonia? For me: Their music comes really to life when i´m a little down for whatever reason and when i´m in a good mood and it´s nice weather outside and you know what i mean "it´s all fucking jolly" times, you know! :) I find it hard to listen to and their music don´t speak to me in the same way! Anyone feeling the same?
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^ i definitely have to be 'in the mood.'
anybody else wish they'd re-record the albums from Discouraged Ones through Last Fair Deal Gone Down? a lot of the songs are great, but i feel like they would really benefit from Katatonia's current production style.
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I don't have to be in a certain mood but Katatonia does work the best in the dark time of the year.
About the production: IMO Tonight's Decision is the only album that would improve notably from a re-recording - the rhythm guitar tracks in the left and right channel sound so different from each other and the doubletracking of Jonas' vocals is a bit poorly done (see: "You left with nothing to fear" in In Death, a Song), the drums also sound a bit flat. I think LFDGD is pretty well-produced and while DO is a bit raw-sounding it doesn't bother me and although Jonas' voice sounds pretty untrained on DO and TD, the lack of confidence makes the vocals sound more depressed which fits the style of those records.
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Absolutely.
And I would say that if you are just getting into the band and are seein them soon with Townsend, I would suggest listening to both Brave Murder Day (to hear their old death metal sound) and to listen to The Great Cold Distance (to hear their more recent gothic rock sound). Katatonia is the only band that I know of that have switched their style so many times. Their really early stuff is pretty much black metal; then they had a more of a traditional death metal sound with Brave Murder Day; doom rock with Discouraged Ones, and then from Tonight's Decision to Viva Emptiness they had more of an alternative thing goin' on; and now they're getting a little heavier again with The Great Cold Distance, Night Is The New Day, and Dead End Kings (which is only an estimate right now, since nothing from the record has been released yet). But it's all incredible haha.
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^ i'd actually place DO/TD/LFDGD together as a trilogy, though i agree DO is much doomier than the later two. similarly, i'd put VE, TGCD and NITND together as another 'trilogy' of sorts, as they all employ similar production and fairly similar writing (although NITND is a lot more dynamic).
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They released a song from the album https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u79MohYXcl4
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...whoah. That was really good.
My anticipation for this album just got a lot, lot higher.
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Love this band. Love this song. Can't wait for the new album :metal :metal :metal
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Yeah that was cool, i love the vocal harmonies that Renkse does!
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Gonna be an awesome album. Their last two were my favorites and I'm really excited for this one
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The song isn't really groundbreaking or surprising but it's great which matters the most! :metal
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They released a song from the album https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u79MohYXcl4
This is excellent, looking forward to the album.
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Great song!
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New song is so good. I listened to it 5 or 6 times in a row yesterday. Top quality stuff from a top quality band.
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New song is so good. I listened to it 5 or 6 times in a row yesterday. Top quality stuff from a top quality band.
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I love Katatonia! This new song is really good and I cannot wait for the new album!
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Preview of a new song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgt5tkRzJhs&feature=share (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgt5tkRzJhs&feature=share)
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Sounds like a mixture of My Twin and Ashes... It's hard to say anything about a 1-minute clip.
EDIT: *Ashen
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Sounds like a mixture of My Twin and Ashes... It's hard to say anything about a 1-minute clip.
That's why I did not bother...I'm (im)patiently waiting for the August release date...
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KATATONIA, ALCEST AND JUNIUS?????!!!!!!!!!1
I don't care is we get Katatonia, DTP, Paradise Lost and Stolen Babies, that tour needs to happen here too!
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That new song is great, it's what I expect of Katatonia
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Katatonia and Alcest are playing here in November, I really want to go but I don't have much money right now. Hopefully I'll win money or something, but otherwise it's kinda lame. Opeth is also playing here in December (unplugged show) and I haven't gotten tickets for that either, so I'm feeling a bit down. :/
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Katatonia played in my hometown in 2010 but I wasn't familiar enough with their material and didn't go (something I regret now). Now they'll play 4 gigs in Finland, my hometown isn't on the list and the other places are too far away :( Oh, and Opeth aren't coming to Finland at all :sadpanda:
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I was forced to miss the Katatonia/Opeth show in NC on the last tour. Now they're not even come to NC w/ PL and DTP... :-\
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2 new songs streaming!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Okq6jyxdCNQ&feature=youtu.be (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Okq6jyxdCNQ&feature=youtu.be)
https://www.stormbringer.at/news_33172/katatonia_-_neuer_song_buildings_im_stream.html
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I was forced to miss the Katatonia/Opeth show in NC on the last tour. Now they're not even come to NC w/ PL and DTP... :-\
It was a rumor going around that Opeth and Katatonia were going to do another tour of the US together again
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The new songs sound very good! :smiley: Dead Letters is my least favorite out of the 3 and Buildings is my favorite.
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I was forced to miss the Katatonia/Opeth show in NC on the last tour. Now they're not even come to NC w/ PL and DTP... :-\
It was a rumor going around that Opeth and Katatonia were going to do another tour of the US together again
As cool as that would be, I'd rather see them w/ PL...
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album samples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o603BlggwZY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o603BlggwZY)
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Listened to the new album today. It's noticeably less dark and aggressive than the last album, but there are still heavy moments not to mention the familiar depressive lyrics. Overall it's a great album if slightly more inconsistent quality-wise than their past stuff. That said, DEK is easily a 9/10 based on two listens.
Highlights/favorite parts:
The One You Are Looking For Is Not Here (that hypnotic Tool-like riff combined with female vocals is :hefdaddy)
The Racing Heart (simply one of the most beautiful metal tracks I've ever heard)
Buildings (heaviest song on the album, prog riffs and melodies)
Leech (dat jazzy solo :heart)
Ambitions (incredibly heartbreaking intro
Undo You (even though it's technically a "metal" track it would fit quite well on Opeth's Damnation or even on Heritage, amazing song)
Lethean (not sure how to describe this one besides it being amazing)
First Prayer (one of my favorite choruses on the album and of the band as a whole)
Dead Letters (most prog song on the album, absolutely brilliant track)
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Looks like I haven't commented on the samples yet... Anyway, unless the samples are from the mellow sections of the songs, it sounds like DEK will be much softer than the previous few records. I'm ok with that, though, as while the softer songs on NITND took more time to grow on me than the heavy ones, some of them ended up being my favorites in the long run. I also feel that Katatonia pretty much perfected the alt metal thing on TGCD already.
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Looking forward to this a lot. Been listening to Night is the New Day a lot lately.
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For me it is as heavy as NITND, maybe more ambient and progressive, but is heavy enough all round, with the dynamics of the songs.
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<3 The Racing Heart
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I bought the album yesterday and have given it three full spins. My favorite songs are The Racing Heart, Leech and Lethean. It's still too early to say if it's better than NITND or how high I would rank it but it's definitely a great album.
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Wow. Just, wow. This album is just a-ma-zing. I've just started my second listen, but I enjoyed every second of the first one. "The Racing Heart" stood out as particularly awesome - can't wait to hear it again.
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If I thought Night is the New Day was slow, samey, and boring, what are the chances I'll like this? Saw it in a store, and I'd be willing to pick it up if it's good, especially since I'm seeing them live with Devy.
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If I thought Night is the New Day was slow, samey, and boring, what are the chances I'll like this? Saw it in a store, and I'd be willing to pick it up if it's good, especially since I'm seeing them live with Devy.
I don't think they have changed their style all that much. To some extent I can agree with "slow and samey" but definately not "boring". :) Why don't you head over to Youtube and check out some of their new stuff? "The Racing Heart" and "Lethean" comes to mind.
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If I thought Night is the New Day was slow, samey, and boring, what are the chances I'll like this? Saw it in a store, and I'd be willing to pick it up if it's good, especially since I'm seeing them live with Devy.
This album is far less samey. Pick it up.
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Got my copy yesterday but I haven't listened to it yet.
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Got my copy yesterday but I haven't listened to it yet.
You are a bad person
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Got my copy yesterday but I haven't listened to it yet.
You are a bad person
I can live with that. :biggrin:
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Almost through my second listen. Great album, hasn't clicked as much as NitND had after the same amount of time, but it might grow more. I like the variety on it.
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Yeah, for me Dead End Kings has taken more time to click than NITND although that one did need some repeated listens as well. BTW, am I the only one who thinks The Act of Darkening should've been the closer on the standard tracklisting (despite being different from the rest of the album)? Maybe it's just me but I find Dead Letters a bit underwhelming as the final song.
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I've listened to the album about 5-6 times. It's good, but not close to the last two, IMO. The Racing Heart is the only track that has really prompted me to play it over and over.
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It's easily better than NitND - which had plenty of samey filler songs, despite having a great sound.
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One full listen to the new album and my first impression is that it reminds me of Discouraged Ones in that it has a laid back vibe, but still has intensity. It carries all the Katatonia trademarks while not being a rehash of the last album...looking forward to future spins.
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What I like is that every song has a unique vibe despite remaining pretty stereotypical of the modern Katatonia song - no two songs sound like rehashes of riffs or vocals - every song brings something new to the table, which most previous albums struggled with going all the way back to Viva.
edit: this is the first Jens surround sound mix that gets the faemir stamp of approval - it only took him 5 years to get 'good' :|
Just to clarify: Great Cold Distance has a surround mix, but it never uses the center speaker. At all.
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Agreed the 5.1 mix is pretty damned good.
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I've never checked out this band before but I know they will be playing with Devin Townsend next time I see him... are there any recommendations people can give me of songs/albums?
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I've never checked out this band before but I know they will be playing with Devin Townsend next time I see him... are there any recommendations people can give me of songs/albums?
I'd say their four latest albums (Viva Emptiness, Great Cold Distance, Night is the New Day and Dead End Kings) are all really good in my book. I haven't checked out the earlier albums yet though (its on my list), but out of them I'd probably say Great Cold Distance or Dead End Kings would be the best starting points. (though I started with Night is the New Day and loved it) :P
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And I think those ^ are the only albums they play live now. At least when they were with Opeth.
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Like this album a lot. Thought Night is the New Day was pretty samey and full of less than good songs. But this is a lot better. More diverse, with heart-wrenching melodies throughout. Thanks for recommending this, guys! :tup
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And I think those ^ are the only albums they play live now. At least when they were with Opeth.
They played a song from Last Fair Deal Gone Down when I saw them last year which is, incidentally, my favorite of their three albums I've heard.
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When they opened for PT back in '09, they played "Teargas" which (if I'm not mistaken) is from Last Fair Deal Gone Down.
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They're playing LFDGD songs pretty frequently, it's the first 4 albums that mostly get ignored (sadly). Anyway, I echo what you guys have been saying, except that I wouldn't recommend Viva Emptiness as one of the first albums - it has a pretty raw production and some of Jonas' less brilliant lyrical moments that could turn some people off. But it's true that you can't go wrong with Great Cold Distance, NITND or the new one.
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I disagree, Viva was my first real insight into Katatonia and the one that good me hooked.TGCD has never really clicked with me, it lacks the brilliance of VE for me :-X
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Should be receiving this new album this week.
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I disagree, Viva was my first real insight into Katatonia and the one that good me hooked.TGCD has never really clicked with me, it lacks the brilliance of VE for me :-X
Viva has some great stuff but I don't care much about songs like One Year from Now and Walking by a Wire. GCD is very consistent, The Itch is the only less than stellar song on the album and it should've been replaced with Dissolving Bonds.
This just prompted me to rank the Katatonia albums:
1. Great Cold Distance
2. Night is the New Day
3. Dead End Kings (may go even more up after more listens)
4. Brave Murder Day
5. Discouraged Ones
6. Last Fair Deal Gone Down
7. Viva Emptiness
8. Tonight's Decision
9. Dance of December Souls
The first 5 positions change all the time depending on mood - sometimes Discouraged Ones feels like the best album, sometimes Brave Murder Day is my favorite and so on. LFDGD also moves up occasionally but the bottom 3 remains the same pretty much all the time.
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I disagree, Viva was my first real insight into Katatonia and the one that good me hooked.TGCD has never really clicked with me, it lacks the brilliance of VE for me :-X
I agree with most this. Viva Emptiness is one of my favorite albums ever. GCD took a while to click with me.
And I just found out that Katatonia is playing in Chicago with DTP and Paradise Lost, and I have the day off :metal :metal :metal
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Really starting to like the new album. I'd definitely rank it over TGCD and NITND, which are the only other albums I've heard.
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I spun the "Dead Letters" single a lot, then on Spotify once or twice when the album first came out. But I just picked up the CD on Saturady at the record show in Greensboro. Since then, I've spun the album probably 5 times beginning to end (mostly driving around this weekend running errands then on the way to work this morning). It's definitely one of my favorite releases of the year. It easily stands up in the Katatonia catalog. I didn't find anything disappointing on it.
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Despite some tough competition, Dead End Kings is the album of the year for me! :hat There are no fillers at all and it might even be my favorite Katatonia album.
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2nd or 3rd favorite album of the year, for me.
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It's top 30 for me. Good album.
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The album is fantastic
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I should get it soon.
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Funny live clip - Katatonia have to restart Dead Letters twice to get it right (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAkzRXzrZQI) :lol
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:rollin
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Guitarist/co-founder Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström of Swedish dark rockers KATATONIA just done with stripping down the band's latest album, "Dead End Kings", to an atmospheric sound devoid of any metal.
Says Nyström: "Early on, we felt it was both peculiar and interesting how the songs could breathe on their own taking a different minimal approach, so we wanted to go back and explore this in a very spontaneous and unpretentious way. Vocals, keyboards and acoustic guitars are in and distorted guitars/bass and drums are out! Stay tuned for a release date!"
Sounds interesting.
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so they are basically releasing a remix?
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I saw that on Anders' FB page, he also said he's putting together some old video material to complete the documentary so that the DVD can finally be released! :caffeine:
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Guitarist/co-founder Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström of Swedish dark rockers KATATONIA just done with stripping down the band's latest album, "Dead End Kings", to an atmospheric sound devoid of any metal.
Says Nyström: "Early on, we felt it was both peculiar and interesting how the songs could breathe on their own taking a different minimal approach, so we wanted to go back and explore this in a very spontaneous and unpretentious way. Vocals, keyboards and acoustic guitars are in and distorted guitars/bass and drums are out! Stay tuned for a release date!"
Sounds interesting.
Hmm... this could work I guess, but aren't the songs already atmospheric enough? :lol
I don't see this being anywhere near as good as the original.
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Official video for Lethean (https://www.rocknytt.net/videos/9252-exklusiv-vaerldspremiaer-foer-katatonias-musikvideo-qletheanq)
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cool video!
Lasse Hoile, I'm assuming?
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I like the video but the song is really good. I gotta get this album some more spins!
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Lasse Hoile, I'm assuming?
Yep. The feedback on Katatonia's FB page doesn't seem too positive, but I don't think the video is bad at all. Of course Lasse has done better videos for PTree, but this beats Day & Then the Shade easily (he seems to like gothic girls :biggrin:). Besides, I'm bored of the basic "band playing in an industrial hall" videos that 99% of metal bands are doing nowadays, so it's good that at least some directors use their imagination.
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Today is the 10th anniversary of Viva Emptiness! :metal I just listened to it in full to celebrate. While it's a bottom 3 Katatonia album for me, it's still really good and has some of my favorite songs like A Premonition and Evidence.
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Today is the 10th anniversary of Viva Emptiness! :metal I just listened to it in full to celebrate. While it's a bottom 3 Katatonia album for me, it's still really good and has some of my favorite songs like A Premonition and Evidence.
Cool :metal That album has quite a few great songs on it. Inside the City of Glass is probably one of my favorite metal instrumentals.
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Viva Emptiness was my intro to Katatonia and remains at the top of my favourites (with The Great Cold Distance). the only song on it i dislike is "Omerta," but even it has a cool style. i see the whole thing as the start of their newer sound, as it has very little in common with the more goth-rock sort of sound before it.
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I like Omerta a lot actually. IMO One Year from Now is easily the weakest song and I'm not the biggest fan of Ghost of the Sun, either. You're right that VE was a step away from the previous albums: it's much more riff-based and more modern metal-sounding like their newer stuff. I think TGCD beats it very easily - both the songwriting and the production are much better.
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I like Viva Emptiness the most of the Katatonia I've listened to. AGCD is very good, but VE has a nostalgic aspect to it. Plus Evidence thru Inside the City of Glass is one of the best trios of songs IMO. What a way to end the album.
Plus I like how there seems to be a theme that runs lyrically throughout :hat
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Any appreciation for Sounds of Decay? I think it's one of the best EP's I've heard and it offers some good extra if you listen to Brave Murder Day in full and it feels like the album ends too quickly (pretty ironic that such a monotonous album can sometimes feel too short! :lol). Nowhere is one of my all-time favorite Katatonia songs; the other 2 pieces and Untrue are great as well. Then again Katatonia have always written some awesome non-album tracks: Dissolving Bonds, Unfurl, Quiet World, Second...
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Any appreciation for Sounds of Decay? I think it's one of the best EP's I've heard and it offers some good extra if you listen to Brave Murder Day in full and it feels like the album ends too quickly (pretty ironic that such a monotonous album can sometimes feel too short! :lol). Nowhere is one of my all-time favorite Katatonia songs; the other 2 pieces and Untrue are great as well. Then again Katatonia have always written some awesome non-album tracks: Dissolving Bonds, Unfurl, Quiet World, Second...
Just had a listen to it. Good stuff :metal
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Jonas is involved in a new project, Wisdom of Crowds: https://www.kscopemusic.com/wisdomofcrowds/promo/ The teaser sounds promising! :caffeine:
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Jonas is involved in a new project, Wisdom of Crowds: https://www.kscopemusic.com/wisdomofcrowds/promo/ The teaser sounds promising! :caffeine:
Count me interested. :tup
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I'm more interested in it because it's Bruce from Pineapple Thief really. Teaser didn't blow me away, but I'm still fairly excited.
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Jonas is one of my favorite singers, so it'll be nice to hear his voice in another project too. Speaking of projects, he has done some hip hop stuff with Åkerfeldt, but Mikael said that they will never release anything! :lol
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For those who haven't heard it yet, Wisdom of Crowds made a song called Frozen North available a while ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEGMrkM4r5s
I definitely like it! :tup
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PledgeMusic campaign for Dethroned & Uncrowned (https://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/katatonia)
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https://katatonia.com/2013/06/viva-emptiness-10th-year-anniversary-re-issue-and-tour/ (https://katatonia.com/2013/06/viva-emptiness-10th-year-anniversary-re-issue-and-tour/)
I am excited. VE is one of my favorite albums and can only imagine how it would be to see it done live :metal
Then I read the poster and realized they are all European dates :sadpanda:
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Great to hear they're remixing VE, that album deserves better sound quality! :tup Too bad they're only supporting Paradise Lost on those few shows, I'd love to see them when PL come to Finland in September.
In other news: Katatonia reached their goal with the PledgeMusic project!
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Really looking forward to both the improved VE and the stripped down DEK.
While it's not as polished as the next 3 albums, I don't have any problems at all with the production on VE. Though, that obviously doesn't mean that there's no room for improvement, and if it's something they really want to do I'm sure the result will be excellent!
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Glad they're trying something like this. I'm excited to hear how it turns out!
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Viva Emptiness was actually the first album I heard by Katatonia but after the release of The Great Cold Distance the album kind of disappeared from my playlist, I still like it though.
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More European dates for the special tour with Paradise Lost: https://katatonia.com/2013/07/viva-emptiness-tour-extended-into-europe/
Looks like Finland will only get regular PL shows and Katatonia won't be there :sad:
(post #5858 - nuggetz!)
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So. I have The Great Cold Distance. Where should I go next?
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Viva Emptiness (which happens to be my favorite, but it's of that era of Katatonia so it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot).
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I wouldn't get Viva Emptiness yet, because there will be a remixed version in November and it's one of my least favorite albums anyway (I'm probably in the minority though) because of a couple of weak songs and some slightly immature lyrics. If you liked TGCD, then I'm sure you'll enjoy Night is the New Day and Dead End Kings.
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all four of those (VE, TGCD, NITND, DEK) have a fairly similar sound, so if you like any of them, go ahead and get them all. I have all of them in my regular album rotation.
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Thanks, guys. Viva Emptiness will be my next purchase. :metal
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Viva Emptiness is the only Katatonia album I actually like. I still almost never listen to it. :-\
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Do you have The Great Cold Distance?
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No, I've got Brave Murder Day, Viva Emptiness and Dead End Kings. Is TGCD worth getting?
btw, I just decided to give VE another chance.
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Well, I really like it. But, I'm not a Katatonia expert, so I don't know whether you'd like it or not.
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Trying to figure out what I should go for next. I picked up Last Fair Deal Gone Down on a blind purchase and really enjoyed it. I understand they have changed their style a lot over the years so I'm curious what else is in the same vein as this.
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Trying to figure out what I should go for next. I picked up Last Fair Deal Gone Down on a blind purchase and really enjoyed it. I understand they have changed their style a lot over the years so I'm curious what else is in the same vein as this.
Tonight's Decision and Discouraged Ones are closest to the LFDGD style, although they are less polished and Jonas' vocals weren't as strong yet. The new albums are more modern and heavier, but Dead End Kings is their most mellow release since Last Fair Deal, so it could be a good place to start if you want to try their new stuff.
No, I've got Brave Murder Day, Viva Emptiness and Dead End Kings. Is TGCD worth getting?
You didn't like Brave Murder Day? :(
If you found Viva enjoyable, then I think you could like TGCD as well, because it continues the heavier style of VE. It demands more listens before opening up though.
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You didn't like Brave Murder Day? :(
No I didn't to be honest. I got it solely because Akerfeldt did the vocals on it, and apart from Brave and Rainroom which I kind of enjoyed, I found it way to repetitive and boring :-\
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Well, the band wanted it to be repetitive and monotonous :lol However, you can find some variety if you listen carefully enough - Day obviously differs from the rest of the album and 12 was written 2 years before the rest of the album and it's pretty melodic. I also find Endtime a bit doomier than the other songs.
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I don't really feel the need to listen to it again :)
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Trying to figure out what I should go for next. I picked up Last Fair Deal Gone Down on a blind purchase and really enjoyed it. I understand they have changed their style a lot over the years so I'm curious what else is in the same vein as this.
Tonight's Decision and Discouraged Ones are closest to the LFDGD style, although they are less polished and Jonas' vocals weren't as strong yet. The new albums are more modern and heavier, but Dead End Kings is their most mellow release since Last Fair Deal, so it could be a good place to start if you want to try their new stuff.
Thanks for the recs, ended up picking up Dead End Kings tonight. Still on my first spin, but liking it so far.
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Thanks for the recs, ended up picking up Dead End Kings tonight. Still on my first spin, but liking it so far.
:tup
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The One You Are Looking for is Not Here (Dethroned & Uncrowned version): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnVjaJi8m2A
It would've been more interesting if they had released one of the heavier songs, but I like what they have done with this tune.
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The One You Are Looking for is Not Here (Dethroned & Uncrowned version): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnVjaJi8m2A
It would've been more interesting if they had released one of the heavier songs, but I like what they have done with this tune.
Meh.
This seems pretty pointless to me, if Katatonia wants to make an ambient record (which is a great idea) they should just write a new album, not do a bunch of re-mixes of already existing songs where the originals are pretty much always going to be superior.
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I'm pretty sure I'll prefer the original versions, but I still want to hear the new release.
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I'm pretty sure I'll prefer the original versions, but I still want to hear the new release.
This.
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So I heard some of Dethroned and Uncrowned and I think they did a fantastic job reworking the songs; especially The Racing Heart :hefdaddy
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Buildings reworked (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkmjBxLvipI)
I think this version is more interesting than The One... Dethroned & Uncrowned was released yesterday, so I think I'll pick it up on Monday :)
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Hey guys, i will do an interview with Anders from Katatonia on Friday for Rocking.gr so if you have any questions you wanted to be asked i'll try to fit them between mine.
Feel free to post any questions!
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Which of the reworkings on Dethroned & Uncrowned turned out the best in your opinion?
If you had the chance to rework an older Katatonia song, which one would you choose and why?
How is the Last Fair Day Gone Night DVD progressing?
Any plans for 2014? When can we expect a new Katatonia album?
Which 3 Katatonia songs (from any album) would you recommend to someone who has never heard your music?
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Which of the reworkings on Dethroned & Uncrowned turned out the best in your opinion?
If you had the chance to rework an older Katatonia song, which one would you choose and why?
How is the Last Fair Day Gone Night DVD progressing?
Any plans for 2014? When can we expect a new Katatonia album?
Which 3 Katatonia songs (from any album) would you recommend to someone who has never heard your music?
:tup :tup
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Stream here:
https://www.metalinjection.net/av/katatonia-streaming-dethroned-uncrowned-full
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One more question for Anders:
Are there some Katatonia songs that have never been played live but you'd like to perform?
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Dethroned and Decrowned is amazing. Love what they did with the atmosphere. Its what I enjoy a lot. Good job katatonia
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You can read my interview with Anders here https://www.rocking.gr/interviews/en/Katatonia-Interview-Anders-Nystrom/17237/ (https://www.rocking.gr/interviews/en/Katatonia-Interview-Anders-Nystrom/17237/), i asked some of your questions :)
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Nice interview, thanks for sharing (and using my questions)! :tup Acoustic Without God would be awesome :D
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https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/katatonia/2013/irving-plaza-new-york-ny-1bc781bc.html
Lucky Americans!
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I ordered the remix/master of Viva Emptiness today, looking forward to getting it in a week or so.
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One new Katatonia fan here. Last Fair Deal Gone Down is my favorite so far but Dead End Kings finally clicked with me recently :tup Probably my favorite album of 2012.
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One new Katatonia fan here. Last Fair Deal Gone Down is my favorite so far but Dead End Kings finally clicked with me recently :tup Probably my favorite album of 2012.
Try the Great Cold Distance next, loved that album back when it was released and its still my favorite.
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Always great to see Katatonia get new fans! :tup As Polarbear said, The Great Cold Distance is a great album, but Night Is the New Day is worth checking out as well.
I'll probably get the remixed version of Viva Emptiness soon. I've listened to a few of the new versions on YT and they sound great :metal
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I've been listening to the new version of Viva Emptiness, and though I am not that familiar with the original, the new version sounds great, fresh, crisp and full of great songs.
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I know My Twin, love that song. I will check the rest of The Great Cold Distance soon.
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Somewhat new here on this forum, I've known Katatonia since the end of 2011 but ever since I saw them open for Opeth on their spring 2013 tour, I've been hooked on them ever since. I saw them again later that year when they played with Cult of Luna, TesseracT, and Intronaut and was totally blown away with the deeper cuts that made the set (especially Quiet World, Unfurl, Ashen and Black Session). Night Is The New Day was the album that introduced me to them, but my favorite album as of now is a tie between Discouraged Ones and Last Fair Deal Gone Down.
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I know My Twin, love that song. I will check the rest of The Great Cold Distance soon.
Me too, but there is a killer 'dub' version released on a single, that is slowed down and almost hypnotic.
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I saw them again later that year when they played with Cult of Luna, TesseracT, and Intronaut and was totally blown away with the deeper cuts that made the set (especially Quiet World, Unfurl, Ashen and Black Session).
The setlist for that tour looked pretty amazing indeed; too bad they didn't play a European tour with those songs. Speaking of European tours, there's gonna be an unplugged tour in the spring and of course they won't come to Finland :-\
(https://katatonia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Kat_UR_Tour_2014_Admat_HI2.jpg)
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I saw them again later that year when they played with Cult of Luna, TesseracT, and Intronaut and was totally blown away with the deeper cuts that made the set (especially Quiet World, Unfurl, Ashen and Black Session).
The setlist for that tour looked pretty amazing indeed; too bad they didn't play a European tour with those songs. Speaking of European tours, there's gonna be an unplugged tour in the spring and of course they won't come to Finland :-\
(https://katatonia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Kat_UR_Tour_2014_Admat_HI2.jpg)
I'm hoping that they film one of those shows. It seems like a one off thing that's likely to never happen again which is a good reason why it should be filmed for posterity. Seeing as if the Last Fair Day Gone Night DVD won't be release for a long time, it might be great if the unplugged tour were to be part of a bonus DVD.
Strange, they've been on record saying that they love playing in Finland and there's not even one show in their homeland of Sweden either. I was hoping for an American leg of the unplugged tour, but I don't think that'll happen considering they've toured the US three times in the past 2 years which is a lot in their standards.
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Strange, they've been on record saying that they love playing in Finland and there's not even one show in their homeland of Sweden either.
Yea what the hell? That should be against some form of rule...
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They've said they have more fans in Finland, which is why they play here more often than in Sweden, but that doesn't explain why both countries are excluded on this tour :sad:
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https://katatonia.com/2014/02/katatonia-parts-way-with-guitarist-bruce-soord-steps-in-for-unplugged-reworked-tour/
Sodo co-wrote Lethean, which is one of my favorite songs on DEK and has an awesome solo, so I'm bummed that he only got to play on one album (not counting Dethroned...) :sad: That said, I'm ok with any line-up changes as long as Jonas and Anders are still in the band. Judging by the Wisdom of Crowds album, Bruce Soords is a really talented musician and a great replacement, but I can't see him becoming a full-time member due to the fact that he lives in the UK and has no metal background (as far as I know).
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Damn, I'm bummed that Sodo's no longer part of the band. I was hoping for more of Lethean-ish solos on the next album cause I thought that could've brought the band into a newer direction while still having the trademark Katatonia sound. I'm gonna miss that whiplash headbanging style of his. Bruce Soord's definitely a talented and awesome musician but there's no way he's gonna join Katatonia full time since Pineapple Thief's his main priority.
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https://katatonia.com/2014/02/fill-in-guitarist-for-summer-gigs-announced/
Never heard of the guy, but he's certainly a more likely candidate to join the band full-time. However, with Jonas and Anders writing pretty much all the music, I think the idea of carrying on as a 4-piece with a session guy filling in for live shows isn't farfetched.
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Tomas looks like he could fit in with Katatonia, but it looks like Nale might be his "full-time" band. Sodo and Nille (Niklas) weren't even full time members to begin with when they joined the band in 2010. It wasn't until probably the Last Fair Day Gone Night vinyl/DVD and Dead End Kings recordings that they were listed as "full time" members. And I believe the press release for when the Normann's left initially listed Sodo and Nille as "live/session members".
Speaking of former band members, my favorite bassist in the band was Mikael Oretoft...better than Mattias or Nille. Just kidding. :lol but Discouraged Ones had my favorite bass sound IMO; I liked how clean and clear it sounded. Kinda felt sorry for Oretoft after reading how he got kicked out.
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Yeah, Oretoft wasn't kicked out in the nicest way, but he only played on like half the songs on DO and the rest of the bass tracks were done by Anders and Jonas. According to a post he made in the official Katatonia forum it was his second time recording in a studio and he was so nervous that his playing was sloppy: https://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/katatonia/30129-micke-oretoft-if-his-real-name.html#post460910
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I wonder if Oretoft is going to be interviewed for that documentary that's supposedly the reason why the Last Fair Day Gone Night DVD has yet to be released. Anders said he wants to documentary to have everyone that was involved in Katatonia's history somehow interviewed. It'd be pretty interesting to hear from those who were involved in the early days. (i.e. Guillaume Le Huche, Dan Swano, Mikael Akerfeldt)
And speaking of Discouraged Ones, here's a fact that probably flew past the radar. Jonas doesn't sing in the chorus for I Break. It's Anders and Mikael Akerfeldt singing the chorus. I actually had a feeling it wasn't Jonas's voice in the chorus cause the voice sounded different from how Jonas sounded on the rest of the album.
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Yeah, I read the interview where they confirmed the I Break thing. I always thought it was Jonas, as his voice has a similar tone in the mellow parts of the album (like the first verse of Deadhouse), where he's not doing an impression of Robert Smith :D
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I was starting to think it was lost in transit, but thankfully this arrived in my post today! And I'll have Discouraged Ones coming my way soon as well. Thankfully my Discouraged Ones vinyl is coming from the US which means I'll get in my post sooner! :biggrin:
(https://24.media.tumblr.com/6094854f9b72a57e4d76b225153c67ed/tumblr_n1w2x9yLVl1sulamyo1_r1_500.jpg)
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So it's March 4 again... Happy (gloomy?) Katatonia day! :metal
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Been on a Katatonia kick for the past 2 weeks, Viva Emptiness has been flooring me.
I still have The Great Cold Distance to get into, never clicked with me at all.
Got the triple vinyl Last fair Day Gone Night on the way for an absolute steal $52 inc shipping.
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Been on a Katatonia kick for the past 2 weeks, Viva Emptiness has been flooring me.
I still have The Great Cold Distance to get into, never clicked with me at all.
I liked Viva Emptiness, but for the longest time I couldn't listen to it because of the St. Anger like snare drum...the remixed version that came out last year got rid of the St. Anger snare and it sounds much more fuller to me and now it's one of my favorites.
If The Great Cold Distance never clicked with you, have you listened to the B-sides off of the album (Displaced, Dissolving Bonds, Code Against The Code, and Unfurl)? Cause IMO they're better than half the songs on the proper album. Especially Unfurl, that's a top 10 Katatonia song for me.
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I find Code Against the Code pretty meh and Displaced is alright, but I absolutely love Dissolving Bonds and Unfurl :hefdaddy Most of Katatonia's B-sides in general are great songs that would've deserved to be on the standard albums.
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I absolutely love Dissolving Bonds and Unfurl :hefdaddy Most of Katatonia's B-sides in general are great songs that would've deserved to be on the standard albums.
They should really make Dissolving Bonds and Unfurl live staples. When I saw them last September, those two songs really worked well in a live setting. Quiet World should've been on the Discouraged Ones album, and Anders has even admitted that there was no reason why they left the song out the album, same with Wait Outside.
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Anders has actually said Jonas wasn't into Quiet World when they were recording Discouraged Ones, so he came up with the idea to release it on a separate EP.
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Saw the thread today, decided to listen to TGCD. Damn, that album is out of this world.
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Really liking Viva Emptiness as my first Katatonia experience. Amazing.
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Really liking Viva Emptiness as my first Katatonia experience. Amazing.
Ooh, that's a great album to start off your Katatonia experience. I recommend the album before it, Last Fair Deal Gone Down. I should mention that it's got their signature song, Teargas on it. The production on it is probably the best of their middle period work I think.
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Been on a Katatonia kick for the past 2 weeks, Viva Emptiness has been flooring me.
I still have The Great Cold Distance to get into, never clicked with me at all.
I liked Viva Emptiness, but for the longest time I couldn't listen to it because of the St. Anger like snare drum...the remixed version that came out last year got rid of the St. Anger snare and it sounds much more fuller to me and now it's one of my favorites.
If The Great Cold Distance never clicked with you, have you listened to the B-sides off of the album (Displaced, Dissolving Bonds, Code Against The Code, and Unfurl)? Cause IMO they're better than half the songs on the proper album. Especially Unfurl, that's a top 10 Katatonia song for me.
I have the My Twin CD single, which has Dissolving Bonds and Displaced on it, didn't do a lot for me though.
I have not heard the other 2.
But I have ordered the 5.1 of TGCD and hopefully I'll get into it that way.
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Haven't really been listening to Katatonia for a while but it's always nice to hear about people discovering this band. Criminals and A Premonition was my introduction to Katatonia, I heard the songs and was so intrigued by the dark mood and soundscape that I had to check the whole album out. When I later heard TGCD I was just sold.
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The Great Cold Distance, Night is the New Day, and Dead End Kings are my favorite three. Their best produced albums!
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Yeah Night Is The New Day, does have an amazing sound, I hope it gets the 5.1 treatment, now that would be a pretty amazing sound.
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I agree gazinwales, Night Is The New Day deserves to be in 5.1. Why they skipped one the chance when the two albums between it have 5.1 treatments confounds me to this day.
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There must be a good reason why it's not.
The back catalogue has been well milked already, so why not?
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Must be about time Katatonia issued a full on live concert DVD/BR?
The Black Sessions and Live Consternation are not bad, but they have improved out of sight
since those days.
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They filmed the London show on the anniversary tour in 2011, but the band history documentary isn't ready yet. Hopefully they'll get it out this year!
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Yup I know this, but who knows when it will get finished/released?
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Katatonia confirmed to a fan on Facebook recently that the Last Fair Day Gone Night DVD has just been completed and will be released in the early fall this year.
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Katatonia confirmed to a fan on Facebook recently that the Last Fair Day Gone Night DVD has just been completed and will be released in the early fall this year.
:caffeine: :2metal:
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Reason why it took this long was because of a career spanning documentary that's going to be part of the bonus DVD. Anders wanted every single person in Katatonia history to be interviewed for it and as someone who knows the documentary making process, it can take years before everything is planned out, filmed, edited, and completed.
To be honest, I wouldn't have minded if they delayed it again if they planned on filming one of the Dethroned and Uncrowned shows.
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I listened to LFDGD in the car tonight, pretty average to my ears, but when the last 4 'b side' songs came on,
that made the album a lot better. I didn't even know I had them from the Black Sessions box.
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Last Fair Deal... is not one of my favorite albums thanks to a couple of filler tracks like We Must Bury You and Passing Bird, but it's like a more polished version of the sound they had on DO and TD, just like Dead End Kings is a more perfected version of the TGCD/NITND style, so I can see why people like it.
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I think LFDGD has some pretty strong tracks that I'd consider one of their all time best (Dispossession, Chrome, Teargas, Tonight's Music, Sweet Nurse) but with a song like Passing Bird with the line "Too much :censored emo" and a pretty short transition filler (We Must Bury You) it also detracts what could've been their best record. The B-sides to LFDGD like Sulfur would've made the album better IMO. I actually prefer listening to LFDGD with the B-sides immediately afterwards than just the original 10 songs.
The intro to Dispossession is one of the highlights of the album IMO. Such a good intro.
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I'll give a few more listens before I pass final judgement on it.
But I reckon if I shuffle the track order, adding the 4 additional songs, it might flow more and add a little cohesion to everything.
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I think LFDGD has some pretty strong tracks that I'd consider one of their all time best (Dispossession, Chrome, Teargas, Tonight's Music, Sweet Nurse) but with a song like Passing Bird with the line "Too much :censored emo" and a pretty short transition filler (We Must Bury You) it also detracts what could've been their best record. The B-sides to LFDGD like Sulfur would've made the album better IMO. I actually prefer listening to LFDGD with the B-sides immediately afterwards than just the original 10 songs.
The intro to Dispossession is one of the highlights of the album IMO. Such a good intro.
can't believe you don't like WMBY but you're into SN so bad! i'm exactly the opposite — either way, though, i totally agree about PB being trash, and the b-sides adding quite a lot to the record. same comment goes for Tonight's Music, too, as "Fractured" is one of my top 10 Katatonia tracks but was somehow left to bonus track status all those years ago.
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I think LFDGD has some pretty strong tracks that I'd consider one of their all time best (Dispossession, Chrome, Teargas, Tonight's Music, Sweet Nurse) but with a song like Passing Bird with the line "Too much :censored emo" and a pretty short transition filler (We Must Bury You) it also detracts what could've been their best record. The B-sides to LFDGD like Sulfur would've made the album better IMO. I actually prefer listening to LFDGD with the B-sides immediately afterwards than just the original 10 songs.
The intro to Dispossession is one of the highlights of the album IMO. Such a good intro.
can't believe you don't like WMBY but you're into SN so bad! i'm exactly the opposite — either way, though, i totally agree about PB being trash, and the b-sides adding quite a lot to the record. same comment goes for Tonight's Music, too, as "Fractured" is one of my top 10 Katatonia tracks but was somehow left to bonus track status all those years ago.
Don't get me wrong I like WMBY in the context of the album but there's stronger songs on the album and even a one riff song like Untrue from the Sounds of Decay sessions is better than it in my opinion.
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So is the 2011 re-issue of LFDGD, remastered/remixed or just a straight up re-issue with the 4 bonus tracks?
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can't believe you don't like WMBY but you're into SN so bad! i'm exactly the opposite — either way, though, i totally agree about PB being trash, and the b-sides adding quite a lot to the record. same comment goes for Tonight's Music, too, as "Fractured" is one of my top 10 Katatonia tracks but was somehow left to bonus track status all those years ago.
But Sweet Nurse is awesome! :sad:
Fractured was left off TD because Anders finds it cheesy and even listed it as one of his bottom 5 Katatonia songs. He said that during the recording of the album Tomas Skogsberg (the engineer) said it would be a good idea to scrap Fractured completely, but they didn't listen to his advice, which is something Anders regrets.
So is the 2011 re-issue of LFDGD, remastered/remixed or just a straight up re-issue with the 4 bonus tracks?
I think it's remastered.
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So I listened to LFDGD again tonight, only the weather was a little cooler, it was gloomy and raining and you know what?
It sounds a lot better in those conditions....
Very strange :o
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After a few false starts and much debating, I decided to buy Discouraged One's.
It has always been one of those albums that I never quite wanted to get.
So first impressions are squarely focused on one thing, Jonas.
His 'new' style of vocals are obviously a work in progress.
But it's his drumming that stands out most of all.
It's so basic, boring and pedestrian, and lacks any of the dynamics of future Katatonia drummers.
I'd even go as far to say, in listening to music since the late 1970's, this is the worst drumming I have ever heard.
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I'd even go as far to say, in listening to music since the late 1970's, this is the worst drumming I have ever heard.
Maybe that's why he doesn't do them anymore?
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Well of course it is.
He has found his forte, his voice has developed into such a brilliant one and of course his lyrics too.
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If you thought the drums on Discouraged Ones were bad, I'm interested in hearing what you think of the drums on Brave Murder Day. It's just as basic and boring.
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I bought it back in the day mainly because MA is doing the grunting on it, I played it once.
No need to hear it again, really :'(
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Not really a fan of their pentagram logo era huh? It's a fair judgement though, that era of the band was a turn off for me and it wasn't till recently that I grew to like their early period. Dance of December Souls was the last of their discography that grew on me.
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I dunno really, I mean I love all kinds of metal with growls.
But for some reason I want to enjoy Katatonia with their 'modern' sound.
The old stuff doesn't have the uniqueness that all the post Tonight's Decision stuff has.
I'm trying to keep up with all the different releases, trying to find the 'July' EP seems impossible.
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Discouraged Ones was kind of like hybrid between Brave Murder Day and what would later be perfected in Tonight's Decision (though because of its rawness, I prefer DO over TD by a slim margin). They truly found their "sound" with Tonight's Decision and from then onward is "definitive" Katatonia for me. I enjoy all of their works, but I agree that they didn't really become "unique" until they abandoned the death/doom sound. You can also tell which era of Katatonia it is just by the logo. I think their second logo was their best IMO, but it wouldn't match the artwork from The Great Cold Distance onward.
As far as I know, July is long out of print and practically impossible to find. It's a shame too cause it's got the B-side Unfurl which is one of their top 5 songs ever IMO. Fortunately if you got a record store near you there's a chance you'll be able to snatch a copy of their Record Store Day 2014 release Kocytean in two weeks. It'll have most of their B-sides/leftover tracks from The Great Cold Distance to Dead End Kings, and it's got Unfurl on it.
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Yeah I'm hoping to snag the Kocytean EP on RSD, I have 2 stores that I can visit and hopefully pick it up.
I have the Black Session box, with all the old b-sides, TGCD box with postcards and poster and the DEK vinyl book with the 2 cd's.
The Deliberation CDS I can get, but July is not around anywhere.
Yeah I saw Unfurl on YT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAqHDsd1VZQ
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Jonas' drumming on DO is very minimalistic indeed, but it fits the music perfectly. Brave Murder Day still had some double-bass drumming in a few sections, but obviously DO isn't nearly as metal (despite having a similar vibe), so double kicks would've been out of place. Another factor may have been the fact that in the last few years before Tonight's Decision he didn't even own a drum kit, so it wasn't exactly easy to practise! After all, the reason they hired Dan Swanö for TD was that Jonas couldn't play to a click in the studio.
Although Daniel is clearly the better drummer, I don't find any of Jonas' drum performances downright bad. He's pretty sloppy at times on Dance of December Souls (just listen how awkward the first tempo change in In Silence Enshrined is!), but he's actually pretty good on both of the October Tide albums he played on.
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Just listened to Unfurl for the first time... Beautiful song.
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They played it live on their last US tour for the first time as a full band and it was the perfect song to end the show (they played an encore afterwards when I saw them).
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Yeah it's a very nice song, but ultimately for me a little too repetitive.
Leaning just a bit too much on the same guitar melody for the whole song.
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Daniel left the band :tdwn :angry: I love his playing. Was a huge influence for me.
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It's a revolving door lately :-\ It's always sad to see talented people give up their careers because of the shitty state of the business.
BTW, Katatonia are headlining on the second day of a new metal festival in Helsinki in September and I'm thinking of going. Who knows, it might be my only chance to see them with the fill-in members?
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:censored It's sad that he's leaving the band...his drumming was crucial to the Katatonia sound from LFDGD onward IMO. :-\
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Daniel left the band :tdwn :angry: I love his playing. Was a huge influence for me.
Really? Wow that's a pitty! I really loved his playing, he had a very tasty approach to his fills and grooves and had a "in the pocket" kind of feel to his drumming. :-\
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See, that's what I always loved about his playing, too. Even when he played something in an odd-time, it always sounded completely natural and fitting to the music; almost to the point where you didn't even notice it. Too bad he went completely under the radar in drumming--and even in metal drumming.
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See, that's what I always loved about his playing, too. Even when he played something in an odd-time, it always sounded completely natural and fitting to the music; almost to the point where you didn't even notice it. Too bad he went completely under the radar in drumming--and even in metal drumming.
Agreed, his playing is criminally underrated.
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He def felt like the most underrated guy in the band! I loved his playing and I def agree that he was just always "in the pocket" type of guy.
It's crazy... I always thought they were a very popular band but damn... he still can't provide for the family.
Rough time for musicians I guess :-\
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See, that's what I always loved about his playing, too. Even when he played something in an odd-time, it always sounded completely natural and fitting to the music; almost to the point where you didn't even notice it. Too bad he went completely under the radar in drumming--and even in metal drumming.
Agreed, his playing is criminally underrated.
Possibly one of the more underrated drummers of today I think.
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It's crazy... I always thought they were a very popular band but damn... he still can't provide for the family.
Rough time for musicians I guess :-\
Mid-sized bands like Katatonia probably suffer the most in the current situation, because big names obviously make enough money to provide a living for their members, and small bands can still balance music and daytime jobs pretty easily due to the lack of constant touring. Anders and Jonas probably earn somewhat decently as the songwriters, but the other guys may be more dependent on touring.
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With Sodo and Daniel gone from the band, I can't help but wonder how long Niklas (Nille) will remain in the band.
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Niklas is like 10 years younger than Jonas and Anders, so I'm sure he'll stick around, at least until he starts a family.
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I've heard this band compared to Anathema 'cause their change of direction from doom/death to something more emotive. I got The Great Cold Distance and Night is the New Day, but they're quite heavy for my taste. Could you recommend me something a little softer?
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Dead End Kings is a tad bit softer but not by much.
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you could try the remix of Dead End Kings called Dethroned & Uncrowned. It is basically a more ambient version of the same album.
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you could try the remix of Dead End Kings called Dethroned & Uncrowned. It is basically a more ambient version of the same album.
Seconded. Also, if you want something that's soft yet has drums and electric guitars, then Last Fair Deal Gone Down is the right choice.
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I finally got my 5.1 version of TGCD from Amazon, 2nd attempt, the first order was 'lost in the mail'.
Really good surround mix so far.
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I have the 5.1 of DEK and D&U and they sound great. Might pick up the 5.1 of TGCD sometime down the road.
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I've listened to TGCD in 5.1 only once, when I was visiting my friend who has a surround system. It sounded ok, although I thought Heritage by Opeth had a way cooler 5.1 mix. I tried the first couple of songs from DEK in 5.1 as well, but for some reason the lead vocals were missing - apparently I'm not he only one with this problem.
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DEK 5.1 was fine when I last played it and I didn't notice any vocals missing :metal
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I've listened to TGCD in 5.1 only once, when I was visiting my friend who has a surround system. It sounded ok, although I thought Heritage by Opeth had a way cooler 5.1 mix. I tried the first couple of songs from DEK in 5.1 as well, but for some reason the lead vocals were missing - apparently I'm not he only one with this problem.
is it possible the lead vocals are in the center channel and you don't have one/have it hooked up?
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Dunno, it was my friend's surround system (I don't have one myself). We listened to a bunch of 5.1 mixes and they all sounded ok, except DEK.
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I've listened to TGCD in 5.1 only once, when I was visiting my friend who has a surround system. It sounded ok, although I thought Heritage by Opeth had a way cooler 5.1 mix. I tried the first couple of songs from DEK in 5.1 as well, but for some reason the lead vocals were missing - apparently I'm not he only one with this problem.
is it possible the lead vocals are in the center channel and you don't have one/have it hooked up?
Did you accidentally play it in "Stereo"? I think you might have by accident because all DEK 5.1s have the left and right channels of the 5.1 mix as it's stereo mix. When I listened to it in 5.1 the lead vocals were in the mix.
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The Uncrowned and Reworked Tour just started today. Apparently this is the setlist for the tour...some surprises I think, and songs performed for the first time.
www.setlist.fm/setlist/katatonia/2014/biebob-vosselaar-belgium-43c377f7.html
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Awesome setlist, would love to see them play Day! Too bad they're not coming to Finland until September :sad:
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Too bad that they've decided to not rework any of the Death/Doom songs (yeah Day was from that era but I wouldn't consider the song to be exactly Death/Doom). It would've been intriguing to see how different it'd sound vocally to say the least. But still, with songs that I'd consider part of the holy grail of songs that are rarely/never played live(Day, Gone, and A Darkness Coming) and pretty much covering almost every album in the set, it's an awesome setlist. :metal
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The band have now announced that their sold out London show at the stunning Union Chapel on 16th May will be filmed for a very special DVD release later in the year on Kscope.
Guitarist and founding member Anders Nyström comments:
"This has been a different tour. I thought it was gonna be good, but it was better! Out with the distortion, the headbanging and the explosive lights... In with the acoustic guitars, chairs and the candles.... not permanently, just momentarily. It’s like having a guest chef cooking the menu this week, gotta enjoy it while it lasts, right? For the first time ever, we've been able to play some old beautiful churches and enjoy their sacred aesthetics and acoustics much to our advantage. Appropriately we also heard your prayers from near and afar and its now a fact the tour will include a DVD recording of the Union Chapel show in London. Come Friday, we will also have the honor to feature a very special guest too that will return the crown to the king."
Awesome, this is gonna make the DVD even better! :tup Silje Wergeland lives in the UK, so it's not hard to guess who will appear at the London show ;)
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Awesome, I was hoping for at least a live CD but a live DVD is even better! They hinted at adding another song into the set starting with tonight's show, hopefully that will also make it into the DVD. :metal
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They added Omerta a few nights ago.
BTW, I just realized that the only songs in the current set that were played at the anniversary show are Teargas and Tonight's Music, so we'll get two almost completely different setlists on the DVD :metal Well, the fact that these shows are unplugged makes them special already but still...
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The Last Fair Day Gone Night DVD that was slated for a Fall release is now being pushed forward for an August release according to the band who responded to a fan's question on Facebook. I'm not sure about this, but considering that the LFDGN release is suppose to have a bonus DVD, the unplugged DVD will be a separate release.
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Well, I'll buy both DVDs then :lol
E: Evidence was played last night: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/katatonia/2014/les-docks-lausanne-switzerland-73c35221.html
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Great cover of Tonight's Music by a Finnish electropop artist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3icQxduqc8Q
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Yeah great version.
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Last Fair Day Gone Night 2CD/2DVD out on 15/9 (or 9/15 for people like me in America...)
https://www.burningshed.com/store/peaceville/product/241/6004/
https://www.omerch.eu/shop/katatonia/proddetail.php?prod=omerch_katatonia_lastDVDCD
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The price is surprisingly low for a 4-disc release... Maybe they were thinking of people like me who have no use for live CDs. :lol
In other news, apparently Katatonia played Without God and Murder (again) at a recent festival show: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/katatonia/2014/flugplatz-obermehler-schlotheim-germany-7bceeaec.html I'll see them for the first time in September and it'd be awesome if they closed with those two songs! :metal
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Maybe the cost was lower than usual because it's packaged in a CD sized digibook instead of a DVD sized one. I already have it on vinyl, but I guess the CDs are useful when I'm gonna be importing them onto my computer or whenever I use my CD player (I still have one!) which is not often :lol
I met a fan at a Blackfield show earlier this year and he showed me a promo card that he got from their 2012 US tour, which stated that there would also be a BluRay version of the concert, but it seems like there isn't one listed yet or that promo was wrong.
It's nice to see that they've played Without God and Murder again even though those are the only songs they play from the first two albums on a semi-regular basis. I wish they played those two when I saw them last fall, but I got to hear Quiet World, Unfurl, and Ashen instead which are even rarer songs so I guess it's seems fair. :lol
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I'm really looking forward to seeing and hearing this, my vinyl version is still shrink wrapped.
I hope the reason for the cheapness, is not the packaging, with the discs squeezed in so tight they are near impossible to get out (Nuclear Blast recent digibooks)
I pre-ordered through Amazon UK, really good price and because I live outside the EU, I don't pay the 20% sales tax either ;D
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Last Fair Day Gone Night trailer...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQhJ9PwYz38
The trailer has me excited! Definitely looks like a huge step up from Live Consternation :metal
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So the documentary is 2,5 hours long? Sweet! :metal
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Glad it's finally coming out! Can't wait!
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July from the new DVD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jy7xtolfcY
Anders' screams and Sodo's pinch harmonics = :metal
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Looks awesome! :metal
Unfortunately it's temporarily out of stock on both OMerch and Burning Shed, and for those who haven't pre-ordered prior to 9/11 (like myself) won't be getting it till after 10/1. Looks like I'll order from Amazon in the US since its American release is supposedly on 9/30.
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Love the drum sound and everything else although he stumbles on the hi-hat pattern at 3:23-, syncopated snare hits can mess things up if your not on alert, i've been there done that! :lol
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I noticed that hi-hat stumble too. I'm under the impression that the audio of this release was overdubbed to an extent. I have the vinyl version and several songs like Brave and I Break sound different performance wise on the vinyl than on videos of the same songs captured by fans from that night.
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Well gosh darn it. The dvd has been delayed, due to something that happened at the pressing.
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What happened at the pressing that's causing it to get delayed? I thought they just ran out of stock and were pressing some more copies after they ship all of the copies that were pre-ordered prior to this past Thursday.
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Katatonia's response to someone's comment on FB:
Well, if Amazon listed it as 30th, then that's their own date. 15th is the date this one ships from Katatonia & Peaceville stores.
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It appears that the American release is on September 30th as the US Amazon and iTunes lists it as such. The UK Amazon lists it as September 15th. I think I'm gonna pre-order my copy from the UK Amazon cause weirdly enough it's cheaper there than both the US Amazon and Burning Shed.
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This is what the email said..
"This is just an email concerning your order placed on the Katatonia Online Store.First of all, we apologise for the delay on the dispatch of the Katatonia (Last Fair Day Gone Night) 2CD & 2DVD.We're sorry to say that we have received word from the Katatonia merch team that, due a issue at the pressing plant, the release of the DVD has been delayed.As soon as we get confirmation of the new release date we will announce this on the store.If you'd prefer to change your order in the meantime please let us know."
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This is what the email said..
"This is just an email concerning your order placed on the Katatonia Online Store.First of all, we apologise for the delay on the dispatch of the Katatonia (Last Fair Day Gone Night) 2CD & 2DVD.We're sorry to say that we have received word from the Katatonia merch team that, due a issue at the pressing plant, the release of the DVD has been delayed.As soon as we get confirmation of the new release date we will announce this on the store.If you'd prefer to change your order in the meantime please let us know."
Was that eMail from Burning Shed, OMerch or Amazon?
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This is what the email said..
"This is just an email concerning your order placed on the Katatonia Online Store.First of all, we apologise for the delay on the dispatch of the Katatonia (Last Fair Day Gone Night) 2CD & 2DVD.We're sorry to say that we have received word from the Katatonia merch team that, due a issue at the pressing plant, the release of the DVD has been delayed.As soon as we get confirmation of the new release date we will announce this on the store.If you'd prefer to change your order in the meantime please let us know."
Was that eMail from Burning Shed, OMerch or Amazon?
It's from their online store on their website.
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My mate in AU had his shipped from Burning Shed last week and mine was shipped from Amazon UK yesterday.
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I wonder if those that shipped already weren't affected by that issue at the pressing plant. A worst case scenario would be something like what happened with the Pale Communion BluRay that plagued Opeth recently and having people phoning in for replacement discs.
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I saw Katatonia live for the first time last night as part of a sold-out indoors festival in Helsinki. They were awesome, even though they played for just an hour and 5 minutes - you'd think the headliner would have a longer set! Without God and Murder weren't played, but there were songs from all the other albums (except Tonight's Decision) in the set, including a couple of rare treats like Increase and Cold Ways. The replacement drummer's playing was solid, and the fill-in guitarist did a good job with backing vocals and added another solo to the end of Lethean. I'd be happy if they became full-time members! Jonas' vocals were great, and apart from one verse in Buildings he wasn't noticeably off-key at any point.
I bought the new DVD on Friday and I'll watch it today. Hopefully I'll get to see a full-length Katatonia show soon! :)
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Did you catch any of the Barren Earth set?
If you did how is the new singer?
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No, unfortunately. They were the very first band of the night and I didn't feel like standing for 5 hours. Lazy, I know!
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I think this is the first time I've heard of them playing Increase as I don't recall it ever appearing on any setlist before.
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Yeah, they premiered it last week on the cruise between Sweden and Finland. Way to open a show! :metal
I watched the DVD yesterday and really enjoyed it. The only disappointment is that all the talking has been edited out and sometimes there's just a fade to black after the song has ended, which makes it feel less like a full concert release. Jonas isn't very talkative, but it would've been nice to hear him say something - after all, the show was in London and he spoke in English, so everyone watching the DVD would've understood him.
As a diehard fan I knew a lot of the stuff they talk about in the documentary, but Jonas and Anders give a pretty detailed and interesting account of what happened in the early years. There are also interesting behind-the-scenes and touring stories from the 2000s. Gotta love it that most of the funny and crazy ones are from Daniel! :lol
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Based on the trailer of the documentary disc, was most if not all of the stuff the same thing that were talked about in the LFDGN tourbook? I still don't have my copy, (I'm getting it on the US release date) but if it is, I won't mind cause I'd love to hear those stories being spoken by Jonas, Anders and Daniel.
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I don't know as I don't have the tourbook, but it's a 2-hour documentary, so I'd imagine not all of it is in the book. There's some pretty heavy stuff, like Anders planning to quit the band in 2003.
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Based on what you said about Anders almost quitting the band in 2003, I'm gonna assume that most if not all of the contents of the LFDGN tour book is the whole documentary itself because I remembered reading almost all of the things I've seen in the trailer clip (such as Daniel's Melloboat 2008 story, Jonas' Dio story from 2005 and the time where Anders almost quit the band in 2003).
Not that I'm disappointed that it's practically an audio/visual documentary on what's in the tourbook, but Anders made it sound like in an interview last year that there was gonna be interviews with most of the people who had a significant role in Katatonia at some point. It would've been nice to hear insights from the Norrman brothers and Guillaume Le Huche especially, but since I couldn't read some of the contents of the tourbook itself (it had a horrible decayed looking layout that made it difficult to see the black printed words at times) I'm looking forward to hear Daniel's f**ked up touring stories as told by him directly! :lol
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Got my copy in the mail on Tuesday. Watched the concert DVD yesterday, and it was fantastic. Looked very cinematic and the aesthetics reminded me a bit of Porcupine Tree's Arriving Somewhere DVD. Although I do think that some of the camera work (particularly the ones which tilted an entire 180 degrees) puzzled me. As for why there were fade ins and fade blacks during the concert DVD, the band explained that it was a technicality of the vinyl audio (released a year earlier) which had to be edited down to fit on the LPs as being the same master/mix used for the DVD.
Finished the documentary today and it was nicely done even though it's almost a audio/video version of what was on their LFDGN tour book. To be honest things got more interesting/funnier when Daniel's account of the band's history began! I particularly loved the ones he did during the Viva Emptiness and The Great Cold Distance eras. :rollin
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Anyone else think Jonas' growls on Brave in the new DVD are fantastic? I for one wouldn't be opposed to a death metal song on the next album, even though there's a pretty slim chance of that happening.
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i'd rather they totally re-record Brave Murder Day tbh, but that'd be an even bigger step aside than writing a new one with screaming!
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Anyone else think Jonas' growls on Brave in the new DVD are fantastic? I for one wouldn't be opposed to a death metal song on the next album, even though there's a pretty slim chance of that happening.
I think for his now limited growling ability, he sounds pretty awesome. For me, his take on Brave has a pained, perishing, desolate vibe which suits perfectly with the song's vibe.
i'd rather they totally re-record Brave Murder Day tbh, but that'd be an even bigger step aside than writing a new one with screaming!
You'll get to hear a rearranged version of Day on an upcoming DVD from their Uncrowned and Reworked Tour this past May, but I'm guessing you're referring to a rerecorded studio version of BMD, am I right? They'd tune it down to C standard if they did but it would be an interesting idea.
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Tbh I think Jonas' vocals on Brave sound more strained and less powerful compared to his pre-2011 growls. He sounds great on the Black Sessions DVD version of Murder (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW73k8cTucs), and this clip of Without God and Murder from 2009 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk31a1q3UVA) (the vocals are a bit quiet in the mix at first). I dont know what happened to his voice after that, because in almost all the live videos of the WG/Murder combo from South America in 2011 and Brave from the anniversary tour his voice sounds weaker - maybe he was out of practice after not growling for a while. While his agonized and desperate screams on Brave are a good fit for that song, I think Anders has a better growling voice these days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-COKbr6Lm50
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Anders is definitely the better growler in the band, but it's too bad that he'll never sing lead vocals on a Katatonia. He mentioned once that he made a promise to Jonas when the band began to voluntarily never sing lead on a Katatonia song/album but never mentioned why exactly.
Jonas also suffered throat problems during the recording of Night Is The New Day. Maybe that could've been a factor in his weaker sounding growls. I dunno for me personally, I like his weaker sounding growls. I think he's a better growler than modern day Nick Holmes to be honest.
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I finally got round to watching the new DVD, the documentary was really insightful, and brutally honest.
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the band stopped playing old songs live because Jonas can't really do the vocal style anymore (and Blakkheim won't do it, as said already), so it makes sense to me that it has reduced further with age.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrhpdIGQwGw&feature=youtu.be
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Well, that's a must-buy for sure! :metal
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Yeah going to pre order soon.
Really looks stunning, yet the trolls on Facebook are bitching about a new studio album.
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It'd be nice if they record a new studio album soon, but I think Sanctitude will keep me satisfied with my Katatonia needs for the time being! I think I'll order one of the t-shirt combos from OMerch, but I'm not sure if the BluRay or vinyl come with a download code from that site like the ones on Burning Shed do.
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They've probably been busy working on this release and the latest Bloodbath record, but I bet we'll get a new album before the end of the year.
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That trailer looks amazing. Perfect setting for their music. Looking forward to this!
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I used to like the band quite a bit, but I'll probably sit this one out. Whenever Katatonia release something, I just get this "Deja Vu" feeling, and it's not in a good way. They still have some decent stuff, but it's hard for me to even revisit their albums now, without thinking those thoughts.
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"Day" from the Sanctitude DVD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB8FC22Yc8w (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB8FC22Yc8w)
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New album in May, can't wait.
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Great news. I hope it has a new sound or at least more, their last albums while great have a very similar vibe to them and I would love to hear something a bit more different and new.
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I really don't know how different of new Katatonia is going to get in 2016?
My guess is that they have taken the ambient thing as far as they can and this one might be a bit heavier.
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I don't know, as long as it doesn't sound like a TGCD reboot I'll be fine with it.
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I'd like something similar to Dead End Kings.
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I have a feeling the new album will be a little bit different, because the gap between it and DEK has been the longest in the band's career. Who knows, maybe playing Viva Emptiness in full and/or doing the unplugged tour has had some kind of influence on the new material? The line-up changes and the release of the anniversary DVD also seem to symbolically indicate the end of an era and the start of a new one. I would definitely welcome a change, because I feel DEK is the culmination of the modern Katatonia sound, and I'm afraid another album in that style wouldn't live up to the last few records.
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I don't know, as long as it doesn't sound like a TGCD reboot I'll be fine with it.
Likely an unpopular opinion, but I would rather a carbon copy of TGCD than a carbon copy of NITND – which is what I think DEK is, hence the unpopularity.
I just got bored with that sound very quickly after I saw them on tour with Opeth for NITND and every song older than NITND outshone the new stuff at the time. So when they continued with that sound, it just caused me to yawn.
Katatonia don't sit still in one sound for very long, though.
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I don't know, as long as it doesn't sound like a TGCD reboot I'll be fine with it.
Likely an unpopular opinion, but I would rather a carbon copy of TGCD than a carbon copy of NITND – which is what I think DEK is, hence the unpopularity.
I just got bored with that sound very quickly after I saw them on tour with Opeth for NITND and every song older than NITND outshone the new stuff at the time. So when they continued with that sound, it just caused me to yawn.
Katatonia don't sit still in one sound for very long, though.
Really? DEK to me sounds nothing like NITND. I always though NITND is in style similar to TGCD. That said, I should revisit both TGCD and NITND, last time I checked I wasn't the biggest fan of those two, especially NITND(DEK and LFDGD are my favorites).
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Album trailer:
https://youtu.be/bKjQduLxALM
New song ('Old Heart Falls'):
https://youtu.be/IIGBNc2nFZA
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I used to be a big fan of Katatonia. I remembered the first time I heard Viva Emptiness and how mesmerized I was with the dark and melancholic sound they had along with Renkes vocals and the lyrics. Never heard anything like it, it was sad yet beautiful. I then bought The Great Cold Distance on day one of release. I loved it so much and listened to it daily. It's probably my favourite Katatonia album.
I'm sad to say though that i've probably grown tired of their sound because it dosen't do anything to me anymore. It's like i've already heard this new song or something.
I had the same problem with Volbeat, I really digged their sound and it sounded so fresh with his Elvis kind of voice along with the music, nowdays I can't stand them. :-\
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New song streaming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzcqrGRo2dw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzcqrGRo2dw)
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New song streaming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzcqrGRo2dw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzcqrGRo2dw)
This is really solid.
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Another new song: https://www.facebook.com/katatonia/videos/10154175584959907/ (https://www.facebook.com/katatonia/videos/10154175584959907/)
This album is shaping up to be really good.
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I found Old Heart Falls and Serein a little meh at first, but both grew on me after a few listens. Serac blew me away right away, though! :metal
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Listened to the new album and it's great but it doesn't really leave as much an impression on me as DEK did. Gonna have to give it a lot more listens.
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The new album is amazing. Best album they've done in a decade, maybe ever. So many standouts, Takeover, Old Heart Falls, Sanction, Residual, Serac, Last Song Before the Fade, Shifts and so on, but the big standout for me is maybe the song that feels the most unique, Pale Flag: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALMo7AIagR0
A lovely acoustic piece.
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I've heard Takeover a few days ago and loved it, so I started my first full listen today.
Wow. You're absolutely right about Pale Flag, that's my favorite along with Takeover, Residual and Passer.
Guess I should check out Dead End Kings again, remember liking it but I didn't listen to it more than once.
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I liked both Dead End Kings and Night is the New Day but on the new one it feels like they're fully embracing the more "progressive" sound that they have been going for over the last decade or so. The songs are slightly stronger and more interesting. :)
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My review of The Fall of Hearts (https://www.musicalypse.net/2016-katatonia-the-fall-of-hearts-english/)
Calling the album a disappointment would be too harsh, but I haven't totally warmed up to it even after multiple listens, because a lot of the catchiness has been sacrificed in favor of complexity.
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What?! It's their best album by far! There's plenty of catchiness to go around. My main gripe with some of their previous albums is that every song sounds the same, and while many of them are catchy and enjoyable, I feel like you can't say that about this album. It's got variety, more dynamics, and they have really perfected the sound they started on Night is the New Day and made it their own. The Great Cold Distance used to be my favorite but this has more interesting things going on and it's less one-note than their previous albums.
Frankly I'm surprised you feel the way you do. :P
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Dunno, for some reason it just doesn't hit me the way the previous albums did. :dunno: I'm totally digging some of the songs, but can't get into or connect with the album on a deeper level. Maybe 70 minutes of Katatonia is just too much to digest or I'm not in the right mood for their music at this time of the year...
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Australian Tour in December :xbones
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Dunno, for some reason it just doesn't hit me the way the previous albums did. :dunno: I'm totally digging some of the songs, but can't get into or connect with the album on a deeper level. Maybe 70 minutes of Katatonia is just too much to digest or I'm not in the right mood for their music at this time of the year...
Same. They're becoming more and more boring to me with each album since NITND. Even the Viva Emptiness re-mix was more boring than the original (though the added vocals to "Inside the City of Glass" make it way better). I also find their early-record period (Discouraged Ones, etc.) incredibly boring, so it's basically full circle for me at this point, with a peak at LFDGD/VE/TGCD.
I respect that they continue to do what they feel like, same with Opeth... just wish the stuff hit me.
I'd love if Katatonia started to write in any genre and threw it all together on the next album. One song might be doom metal, one might be post-goth, one might be October Tide-style black/doom/whatever, etc. Use any and all Katatonia genres all together. That'd keep my attention at least.
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Part from Leaders with Orchestra, from the show last night in my home town of Plovdiv, at the ancient Roman theatre. I was surprised, the orchestra worked beautifully with this album on every song. Too bad I couldn't record more, but the shitty phone can only do so much and it wasn't very pleasing to have to focus on a camera and not the show itself. I have 2-3 more short clips like that.
They played the entire The Great Cold Distance with the orchestra and then after a short break they returned for a second set with few new songs and some oldies without the orchestra.
Leaders - https://youtu.be/dCebPKZgR4w
Increase - https://youtu.be/x-IchNkvhtw
Someone else recorded the entire Journey Through Pressure - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKLLuCU6u3Q
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Was this show filmed for future release?
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Nope.
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The orchestra is a little overbearing on Leaders, but JTP sounds amazing, especially with the solo at the end. :hefdaddy
Niklas responded to a comment on his FB page and said we should expect some kind of audio release.
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Yeah it was a little too loud and you couldn't hear the band but that might have been a sound issue because I never really noticed it again on any other song. But it still sounded cool, so I didn't mind. There seem to be few replies that are deleted from FB so maybe that was him saying that? I hope they do release it, but neither the band nor anywhere else did anyone say anything about recording prior or during the show.
My Twin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPY9oVPFZbs
The Itch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YECjH3-hgo from 1:05 onward... so good.
Soil's Song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQWUQj3AwUI
edit: Someone updloaded the full version of Leaders - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Asg2-2_yhA4
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The orchestra is a little overbearing on Leaders, but JTP sounds amazing, especially with the solo at the end. :hefdaddy
Niklas responded to a comment on his FB page and said we should expect some kind of audio release.
Awesome! Will definitely buy this.
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Yeah it was a little too loud and you couldn't hear the band but that might have been a sound issue because I never really noticed it again on any other song. But it still sounded cool, so I didn't mind. There seem to be few replies that are deleted from FB so maybe that was him saying that? I hope they do release it, but neither the band nor anywhere else did anyone say anything about recording prior or during the show.
My Twin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPY9oVPFZbs
The Itch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YECjH3-hgo from 1:05 onward... so good.
Soil's Song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQWUQj3AwUI
Katatonia Followers posted a screenshot of the response:
(https://scontent-arn2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14463004_1052708708130706_886501860765206043_n.jpg?oh=3b30317f14262c558a3983962c9d2e46&oe=5880AA5E)
The Itch is my least favorite on TGCD, but it sounds badass with the orchestra! :metal
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The Great Cold Distance (10th Anniversary Edition) (quadruple disc box set preorder)
https://www.burningshed.com/store/peaceville/product/241/8087/
This deluxe edition will include 3 bonus discs featuring b-sides and bonus songs, a new 5.1 remix of the album by Bruce Soord and a live album of Katatonia playing The Great Cold Distance in its entirety with the renowned Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra in Bulgaria (from September 2016).
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I already pre ordered the box and red vinyl :)
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The Great Cold Distance (10th Anniversary Edition) (quadruple disc box set preorder)
https://www.burningshed.com/store/peaceville/product/241/8087/
This deluxe edition will include 3 bonus discs featuring b-sides and bonus songs, a new 5.1 remix of the album by Bruce Soord and a live album of Katatonia playing The Great Cold Distance in its entirety with the renowned Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra in Bulgaria (from September 2016).
Nice! I already own the original special edition that includes Displaced, Dissolving Bonds and the 5.1 mix, as well as the single B-sides, so I won't be getting this one. I'm excited to hear the Plovdiv live tracks on Spotify, though.
In other news, last night in London Katatonia played an anniversary set with songs from every album (https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/katatonia/2016/o2-shepherds-bush-empire-london-england-bfabd62.html), including the first performance of Gateways of Bereavement in 20 years (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbacYaQBZxY)! :o
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Really good set list IMO.
Yes I also have the special editions, the box with the postcards and poster, 5.1 with 2 bonus tracks, but I couldn't resist, specially the red vinyl.
Seeing them headlining for the first time in December, last time they came to Sydney, played a 40 min set totally blowing away Opeth.
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Gonna hop on TGCD black vinyl. It's about time.
The anniversary setlist really isn't very good. They just play the usuals plus a couple of songs that used to be the usuals on a few past tours. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see "For My Demons" etc., I just mean the only special thing they did whatsoever is "Gateways" (which is amazing! What a song!). It really isn't much of an anniversary setlist whatsoever.
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Well, there's Day, which they haven't done besides the acoustic tour 2 years ago, and all the albums are represented, unlike on Opeth's "anniversary" tour last year. :P
Seriously though, I wish they were playing deeper cuts on this Euro tour (https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/katatonia/2016/alcatraz-milan-italy-bfd0dca.html), but I've only seen them once before and they played 14 songs back then, so I haven't heard the likes of Evidence, Leaders, For My Demons etc. I'm glad they're not playing a huge chunk of the new one, because I still haven't really warmed up to it.
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Is this setlist representative for the whole tour or just a few gigs? Their new album is their best as far as I'm concerned so it really sucks if they're not touching it that much.
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They've been swapping songs in and out a little bit, but those are the only four new ones they've played so far. In fact, Serac (along with Ghost of the Sun) was dropped recently, so the latest set seems to be 18 songs with 3 from TFOH. Maybe they're gonna play more next year - I bet Shifts will get its live premiere sooner or later, since it's the latest video.
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Mate if they played that setlist in Sydney in December I guarantee that the audience will go bloody insane.
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Seeing them tonight :D
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Enjoy! :tup I'm seeing them next Tuesday. Apparently they've incorporated one more new song into the setlist - not gonna spoil which one!
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Re-listening some of their albums. I'm really only 100% into Viva Emptiness and forward, I have listened to some of the earlier albums but not enough to form a strong opinion. I feel like the melodies in their music have gotten stronger and memorable, but perhaps those older albums are more emotional in a sense, so I can see why some hardcore fans might like them more.
Night is the New Day feels like an underrated album. Was the first album I bought with them and I really love most of it. Onward Into Battle is one of my personal favorites among their songs, the chorus is just so darn catchy.
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Re-listening some of their albums. I'm really only 100% into Viva Emptiness and forward, I have listened to some of the earlier albums but not enough to form a strong opinion. I feel like the melodies in their music have gotten stronger and memorable, but perhaps those older albums are more emotional in a sense, so I can see why some hardcore fans might like them more.
They certainly got better with melody over time, but the 'middling' hard rock albums are infectious as hell. "Dispossession," "Chrome," "We Must Bury You," "The Future of Speech," "Fracture," "Black Session," "Teargas," "Tonight's Music" – all incredible songs with melodies that grab and hold you. The production, of course, is very different, so I understand some initial barriers; Jonas Renske in particular has come a long way. Still, once this material is unlocked for you, it stands up.
What I will say about those first few records when the band transitioned into clean singing "sad rock" is that they are overburdened. Each of them has a solid half and a weak half.
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I was thinking about going through the earlier albums chronologically. The little I have heard, like Brave Murder Day was really cool, but I'm intrigued to get into the really deep cuts like Dance of December Souls or the first few clean singing albums after Mikael Åkerfeldt left the picture.
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Re-listening some of their albums. I'm really only 100% into Viva Emptiness and forward, I have listened to some of the earlier albums but not enough to form a strong opinion. I feel like the melodies in their music have gotten stronger and memorable, but perhaps those older albums are more emotional in a sense, so I can see why some hardcore fans might like them more.
They certainly got better with melody over time, but the 'middling' hard rock albums are infectious as hell. "Dispossession," "Chrome," "We Must Bury You," "The Future of Speech," "Fracture," "Black Session," "Teargas," "Tonight's Music" – all incredible songs with melodies that grab and hold you. The production, of course, is very different, so I understand some initial barriers; Jonas Renske in particular has come a long way. Still, once this material is unlocked for you, it stands up.
Yeah, LFDGD is such a great album melodically speaking. If it weren't for We Must Bury You and Passing Bird, it might be in my top 3.
I love the raw emotion of Discouraged Ones, though the album is repetitive as hell. I Break, Deadhouse, Cold Ways and Saw You Drown (to name a few) are fantastic songs. Even the deeper cuts like Last Resort and Distrust are really good, and Relention is the only filler track. Meanwhile, Tonight's Decision feels like an awkward transitional album between DO and LFDGD, and the production is pretty crappy.
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I'm seeing them next Tuesday.
And so I did. (https://www.musicalypse.net/katatonia-w-agent-fresco-vola-klubi-tampere-1-11-2016/)
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I just bought the 10th Anniversary edition of "Viva Empitiness," mainly for the added vocals for "Inside the City of Glass" and "Wait Outside," which I've always loved but refused to buy a used copy of the greatest hits for.
I still love the messy sounding guitars of the original "Viva Emptiness," but the new one is a great alternative. It's clearer and has some new keyboard parts as well.
I can see myself alternating between the two versions and being happy with either one.
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Semi-related: Jonas singing at Serbian wedding (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPfYYn_jw00) (I swear this is legit :lol)
I want to know a story behind this, too bad uploader didn't provide any information.
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Has anybody else noticed that a live version of Last Song Before the Fade from Plovdiv has been released as a single on Spotify? Maybe they'll put out a tour edition of The Fall of Hearts (or something like that) that includes the non-TGCD part of the show.
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Has anybody else noticed that a live version of Last Song Before the Fade from Plovdiv has been released as a single on Spotify? Maybe they'll put out a tour edition of The Fall of Hearts (or something like that) that includes the non-TGCD part of the show.
It was announced a week or two ago ;D
https://www.burningshed.com/store/peaceville/product/241/8442/
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Finally got the 4CD set of TGCD from burning shed today.
Very nice package, haven't had a chance to play anything yet.
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It's funny that Catatonia is the name of a 90's Welsh Indie pop Band. :biggrin:
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Has anybody else noticed that a live version of Last Song Before the Fade from Plovdiv has been released as a single on Spotify? Maybe they'll put out a tour edition of The Fall of Hearts (or something like that) that includes the non-TGCD part of the show.
It was announced a week or two ago ;D
https://www.burningshed.com/store/peaceville/product/241/8442/
Ah, I missed that.
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Have you guys listened to the live show with the orchestra yet? Wondering how it is.
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This week just keeps getting worse. I really hope I am overreacting, but this doesn't sound great. So glad I saw them this year. I can't bear to lose another one of my favorite bands.
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KATATONIA Announce Short-Term Hiatus - "We Need To Take Some Time Out To Re-Evaluate What The Future Holds For The Band"
Following our re-scheduled dates for the Baltics and Russia in Feb/March, due to recent issues and injury, it will mark the end of the touring cycle for ”The Fall of Hearts” and after much deliberation we have decided that we will put Katatonia on a short-term hiatus.
We need to take some time out to re-evaluate what the future holds for the band. Unfortunately this will affect the live dates in Norway, Germany, Spain and Poland, and we are deeply sorry for any inconvenience caused.
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Read that in the morning and I'm worried a bit. Not sure what issues is the band talking about. I did now about the medical issue that one of the band members went through.
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I have had a general sick to my stomach feeling since I saw this this morning. :( I really hope it really is only a short hiatus and they deal with whatever they need to deal with and come back strong. It certainly doesn't sound encouraging though.
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I thought it'd been a little quiet lately, so I'm not totally shocked. I hope they'll find the motivation to continue, though... :-\ Maybe a change in musical direction would make things fresh, but then again the decision may not have anything to do with the music.
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I don't think it's about the music at all. They seem so pleased with The Fall of Hearts, and rightfully so. If I had to guess, I would say it's either dealing with industry bs, one of the newer members wants to leave, making them frustrated because they've had a lot of lineup changes already, or it's Anders. I really hope it's not the last one, but I know he almost called it quits in the past and read an interview that's not too old where he seemed tired of the road. As far as I'm concerned, as long as he and Jonas are a team, I don't really care who else is in the band. (Though I do think their newest members are the best they've had in their respective positions). Of course it could be something else entirely - those are just what I think is most likely but of course I don't know what might be going on internally.
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They seem to be happy with TFOH, but at least on last year's European tour they focused more on TGCD in their sets, though that may have been a matter of trying to get the new stuff to work in soundchecks first. But yeah, I could see touring fatigue being a factor - I just read an interview where Anders talks about it, reminding me of the chat I had with Danny of Anathema (especially the teleport talk :lol): https://www.obnubil.com/pages/katatonia
ANDERS: Yes leaving home becomes much harder these days. I’m a very homesick person and I also have a son that needs his father. Touring life can be very rough and now almost all of us being close to middle-aged the wear and tear is not something you can just ignore like back when you were in your twenties. I cut down on drinking almost entirely on doctors orders. Sleep depravity kills me. Crap food turns me into a senior citizen. Still, we always try to unleash all our energy during the show, that’s what counts, that’s what people bought tickets for and came to see. We have a responsibility. That hour on stage is what really means something, what makes it worth the hassles, because the travel definitely does not. It’s a lot of wasted time, weeks of wasted opportunities of being productive and creative. It’s a slow death. The saying ”hurry up and wait” really summons up any touring musicians life. I wish our tours would be shorter or that we had teleporters already. The biggest fear is that I lose the edge, the enthusiasm to even go on tour because it makes me unhappy. Gotta play those cards carefully to retain a balance of the good and bad.
At least this (luckily) doesn't seem to be about arguments between Anders and Jonas, given that they'll be touring together in Bloodbath in the spring. I also don't mind lineup changes as long as the founding duo are there, but I could see the revolving door eating away their enthusiasm if someone is thinking about leaving again. Bringing in a new guy, getting to know them, teaching them the set etc. probably isn't something you want to do every couple of years.
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That's exactly the interview I was thinking about. It definitely sounds draining for him, whereas I think the Bloodbath tours are less extensive. So maybe it's that or someone else thinking about leaving which I agree would be tiring. I remember last time they were looking for a guitar player they said that one of the qualifications was that the guitar player had to be into their current sound. :)
For touring, The Great Cold Distance just had an anniversary and it's the fans favorite. It's also probably their heaviest so I imagine it goes over very well live. However when I saw them on the Fall of Hearts tour, they did 5 to 6 songs from it. Most seemed to go over well, though of course not as much as July or something.
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The hiatus is over and they are touring for the 10th anniversary of Night Is The New Day. Hope they bring this to the US, but I doubt it. I'm just glad they are back and active.
https://www.loudersound.com/news/katatonia-to-celebrate-10th-anniversary-of-night-is-the-new-day-with-tour-and-reissue
https://burningshed.com/store/peaceville/katatonia_night-is-the-new-day_boxset?filter_tag=Katatonia&filter_category_id=264
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Katatonia to celebrate 10th anniversary of Night Is The New Day with tour and reissue
Katatonia have announced plans to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their eighth album Night Is The New Day.
The Swedish outfit will not only mark the milestone by playing the record in its entirety at venues across Europe, but a deluxe edition will arrive on May 17 via Peaceville Records.
It’ll feature new cover artwork by the band’s long-time collaborator Travis Smith, be presented in 5.1 surround sound by Bruce Soord, and feature new liner notes and interviews with Anders Nystrom and Jonas Renske by Dom Lawson.
Guitarist Nystrom says “We, and many others, look upon this album as one of the most well produced, dark and atmospheric albums within our discography.
“It spawned new classics with Forsaker and Day And Then The Shade that have rarely left our live repertoire. As a band, we dug deep into ourselves to deliver the epic ballad Departer as well as the folk song undertones of Idle Blood, Inheritance, The Promise Of Deceit and Onward Into Battle.
“Then there is the rich contrast of dynamics in songs like The Longest Year, Liberation, New Night and Ashen but we also slowed things down further to impending doom with the song Nephilim.
“All of these songs glued this album together like pillars carrying the weight of both our night and day.”
A limited edition deluxe version, which is now available for pre-order, will also launch on May 17 and feature the album, b-sides, remixes and live recordings, a DVD featuring a hi-resolution stereo remaster, 5.1 mixes and promos.
It’ll also come with a 10-inch Longest Day EP in red vinyl and a 48-page hardback book.
(https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/924xx8y9gN7nGPTM7DNGGG-650-80.jpg)
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Oh wow, 10 years already! Times fly quickly, hopefully a new album is being talked.
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Made my day yesterday when I saw this. :)
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Made my day yesterday when I saw this. :)
Mine too. Already pre-ordered the deluxe set from Burning Shed. I have bought them all so far so why stop now. Already picked this up on vinyl when I bought the 10th of The Great Cold Distance.
Just glad to see they haven't called it a day yet. Hopefully, this tour re-ignites them and they come back with a new album next year.
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Glad the band is slowly coming back to life! :tup But wow, time flies indeed - NITND was their latest album when I got into Katatonia back in late 2010, and it's crazy to think that it's turning 10 this year.
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It seems like the tour went well. I caught the last two shows and both were sold out. The band was fantastic and the audience was really into it, even through the "many ballads." Hearing the entire album was really special. :)
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Holy cow that's the first Katatonia album I heard and it's really good. If they bring the tour here I'm on it.
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I'm making a screen print of that. Then printing it out. Then chiseling it in stone. :)
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I'm making a screen print of that. Then printing it out. Then chiseling it in stone. :)
HAH. Deal.
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Got my deluxe set on Friday. Another super well done package. I was curious as to the mastering and was surprised to see that it is just a tad quieter than the original. I compared wav forms and could notice the slight difference. Even ran a check for clipping on Forsaker and the original had some. The new one had none from what I could see. I was surprised since they overcooked the remaster on The Great Cold Distance 10th. I actually kept the original on my iPod and just added the extra material to it.
Saw them headline the Metro on the last album tour. Was such a good show. These guys have really elevated into one of my absolute favorites. The run from Viva Emptiness until today is just excellent to my ears.
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Got my deluxe set on Friday. Another super well done package. I was curious as to the mastering and was surprised to see that it is just a tad quieter than the original. I compared wav forms and could notice the slight difference. Even ran a check for clipping on Forsaker and the original had some. The new one had none from what I could see. I was surprised since they overcooked the remaster on The Great Cold Distance 10th. I actually kept the original on my iPod and just added the extra material to it.
Saw them headline the Metro on the last album tour. Was such a good show. These guys have really elevated into one of my absolute favorites. The run from Viva Emptiness until today is just excellent to my ears.
Yes indeed! There's something for me to like in all of their albums, but I only listen to the ones with harsh vocals every so often. Discouraged Ones and Tonight's Decision are... compelling, I guess I would say. Last Fair Deal Gone Down I think took it up a level or two, and then Viva Emptiness to now is pretty much perfection for me.
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Got my deluxe set on Friday. Another super well done package. I was curious as to the mastering and was surprised to see that it is just a tad quieter than the original. I compared wav forms and could notice the slight difference.
Interesting. I might pick this one up just because of this. I absolutely LOVED Night is a New Day. It was one of those albums that changed my musical landscape. I guess it was an album that I listened to it at the right moment, at the right time in my musical life. I will never forget that feeling.
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I'm very happy. It appears they are starting work on a new album. Cannot wait for this!
http://bravewords.com/news/katatonia-in-the-studio
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Made my day (week, month, year, etc) when they posted that. :)
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Super pumped about another Katatonia release!!! Quite possibly the most consistently good band in metal. I thought the Fall of Hearts was a bit of step down, but mainly because I regard their three previous releases as masterpieces.
Also, Katatonia is a GREAT band if you want to gently ease your girlfriend into the world of metal hehe
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I think The Fall of Hearts is absolutely a masterpiece. :)
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I think The Fall of Hearts is absolutely a masterpiece. :)
I respect what they did, it’s probably their most “out there” progressive album but the melodies aren’t there for me and the songs seem to meander. Also, like most albums these days, it’s too bloody long. Dropping 3 or 4 songs would have made it a better experience overall. That said, Passer is one of the greatest things they’ve ever recorded.
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Well, if you find it too long, you can always skip a song or two that you don't care for. Whereas if they didn't release it all, people like me who love it all would be missing out. :P
I suppose I might be the odd one out, but I love long albums. I suppose if I didn't like the songs I'd feel differently, but I have a 16 track playlist of The Fall of Hearts and enjoy every last second.
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Lethean where are you, I'm disappointed
https://www.instagram.com/p/B785KZnJIKD/
OUR NEW ALBUM "CITY BURIALS" is set to be released via Peaceville Records on 24th April 2020! Listen to first single "LACQUER" now - link in bio.
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▬ Pre-orders live from 10am GMT / 11am CET tomorrow (31st Jan) ▬
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“In days and nights of black and silver, the dead end king will come. From pieces of broken mirrors there will be a crown bestowed upon his head. In reflections of shattered glass not only the seasons will turn, but also the change disguised by the lapse of time. His mind will have to come to bear the weight of everything that was left behind and forgotten. Archiving the inaccessible. Celebrating the abandoned and mourning the destroyed. The city burials.” Anders Nyström
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With the winds of a new direction steering the band on their latest journey, City Burials stands as Katatonia’s new triumph of deep & enigmatic progressive rock – the fruits of a rejuvenating and profound chapter in the band’s legacy; a catalyst for its creators, with a collection of moments constructed out of the fragments of an ever-evolving life. Compiled into one of their most important modern works and statements to date, the finely-honed instrumentation provides a multi-textured backdrop with the voice of Jonas Renkse guiding us through these latest trials of loss and ruin.
NEW SONG Lacquer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGvZhRFBQ_I&feature=youtu.be
TRACKLIST
1. Heart Set To Divide
2. Behind The Blood
3. Lacquer
4. Rein
5. The Winter Of Our Passing
6. Vanishers
7. City Glaciers
8. Flicker
9. Lachesis
10. Neon Epitaph
11. Untrodden
Damn, the new song is good. Renske sounds better than ever.
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It's mesmerising...
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Holy crap! I totally missed this too. Did not expect an album by April.
Totally excited about this.
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Good song. Great expectations for April.
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Excited for this I am! :tup
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Very nice song. Love the beat and the electronics.
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Jonas Renkse you beautiful beautiful man, I love this song
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I see preorders begin tomorrow. Guessing Burning Shed will have a really cool deluxe edition that will drain my wallet. Just take my money now.
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I was not expecting something like this to be the first single..
But still, that was awesome! Hopefully they have not abandoned electric guitars entirely. :P
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I dig the new single;
I know they’re gonna catch a lot of shit for it but, frankly, I think it’s better the first single they put out for Fall of Hearts.
But Katatonia haven’t really made a bad song in 20 years now. Seriously, if there is a more consistently good/reliable band in metal, I haven’t heard them.
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Burning Shed has the preorders up now. Looks like nothing special this time around. Just a CD, Mediabook and 2 different vinyl options. Based on what I see, the Mediabook is the one as it has 2 bonus tracks. I'm sure I will also grab a vinyl copy as well.
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This new album cycle gives me a reason to finally buy The Fall Of Hearts, after four years. :lol Been listening to it over the past couple days, and while it's a bit overly-long and probably not on the same level as Dead End Kings for me, it's still got some great stuff on it. The guitar work on this album feels like a big step up from what came before.
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Not grabbing me like other Katatonia songs but maybe in
context of the album it will blend in better.
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Lethean where are you, I'm disappointed
Sorry. I've been a little off lately.
Burning Shed has the preorders up now. Looks like nothing special this time around. Just a CD, Mediabook and 2 different vinyl options. Based on what I see, the Mediabook is the one as it has 2 bonus tracks. I'm sure I will also grab a vinyl copy as well.
I'm going to give it a little longer before preordering just in case they come up with something special. I really love the giant Fall of Hearts art book.
I've haven't listened to the new song yet; still thinking about if I want to just wait and listen to the whole album at once.
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Seriously, if there is a more consistently good/reliable band in metal, I haven’t heard them.
Amorphis for me. Their worst album of the past 15 years is, like, a super solid and replayable 7.
Excited for this.
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I second Amorphis, a consistently good (veteran) band, whose last 2 albums have been superb.
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Katatonia have been very solid for a long time though personally there's a few others I would put above them within metal if we're talking consistency & quality. Neurosis and Deftones (despite the last one being a bit less stellar than normal) but Katatonia still brings it. :)
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The most consistent metal band I can think of is easily Cult of Luna, and Leprous if we're talking younger bands who have still put out more than 5 albums.
Katatonia is also fairly high up, but for me what makes them less high is that a fair number of albums sound too similar
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The most consistent metal band I can think of is easily Cult of Luna, and Leprous if we're talking younger bands who have still put out more than 5 albums.
Katatonia is also fairly high up, but for me what makes them less high is that a fair number of albums sound too similar
Cult of Luna would be up there for me too though for me they fall in the shadow of Neurosis mainly because same genre and Neurosis have put out more albums (and therefor more quality) but I would also say their best albums are better than CoL's best albums. But Cult of Luna is still a good shout, they would be in my top5 if we're talking consistent metal bands.
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Katatonia, Leprous, Riverside, and yes, DT for me. All have released one great album after another.
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Katatonia, Insomnium, and Riverside for me.
They really can’t do any wrong in book.
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The most consistent metal band I can think of is easily Cult of Luna, and Leprous if we're talking younger bands who have still put out more than 5 albums.
Katatonia is also fairly high up, but for me what makes them less high is that a fair number of albums sound too similar
Cult of Luna would be up there for me too though for me they fall in the shadow of Neurosis mainly because same genre and Neurosis have put out more albums (and therefor more quality) but I would also say their best albums are better than CoL's best albums. But Cult of Luna is still a good shout, they would be in my top5 if we're talking consistent metal bands.
Maybe I should listen to some more Neurosis albums, I did like what I heard. Though I’ve noticed from the stuff I’ve heard, I tend to like Neurosis-inspired bands waaay more than Neurosis themselves :lol
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Neurosis was extremely consistent up until Honor Found in Decay. It felt like something had gone missing on that album and Fires Within Fires. The 14-year run between 1993's Enemy of the Sun and 2007's Given to the Rising is pretty much unparalleled in my book.
The new Katatonia track was a nice surprise. I haven't taken a liking to the albums since Night Is the New Day since it felt like everything was 'same old, same old' on those two. This feels fresh. Jonas sounds better, more varied and, surprisingly, less depressed on this one. Now that's a joy to hear! Maybe he "broke the mold" at long last?
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Man, Jonas' vocals just keep getting better with age :o
I was not expecting something like this to be the first single..
But still, that was awesome! Hopefully they have not abandoned electric guitars entirely. :P
Don't worry, they've said there'll be some heavy stuff as well!
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THE KINGS RETURN
KATATONIA RELEASE DETAILS OF “CITY BURIALS”
THE NEW STUDIO ALBUM, AN OPUS OF ABSORBING, SOARING PROGRESSIVE ROCK & METICULOUSLY CRAFTED DOSES OF MELANCHOLY - RELEASED ON PEACEVILLE ON 24TH APRIL
“In days and nights of black and silver, the dead end king will come. From pieces of broken mirrors there will be a crown bestowed upon his head. In reflections of shattered glass not only the seasons will turn, but also the change disguised by the lapse of time. His mind will have to come to bear the weight of everything that was left behind and forgotten. Archiving the inaccessible. Celebrating the abandoned and mourning the destroyed. The city burials.” Anders Nyström
Katatonia, formed in 1991 by Jonas Renkse & Anders Nyström, and transitioning from early pioneers of the rising black/death/doom movement, to powerhouses of the progressive metallic rock genre. Surprising their legions of admirers by taking an unexpected break, following the conclusion of their 2016 haunting The Fall Of Hearts album tour cycle. Joyously, 2020 brings the news that they are not only back, but newly armed with arguably their finest album to date, the enormously vivid and powerful City Burials.
With the winds of a new direction steering the band on their latest journey, City Burials stands as Katatonia’s new triumph of deep & enigmatic progressive rock – the fruits of a rejuvenating and profound chapter in the band’s legacy; a catalyst for its creators, with a collection of moments constructed out of the fragments of an ever-evolving life. Compiled into one of their most important modern works and statements to date, the finely-honed instrumentation provides a multi-textured backdrop with the voice of Jonas Renkse guiding us through these latest trials of loss and ruin.
The proof of Jonas and Anders’ enduring artistic bond is displayed throughout City Burials absorbing 58 minutes of meticulously crafted melodies and inspired, idiosyncratic arrangements. From the spine-tingling dynamics of opener “Heart Set To Divide” through and the simmering menace of “Lacquer” to the wildly evocative sorrow-scapes of “City Glaciers” and the exquisitely delicate “Vanishers” (featuring a guest vocal from Anni Bernhard, of Stockholm art rockers Full Of Keys) Katatonia’s eleventh studio album is a showcase for a partnership that was magical from the very start.
Inspired by an injection of fresh blood into Katatonia’s creative brew, with their most recent recruit, guitarist Roger Öjersson, whose contributions have been extremely significant, City Burials is an album that sees the band reclaim part of their heavy metal roots, via several moments of exuberant, old school classicism, deftly woven into these new songs’ kaleidoscopic fabric. Although songs like “Behind The Blood” and “Rein” are as heart-rending and immersive as any in Katatonia’s illustrious catalogue.
The result is an album that looks certain to push the band ever further into the spotlight. With grand plans for extensive touring around the world in support of their latest and perhaps greatest album, Katatonia are wringing fresh hope from life’s gloom-sodden tapestry.
City Burialswas produced by Nyström/Renkse and recorded at Soundtrade Studios, Tri-Lamb Studios & The City Of Glass, throughout October & November 2019, with engineering work handled by Karl Daniel Lidén. and mixing and mastering from Jacob Hansen, who states “Once in a while you end up working with artists that are special, and that particular session being something you’ll remember forever. This session is one of them, and only for good things! Proud to say I mixed and mastered the new Katatonia album”. City Burials also sees the return to the Katatonia fold of Anders Eriksson (Frank Default) beloved for his keyboard contributions to Night Is The New Day, Dead End Kings and various remixes.
Artwork appears courtesy of Lasse Hoile, the image itself representing the ongoing era of the Dead End King.
City Burials Tracklisting
1 Heart Set To Divide [05:29]
2 Behind The Blood [04:37]
3 Lacquer [04:42]
4 Rein [04:21]
5 The Winter Of Our Passing [03:18]
6 Vanishers [04:56]
7 City Glaciers [05:30]
8 Flicker [04:45]
9 Lachesis [01:54]
10 Neon Epitaph [04:32]
11 Untrodden [04:29]
Bonus Tracks available on various formats
12 Closing Of The Sky [05:26]
13 Fighters [03:37]
City Burials will be released on CD, deluxe mediabook CD with bonus tracks, black and coloured vinyl LPs with bonus track and digitally.
LIVE
Katatonia will be appearing at various festivals in 2020 with details of headline tours coming soon.
Mar 14 – MEX – Heaven & Hell Festival (https://hellandheavenfest.com/lineup/)
Mar 20-21 – NL – Prognosis Festival, Eindhoven ****
Apr 11- DE - Munich, Backstage - Dark Easter Metal Meeting (http://mrw-concerts.de/dark-easter-metal-meeting/)
May 16 - Austria - Vienna Metal Meeting 2020 (https://www.viennametalmeeting.com/?lang=en)
Jun 10 -11 – Poland – Mystic Festival, Krakow (https://www.mysticfestival.pl/en)
Jun 13 -14 – Romania, Bucharest, Maximum Rock Festival (https://www.facebook.com/Maximum-Rock-Festival-132903160204572/)
July 16-18 – Finland, John Smith Festival, Peurunka, Laukkaa (https://johnsmith.fi/esiintyjat/)
Aug 5-8 – CZ – Brutal Assault Festival, Fortress Josefov (https://brutalassault.cz/en)
Aug -5-8 – DE – Party San (https://www.party-san.de/en/bands-2020)
Aug 7-9 – BE, Alcatraz Festival, Kortrijk (https://www.alcatraz.be/en/index)
Aug 14-16 – US, Las Vegas – Psycho Fest (https://www.vivapsycho.com/)
Katatonia are:
Jonas Renkse - vocals
Anders Nyström - guitar
Niklas Sandin - bass
Daniel Moilanen - drums
Roger Öjersson - guitar
Follow Katatonia
www.facebook.com/katatonia
www.instagram.com/katatoniaband/
www.twitter.com/katatoniaband
www.katatonia.com
Photo credit: Ester Segarra
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Have had my pre-order in for some time now for the media book and black vinyl. Anxiously awaiting the end of April.
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It's too bad the album isn't out now - it would make staying at home a lot more fun. :)
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So Travis Smith has not been used this time for the artwork?
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Lethean where are you damn it
New song, Behind the Blood:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQaN2elJ-dQ
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I want to wait until I have the whole album. Don't tempt me Evermind! :)
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:biggrin:
I will say I liked Lacquer more but this is very solid. Possible album of the year material so far.
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Wow, that's different. I'm not sure whether I'm a fan of this song, but Lacquer is definitely fucking amazing at this point. Still super excited for the album to come out.
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I want to wait until I have the whole album. Don't tempt me Evermind! :)
I'm abstaining as well. Not going to listen to anything until the album is in my hands.
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I want to wait until I have the whole album. Don't tempt me Evermind! :)
I'm abstaining as well. Not going to listen to anything until the album is in my hands.
I'm not alone! We can do this. :)
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I want to wait until I have the whole album. Don't tempt me Evermind! :)
I'm abstaining as well. Not going to listen to anything until the album is in my hands.
I'm not alone! We can do this. :)
Shit. A bit more than a month to go. Add me to the abstainers :)
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I've been wearing out the new Deathwhite album to take my mind off of it. These guys have really channeled the Katatonia sound. Grave Image will most likely be in my top 5 at the end of the year. They blew it out of the water with this release.
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I want to wait until I have the whole album. Don't tempt me Evermind! :)
I'm abstaining as well. Not going to listen to anything until the album is in my hands.
I'm not alone! We can do this. :)
Shit. A bit more than a month to go. Add me to the abstainers :)
Welcome!
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I've been wearing out the new Deathwhite album to take my mind off of it. These guys have really channeled the Katatonia sound. Grave Image will most likely be in my top 5 at the end of the year. They blew it out of the water with this release.
Need to check this one out. Which Katatonia sound? The Night is the New Day sound? or the sound from the early Katatonia?
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I've been wearing out the new Deathwhite album to take my mind off of it. These guys have really channeled the Katatonia sound. Grave Image will most likely be in my top 5 at the end of the year. They blew it out of the water with this release.
Need to check this one out. Which Katatonia sound? The Night is the New Day sound? or the sound from the early Katatonia?
More modern era (Viva and on) and what I would call a bit stripped down Katatonia sound, I guess. Maybe some touches of the earlier Doom stuff mixed in, but not much in my opinion. Not really any electronics or synth type stuff. It is a great balance of the quiet passages mixed with the heavy.
Forgot they have a Bandcamp with all of their releases. Go here and sample the new album and everything else.
https://deathwhite.bandcamp.com/album/grave-image
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Getting worried that Amazon is going to make me wait. I pre-ordered in mid-Feb and my order says the shipping date is unknown and they will let me know when they have a date. I know they are prioritizing things, but this is that crap they pull with these releases where I end up getting them a week late or more.
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Getting worried that Amazon is going to make me wait. I pre-ordered in mid-Feb and my order says the shipping date is unknown and they will let me know when they have a date. I know they are prioritizing things, but this is that crap they pull with these releases where I end up getting them a week late or more.
You might want to cancel the Amazon order and order from www.lasercd.com or Burningshed. I don't think Amazon will ship music anytime soon. I have some orders with Amazon (non-music) and the earliest shipping dates I have are May 2nd on a couple of orders.
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Yeah, I cancelled Amazon and ordered from Laser CD. Price difference was $1 and I know Ken will package the vinyl better than Amazon tends to.
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Love the new song! Very heavy, guitar driven killer song.
This band is up there with my 3 current favorite bands. They're
#4 for me over the last several years. They can do no wrong
lately.
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All of my Amazon preorders, music or otherwise, got listed as the end of May, but the new Nightwish still showed up about two days after ordering.
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Lethean where are you damn it
New song, Behind the Blood:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQaN2elJ-dQ
Digging the 80s hard rock vibe of the riffs, can't wait for the album! :metal
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Credit to goo-goo on the Laser CD push. Ken shipped my order this morning. Looking forward to this.
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Lethean where are you damn it
New song, Behind the Blood:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQaN2elJ-dQ
Digging the 80s hard rock vibe of the riffs, can't wait for the album! :metal
I got the same 80's vibe on the riffs. Weird. So much so that I've been trying to figure out what song it sounds like.
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Lethean where are you damn it
New song, Behind the Blood:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQaN2elJ-dQ
Digging the 80s hard rock vibe of the riffs, can't wait for the album! :metal
I got the same 80's vibe on the riffs. Weird. So much so that I've been trying to figure out what song it sounds like.
It makes me think of bands like Judas Priest - maybe doing the Night Comes Down cover pushed them in that direction? I seem to recall Anders being an 80s metal fan, so wouldn't be surprised if it was written by him.
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A new single was released today. Not going to click, not going to click, only a few more days, I can do this... :)
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Yeah, here's the link btw:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnWkTAB-ceg
Okay this was a bit more in line with usual Katatonia stuff. Still hyped for the album though.
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Yeah, here's the link btw:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnWkTAB-ceg
Okay this was a bit more in line with usual Katatonia stuff. Still hyped for the album though.
Interesting, because to me it sounds more danceable and groovier than most of their material, though they have had electronics on their albums before, and on top of that it's shorter than the average Katatonia song. In fact, to me all the 3 singles sound more like a step away from the standard Katatonia sound than anything on The Fall of Hearts, though it had some longer songs and proggier elements.
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Lethean where are you damn it
New song, Behind the Blood:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQaN2elJ-dQ
Digging the 80s hard rock vibe of the riffs, can't wait for the album! :metal
I got the same 80's vibe on the riffs. Weird. So much so that I've been trying to figure out what song it sounds like.
It almost has a Ghost-like vibe to it.
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The day has finally come. Been playing it all morning. A bit mellower compared to their 3-4 previous efforts but it is definitely more varied. Liking what I'm hearing so far.
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Waiting for tonight at home!
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Listened twice this morning, I really like it! First impressions are way more positive than I had for The Fall of Hearts. Lacquer is still one of the strongest songs but I love Vanishers as well. A lot of strong tracks here I think.
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Mail won't come for a few more hours - I really hope it'll be there today. :)
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Mine didn't arrive today. Shipped on Tuesday so I was hoping. Maybe tomorrow.
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We're in the same boat, Prof. :(
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Really enjoyable listen. They have a formula that always connects with me.
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I have listened to most of it, and to me it feels like a bit of a throwback to their earlier albums like "Viva Emptiness" and "The Great Cold Distance".
A bit lighter on the prog elements compared to the last two albums. Some great songs in here for sure!
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Nothing again in the mail.
Had a rough couple of days and I tend to go on music buying binges when that happens. Decided to try to shore up my Katatonia collection with some stuff I was missing. Ordered the vinyl of The Great Cold Distance Live show (have the CD from the Super Deluxe set) and the vinyl of Sanctitude. Also ordered the Blu of Sanctitude as I only had the CD/DVD.
Had to go out today so I blasted the latest Deathwhite again to get me by. Man, that album is just a stunner.
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I don't know if I'm just in the right mood, but I'm really loving the new album. Might even be my favourite of theirs.
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I sipped v briefly from the gloomy goblet that is Katatonia about ten years ago but never really heard them much. Based on a review for the new one on my regular metal site I'm doing some coding listening to The Great Cold Distance and digging it very much.
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Kinda underwhelming first listen but I'll give it more time as I always do. The lack of guitars and making a more mellow album doesn't necessarily bother me but at a first glance the instrumentals didn't really grab my attention. The singing was really solid though!
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Hah, my mediabook and vinyl arrived along with the other vinyls I ordered while waiting. Will dig in later today.
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Yay. :)
I think it's pretty great. :)
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Decent to slightly mediocre Katatonia release. Everything is just...okay. “Lacquer” is still the standout track, very inventive and cool. If only the rest of the album was as fresh. Unfortunately, many of the songs seem to tread over familiar ground. On a positive note, the album is more to the point and an improvement over the meandering, unfocused Fall of Hearts.
It’s still Katatonia, though, and they are incapable of writing a bad tune in my book but somethings still missing from their GCD/NitND/DEK days (their “holy trinity” in my opinion). The melodies that I love aren’t *quite* there on the last two releases.
Maybe it will grow on me...
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This sounds like another progression to me. Jonas has a confidence in his vocals that I don't think I have really heard before. He is really pushing himself and it's for the better.
I am about halfway through and, I got to say that, Behind The Blood surprised me. Just doesn't sound like a track I would ever hear this band make.
This album, so far, is almost upbeat for a Katatonia release. Either way, loving it so far.
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For me, The Fall of Hearts is one of Katatonia's best albums. Night is the New Day, Dead End Kings, and The Fall of Hearts. But Viva Emptiness and The Great Cold Distance are right behind - those albums are pretty much perfect too. City Burials is new, but I'm sure it's going to end up among those five at the very least.
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Night is the New Day is their masterpiece for me. Atmospheric, unrelentingly dark, and progressive.
With some exceptions here and there they’ve been following the formula/sound of that album ever since.
Dead End Kings is probably their most consistent; every song on that album is a winner.
Great Cold Distance probably has the highest highs. Songs like July, My Twin, Deliberation etc put them on the map.
All of their albums are worth listening to though, with gems throughout.
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Night is the New Day was astonishing live. :)
I'd love a Dead End Kings anniversary set in a few years.
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I'm on Night Is The New Day today and The Longest Year has just given me goosebumps as I'm listening.
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:heart
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Night is the New Day was astonishing live. :)
I'd love a Dead End Kings anniversary set in a few years.
Yes!! That anniversary concert totally got me to appreciate the album even more after not having heard it for a while. It is probably my favourite Katatonia by now.
I love the new one, I didn't like the second single at all when it came out but now I love it and it is among my favourites. I think it's a bit of a poor choice to include the bonus track as a 'normal' track on the album though. Fighters is probably the weakest song and ending on it feels even more like a bummer, especially given the fact they didn't even indicate on streaming services that it's actually a bonus track.
Standouts for me are the first three songs, Neon Epitaph and Untrodden. Top 5 album of the year so far! Much better than Fall of Hearts for my taste
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I'm so happy to read this love for Night is the New Day. Most of the time I see it being considered weak. Maybe it just needed time to work its way into people's hearts. :)
The Fall of Hearts seems more mixed. I love every single song and have read a lot of comments ranging from it being their best record to not being so good.
New album - I'm already having a hard time picking out favorites. :) City Glaciers to the end is stunning. But Vanishers is starting to stay with me so I may as well just say the whole album.
I have the media book and so I knew what the bonus tracks were. I'm happy to just leave it in that order but maybe you could change it around for yourself?
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WildRanger poll idea: VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE ___-ER KATATONIA SONG
-Vanishers
-Fighters
-Passer
-Forsaker
-Departer
-Leaders
-Follower
-Sleeper
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:lol
Technically, I guess it's Lacquer for me
Love the album but Lacquer sent my expectations through the roof and only Vanishers and City Glaciers even remotely reached that level.
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I left off the titles that technically end in -er but don't seem to be referring to a person
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I left off the titles that technically end in -er but don't seem to be referring to a person
Yeah, I've got it but well, couldn't resist.
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WildRanger poll idea: VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE ___-ER KATATONIA SONG
-Vanishers
-Fighters
-Passer
-Forsaker
-Departer
-Leaders
-Follower
-Sleeper
That’s so easy, Forsaker!!
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Forsaker or Departer. Great start and end to Night is the New Day. :)
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:lol
Technically, I guess it's Lacquer for me
Love the album but Lacquer sent my expectations through the roof and only Vanishers and City Glaciers even remotely reached that level.
Lacquer is totally amazing. I loved that from the first listen. But, after having listened to it a bunch, I think the whole album is on a really high level. City Glaciers for sure; Flicker is sneakily awesome, Neo Epitaph... I wouldn't necessarily compare any of those song with Lacquer (except maybe Vanishers) because to me I put them in a different song category or something... but I think the album is pretty awesome.
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Love the album but Lacquer sent my expectations through the roof and only Vanishers and City Glaciers even remotely reached that level.
Agree 100% with this. Those are definitely the standouts.
As far as -er songs- I’d go with Passer and Departer. Both brilliant album closers. The final minute of Passer might be the most hauntingly beautiful thing they’ve ever done.
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Can I have a change in my perspective now?
I woke up with this in my head and it's still there. :)
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Ugh, I still have about 60 albums to check out before I get to this one. I'm not bumping it ahead, but I keep checking this thread for impressions, and all my friends who like Katatonia are drooling over this. Really looking forward to checking it out...
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Flicker is sneakily awesome,
Flicker is amazing, I think it might be my favourite on the album.
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As always with Katatonia, this album just gets better and better with each spin. Bravo!
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As always with Katatonia, this album just gets better and better with each spin. Bravo!
Yes, it really does. It seems like each time I listen to it I appreciate something new.
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I've had it for a week now, and I just don't want to stop listening to it. Incredible, beautiful album. :)
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Yeah I also can't stop spinning this one. Love it.
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Live streaming event on Saturday:
• Saturday 9th May - 20:00 CEST | 19:00 BST | 14:00 EDT
• Get tickets here (10€): https://bit.ly/2VSwYWc
"Even if you're not able to tune in 'live', you can still purchase a ticket and replay the performance as many times as you wish up until the 15th June."
I imagine I'll be watching it more than once. :)
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Behind The Blood is addicting! Killer intro and love the guitar work throughout.
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Yes it is!
I wasn't sold on it at all on my first listen. The next couple, I kinda liked it but wasn't sure it was what I wanted from them. But then, I guess it worked its way in. :) With Katatonia I'll often get fixed on little moments here and there and then the whole song opens up for me. That certainly happened with this one. I would have it in my head, not sure which song it was yet, and then I would kind of follow that trail and realize it was Behind the Blood and be a little surprised. :)
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Live stream coming up in about an hour. :) :metal
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I oy saw the last 30 mins but it was well worth it. Hopefully they will release the audio for the attendees and not just being able to replay the gig.
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Nothing has been said about making it available for download, so I'm going to be watching it as much as I can while it's still available. :)
Starting tonight probably, with the lights off.
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By the way, seems like they did make some money. There were 2.06k viewers at 10 euros a pop. So hopefully this helps them in the meantime.
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Glad to hear that. :) Plus there will be people who didn't watch it already but still can later.
I just watched again, in the dark. The studio that put it on really did a fantastic job with the visuals, and it looked even better at night. The band sounded just as awesome the second time. :)
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Professor Peart, and everyone else besides goo-goo, did you watch the live set? I watched it for a third time late last night.
The new songs sounded great.
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425, Cramx3, and I watched the live stream together tonight. It was a lot of fun watching with some DTFers. :) It was interesting that both liked a couple of the same songs, but in general each seemed to prefer different ones. But I think they will both back me up on how high quality the stream was in general.
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Definitely. The production quality was really high for a live-in-studio performance. I don't know this band very well outside of a few roulette tracks, but watching this definitely increased my interest in them.
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I'd love to hear your thoughts if you check them out more. I guess I'd say to start with City Burials since it's the latest one and I think you liked each track the played from it.
Cramx3 - I'd be curious what songs your friend recommended to you if you still remember.
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I see there's a thread for The Ocean but thought I'd add this here just for the one other Katatonia fan here that might have missed it. :)
New song featuring Jonas Renkse:
https://youtu.be/BPMrwSwl8is
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New release. There is a vinyl set as well. Insta-buy for me.
https://burningshed.com/store/peaceville/katatonia_dead-air_2cd_dvd?filter_tag=Katatonia&filter_category_id=264
(https://burningshed.com/image/cache/data/Katatonia/CDVILEF885MOCKUP-300x300.jpg)
Katatonia - captured during the band's 2020 lockdown session - perform an extensive 88-minute set of fan favourites spanning two decades of material.
2020 saw Katatonia present its eleventh studio opus - the poignant City Burials - to unanimous acclaim. Following closely in its footsteps, the Swedish dark rock masters present Dead Air to further immortalise these strangest of times. With a somewhat unforeseen global event transpiring this year which resulted in touring being made all but impossible for artists internationally, Katatonia conducted a more intimate “lockdown” show which was streamed live from Studio Grondahl, Stockholm on May 9th.
Dead Air offers fans a full 88-minute set with inclusions spanning two decades of material, and debut performances of three City Burials’ album tracks.
The tracklisting contains a very literal selection of fan favourites overall, having being voted for exclusively by the band’s worldwide fanbase, flawlessly flirting between earlier singles such as Metallic anthems My Twin and July, to the stirring emotional grandeur of new song, Lacquer. The recording, mixing and engineering work was orchestrated by David Castillo, notable for his extensive body of work with Katatonia to date, and the performance itself was professionally filmed by Blackbox Video.
The artwork is by long-running collaborator, Travis Smith.
CD1
1 Lethean
2 Teargas
3 Serein
4 Deliberation
5 The Winter Of Our Passing
6 Ghost Of The Sun
7 The Racing Heart
8 Soil's Song
9 Old Heart Falls
CD2
1 Forsaker
2 Tonight's Music
3 In The White
4 Leaders
5 Lacquer
6 Omerta
7 My Twin
8 Unfurl
9 July
10 Evidence
11 Behind The Blood (Dead Air Session)
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I'm so glad they're doing an official release for that. That was a great set. :heart
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Finally up for preorder at Laser CD. Just cancelled my Amazon order and switched to them. They are cheaper on the CD/DVD set and a lot cheaper on the vinyl.
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I've been looking at the t-shirt bundle, but the rediculous shipping charges always stop me. Not that I really *need* another Katatonia shirt but... :)
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Loved the set when I saw the stream so pretty excited about having the release. Disappointed that it's a DVD and not a blu-ray (wonder if there was any technical limitation) but glad we have something. The audio was great in the stream.
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I'm so glad they're doing an official release for that. That was a great set. :heart
Agreed :heart
Preordered this bundle (https://www.recordshopx.com/artist/katatonia/dead_air/#704474), which includes a bag and a poster besides the T-shirt :metal
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That's interesting. The t-shirt in that package is different than the one in the omerch package.
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Got my CD/DVD and vinyl from Laser today. Listening to a few tracks and the sound on this is excellent. Listened to Ghost Of The Sun first and it sounds huge. This lineup is really firing on all cylinders. This is well mixed and well worth the buy.
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Really looking forward to getting mine. :) Glad to hear that you think it was well done.
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Got my CD/DVD and vinyl from Laser today. Listening to a few tracks and the sound on this is excellent. Listened to Ghost Of The Sun first and it sounds huge. This lineup is really firing on all cylinders. This is well mixed and well worth the buy.
Just got it as well from Laser's Edge. It's the only show that I have streamed during this pandemic and loved the set. Kind of weird listening to Jonas "speak" to the crowd and just hear silence (no crowd lol).
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New compilation album out in October, can't see much that hasn't already been released.
https://burningshed.com/store/peaceville/related-stores-peaceville/katatonia-peaceville
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New compilation album out in October, can't see much that hasn't already been released.
https://burningshed.com/store/peaceville/related-stores-peaceville/katatonia-peaceville
Yeah, saw that yesterday. True, looks like there isn't much in way of new stuff. Although it might be a good way to have all of the B-sides in one place. I guess they had similar releases in the past, but they are hard to track down.
Incidentally, I always thought Katatonia had excellent non-album tracks
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Saw it as well. Initially got excited, but then I realized that I only need 2 or 3 songs from the whole set. At best, I might spring for the CD. Not getting the vinyl this time around. Most of this I got on the reissues already.
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Saw it as well. Initially got excited, but then I realized that I only need 2 or 3 songs from the whole set. At best, I might spring for the CD. Not getting the vinyl this time around. Most of this I got on the reissues already.
Me too. I'll get the mediabook just because Katatonia always puts out nice packaging and artwork.
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I only need 2 songs from the set, but I was working on paying too much to get them anyway, so getting them on this release works out quite nicely. :)
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Katatonia North American tour dates announced:
11/09 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
11/10 – Worcester, MA @ Palladium
11/11 – New York, NY @ Sony Hall
11/12 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
11/13 – Harrisburg, PA @ Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center
11/15 – Quebec City, QC @ Impérial Bell
11/16 – Montreal, QC @ Le Studio TD
11/18 – Toronto, ON @ Opera House
11/19 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Thunderbird Music Hall
11/20 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
11/22 – Denver, CO @ Oriental Theater
11/23 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Soundwell
11/25 – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
11/26 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
11/27 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
11/29 – Roseville, CA @ Goldfield Trading Post
11/30 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
12/02 – Los Angeles, CA @ 1720
12/03 – San Diego, CA @ Brick by Brick
12/04 – Mesa, AZ @ Nile Theater
12/06 – Austin, TX @ Come and Take It Live (w/ Soen)
12/07 – Dallas, TX @ Amplified Live (w/ Soen)
12/09 – Atlanta, GA @ Hell at The Masquerade
12/10 – Tampa, FL @ The Orpheum
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I’ll be hitting the Austin show with Soen in the bill as well. I thought I has to drive to Houston to see them.
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I'd love to see Soen open for them. But with The Ocean Collective opening the other shows, I hope Jonas will make a guest appearance during their set.
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Sigh, I already have Soen on 11/22 in Chicago and now Katatonia announces for 2 days earlier. I wish they would play a double headline show together. Not sure if I can make this one. Saw them the last time they played Metro and it was not crowded at all. It was quite nice.
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I'm not sure if I'll make a Soen show or not. They would be a good opener for Katatonia but headlining they'll get a full set.
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Yeah, seeing as I have seen Katatonia a few times now, seeing Soen more than makes up for it since I never in a million years expected them to tour the States. Plus, they are playing a fairly small venue so it will be a nice intimate show. I have been looking at their headline sets and they have been playing a lot of songs so I hope that stands when they come here.
I still may see Kat, I have time to think about it.
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And I played Dead End Kings again and again and again and it wasn't that I loved the whole album at once; it was this song, and then that song, and then that song. And I remember where I was for many of the songs.
Yeah, pretty much the same. The weird thing is that I listened to it a ton in '12 when it came out ("The Parting", "Dead Letters" and "The One You Are Looking For Is Not Here" were the first standouts), some but not all that much in '13, but then in '14 in the fall I probably listened to it even more than I did in '12. "The Racing Heart" and "Hypnone" were the most played tracks during that period. It seems kind of rare to find fans who are really into that album, it's often considered the ugly duckling of their discography (lowest rating on Rate Your Music until City Burials came out, for example).
I listened to it a bit when it first came out and thought it was very good. But in early 2013 revisited it when thinking about making a top albums of 2012 list. Never made that list, but became totally captivated by Dead End Kings. Lethean was (maybe obviously) the first one for me. The One You Are Looking for is Not Here and The Racing Heart were also early ones. Ambitions. The Parting was one I was really starting to get into right when I saw them live, and they didn't play it during their opening set, but they did a headlining show that I was able to catch and they opened with The Parting, and I was so blown away. Leech was probably the last track to fall into place for me; I kind of disliked it at first and then was more neutral towards it and then it was like, "you know... this song actually rules." Dead End Kings is my most played album and even though I've played it a *lot*... earlier this year I was listening to it and having this weird experience where it was like I was hearing it in a new light and even though I know it so well I was experiencing on an even deeper level and it was even better than I thought.
I think a lot of fans like the album... at least I've been noticing some appreciation for it more often. But maybe for (some) older fans, even though they like it, it's not going to necessarily be a favorite. I have a friend who raved about the album when it came out, but his favorite is Last Fair Deal Gone Down and even though he loves them all, that one is likely always going to be his favorite. And a lot of people are like that with The Great Cold Distance too.
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Yeah, so many of their albums are so singular that they tend to have their own fanbases. Dance of December Souls has that unique "dark metal" black/doom sound that a lot of extreme metal fans adore, even though it's my least favorite (still great though). Brave Murder Day draws in the Opeth fans for Mike, and is oddly about the only true mixture of death metal and shoegaze in existence, even though black metal regularly crosses over with it since Alcest and others. Although, I've heard rumors about Kardashev's release this year, which I'll have to check out. Discouraged Ones replaced the death metal with more The Cure influence. Tonight's Decision has Dan Swano, making them have arguably my three favorite Swedish musicians over the span of just a few years. Actually, given that Skogsberg does production work for them in that era, there's a truly rich history of Swedish metal encapsulated in the personnel around that time. Last Fair Deal Gone Down draws in more of the darker alt rock crowd. Viva Emptiness does the same for alt metal, being noticeably heavier, and The Great Cold Distance takes that even further, with more overt Tool references. The Fall of Hearts probably draws in the most pure prog fans.
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Brave Murder Day is my least favorite. I like the songs, I love Day, but I'm what seems like an outlier in not liking Mikael's harsh vocals at all. Dance of December Souls on the other hand... I probably shouldn't like it that much more than Brave Murder Day given my tastes, but I kind of do. I don't listen to it all the time, but the first time I did I was listening with headphones and felt oddly emotional about it, and that has kind of stayed with me since.
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Wonderful band although I don't own anything before Night Is The New Day. Still remember hearing Forsaker on the headphones for the first time. I was hooked. They really hit the sweet spot for me.
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I think I posted this in some other thread last year, but this is my favorite Katatonia cover.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqGEE1VH8ww
I also really like this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef4zGzOsGP4
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Wonderful band although I don't own anything before Night Is The New Day. Still remember hearing Forsaker on the headphones for the first time. I was hooked. They really hit the sweet spot for me.
Forsaker was pretty much my first Katatonia song. It took a while for me to get hooked, but I liked that song a lot and found it kind of surprising.
Viva Emptiness to the present is a 6 album run of absolute perfection for me, and Last Fair Deal Gone Down is just behind those, so I'd definitely recommend you to pick up those 3 (Last Fair Deal Gone Down, Viva Emptiness, and The Great Cold Distance). Viva Emptiness is my favorite of the 3, but The Great Cold Distance is close.
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I think I posted this in some other thread last year, but this is my favorite Katatonia cover.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqGEE1VH8ww
I also really like this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef4zGzOsGP4
Those, especially the first one were nicely done. But the vocals just weren't working for me. I suspect it's less to do with their voices and more to do with me not really being into Jonas-less Katatonia all that much, because I've had similar reactions with other covers. I don't want to hear someone try to sound like Jonas, yet when they don't I'm missing his inflections and things like that, so that's probably a me problem. :)
But I did enjoy some of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpPgdtw9riE&t=0s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpPgdtw9riE&t=0s). I didn't listen tot he whole thing in one sitting but I think I've heard about half of it and it was really nice.
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Hah, as I was reading your comment I was thinking to myself, "if the vocals are the problem, maybe I should post the Nikola Svetkovic piano renditions", and then poof, you'd already found it. :lol
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New album January 20th!! Sky Void of Stars. I am ecstatic over this news. :metal
New single as well, Atrium:
https://youtu.be/BB24-hVZ88k
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The rest of my planned listening for the day is ruined...
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BTW, I don't know if you've looked at that discography discussion tracker thread. I don't see Katatonia listed on the first page. The thread hasn't been active in awhile, but I'm wondering if between this thread, bumping that one, and eventually a new one for it if we could gin up the interest to do a discography discussion for them. I imagine the two of us alone are easily capable of tackling it, and I'm sure a few other people would chime in as well.
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I'm not sure it's possible for them to release a song I don't like at this point, but this one is pretty solid, pretty much in the ballpark of their latest output. An overly flowery press release (and mentioning post-rock is odd, they've never really done anything approaching it), cover and single artwork.
Swedish melancholic metallers KATATONIA will release a new studio album, "Sky Void of Stars", on January 20, 2023 via Napalm Records.Founded in 1991, KATATONIA has continually embraced the dark and the light alike and, living through genre evolutions beyond compare, ripened its own particular form of expression. From doom and death metal to soul-gripping post rock, they've explored endless spheres of the genre, accumulating only the very best aspects. After signing with Napalm Records, the entity around founding members Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström is ready to showcase its brilliance and illuminate the void in the scene once more with "Sky Void Of Stars".With the first single "Atrium", KATATONIA hits with highly energetic atmosphere, holding a gloomy ambience with epic sounds and poetic lyrics to get lost in. The heartfelt piece of sound goes in line with a gripping music video, underlining the exceptional atmosphere the five-piece is creating with every single note. "Atrium" is now available via all digital service providers worldwide.KATATONIA comments on "Sky Void Of Stars": "Our 12th album, 'Sky Void Of Stars' is a dynamic journey through vibrant darkness. Born out of yearning for what was lost and not found, the very peripheries of the unreachable, but composed and condensed into human form and presented as sounds and words true to the KATATONIA signum. No stars here, just violent rain."Emerging from the gloom, KATATONIA is a beacon of light — breathing their unique, never stagnant, atmospheric sound through this new 11-track offering, all written and composed by vocalist Jonas Renkse. Album opener "Austerity" provides a courting introduction to the album. Crashing through the dark, it convinces with memorable, mind-bending rhythms as it shifts with elaborate guitar riffs that perfectly showcase the musical expertise and experience of the band. Topped off by the dark, conjuring voice of Renkse and mesmerizing lyricism, the gloomy mood for the album is set. Songs like down-tempo "Opaline" and moody "Drab Moon" fully embrace their melancholic sound while fragile "Impermanence" is accented by the original doom metal roots of KATATONIA. Like a dark star, these pieces relume the dreariness, creating an ambient auditory experience with memorable hooks while still inducing the crashing sounds of hard guitar riffs and pounding drums. The experimental mastery of the quintet and their atmospheric approach is purely vivid, making this album a thrilling sensation. With "Birds", the artists show off their explosive potential with a quick and energetic sound, proving their genre-defying style.
(https://cdn-p.smehost.net/sites/2ed48fdcc3904f548299cd86d78e9885/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/katatonia_skyvoidofstars_cover.jpg)
(https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1073298436_10.jpg)
Interesting that Jonas is writing the whole thing again. The last album was the same way, and it was slightly underwhelming at first, but all their albums are sleepers, and I loved it more and more over time, with "Heart Set To Divide" having an argument for my favorite song they've done yet. I kind of miss Jonas and Anders as a songwriting team though. I'm still not over losing Liljekvist either, but Moilanen is certainly more than adequate.
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Well, that came out of nowhere. Wonder what the release options will be like. They always had exquisite deluxe packages previously that I always dropped my cash on.
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BTW, I don't know if you've looked at that discography discussion tracker thread. I don't see Katatonia listed on the first page. The thread hasn't been active in awhile, but I'm wondering if between this thread, bumping that one, and eventually a new one for it if we could gin up the interest to do a discography discussion for them. I imagine the two of us alone are easily capable of tackling it, and I'm sure a few other people would chime in as well.
I would absolutely do it. I don't know how many people would follow along, but I'll do it. How would it work with two people doing it instead of just one? Maybe we each write something up, combine it, and take turns posting? For example, I give the background, release date, and tracklist for Dance of December Souls, then add my thoughts, then add yours and post? And then you do the same for Brave Murder Day, etc ...
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Well, that came out of nowhere. Wonder what the release options will be like. They always had exquisite deluxe packages previously that I always dropped my cash on.
I already pre-ordered a limited edition box set that they have for this. No vinyl in that package but they do have vinyl as well.
And I love how stealthy they were about this. :)
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BTW, I don't know if you've looked at that discography discussion tracker thread. I don't see Katatonia listed on the first page. The thread hasn't been active in awhile, but I'm wondering if between this thread, bumping that one, and eventually a new one for it if we could gin up the interest to do a discography discussion for them. I imagine the two of us alone are easily capable of tackling it, and I'm sure a few other people would chime in as well.
I would absolutely do it. I don't know how many people would follow along, but I'll do it. How would it work with two people doing it instead of just one? Maybe we each write something up, combine it, and take turns posting? For example, I give the background, release date, and tracklist for Dance of December Souls, then add my thoughts, then add yours and post? And then you do the same for Brave Murder Day, etc ...
Maybe we could post how we rank the albums, and if there's a clear preference for certain albums we can handle those, and then figure out how to split the rest.
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I'm not the biggest Katatonia fan, and I don't know all of their records, but I like them well enough. So I would follow along if you do a discography thread.
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BTW, I don't know if you've looked at that discography discussion tracker thread. I don't see Katatonia listed on the first page. The thread hasn't been active in awhile, but I'm wondering if between this thread, bumping that one, and eventually a new one for it if we could gin up the interest to do a discography discussion for them. I imagine the two of us alone are easily capable of tackling it, and I'm sure a few other people would chime in as well.
I would absolutely do it. I don't know how many people would follow along, but I'll do it. How would it work with two people doing it instead of just one? Maybe we each write something up, combine it, and take turns posting? For example, I give the background, release date, and tracklist for Dance of December Souls, then add my thoughts, then add yours and post? And then you do the same for Brave Murder Day, etc ...
Maybe we could post how we rank the albums, and if there's a clear preference for certain albums we can handle those, and then figure out how to the split the rest.
Maybe City Burials is getting bumped because the newness still hasn't worn off, but here's my ranking at the moment:
1. Dead End Kings
2. City Burials
3 and 4. The Fall of Hearts/Night is the New Day
5. Viva Emptiness
6. The Great Cold Distance
7. Last Fair Deal Gone Down
8. Tonight's Decision
9. Discouraged Ones
10. Dance of December Souls
11. Brave Murder Day
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BTW, I don't know if you've looked at that discography discussion tracker thread. I don't see Katatonia listed on the first page. The thread hasn't been active in awhile, but I'm wondering if between this thread, bumping that one, and eventually a new one for it if we could gin up the interest to do a discography discussion for them. I imagine the two of us alone are easily capable of tackling it, and I'm sure a few other people would chime in as well.
I would absolutely do it. I don't know how many people would follow along, but I'll do it. How would it work with two people doing it instead of just one? Maybe we each write something up, combine it, and take turns posting? For example, I give the background, release date, and tracklist for Dance of December Souls, then add my thoughts, then add yours and post? And then you do the same for Brave Murder Day, etc ...
Maybe we could post how we rank the albums, and if there's a clear preference for certain albums we can handle those, and then figure out how to the split the rest.
I would be obviously following :)
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I posted in the discography discussion tracker thread, people can jump in there as well if they like.
1: Sky Void of Stars - be nice if it turns out to be, wouldn't it?
1: Dead End Kings
2: The Great Cold Distance
3: Viva Emptiness
4: Night is the New Day
5: Last Fair Deal Gone Down
6: Discouraged Ones
7: Tonight's Decision
8: City Burials
9: The Fall of Hearts
10: Brave Murder Day
11: Dance of December Souls
That would suggest a possible split of:
Me - The Great Cold Distance, Viva Emptiness, Last Fair Deal Gone Down, Discouraged Ones, Brave Murder Day
Lethean - City Burials, The Fall of Hearts, Night is the New Day, Tonight's Decision, Dance of December Souls
And maybe someone else flips a coin for Dead End Kings for us.
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That works for me. I'd say we should each comment on each of the albums anyway, either in one post by the person listed above or a separate comment right after.
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I would be obviously following :)
I'm not the biggest Katatonia fan, and I don't know all of their records, but I like them well enough. So I would follow along if you do a discography thread.
:)
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I'll have to look at more of those threads, but it essentially looks like a review of each album as they go. So if one person is responsible for the background research and initial review, and then the other just posts additional thoughts, that seems to work.
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I should say that my "reviews" will probably not resemble real objective/semi professional reviews in any way. :)
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A new album coming! Wow! That really came out of nowhere for me. Listening to Atrium now. Good song that seems to be continuing on the City Burials vibe.
Interesting to see your album rankings above, I have been a big Katatonia fan for a long time, discovering them after the release of Tonight's Decision so I have followed their growth from album to album from that point. Viva Emptiness was the major turning point for me, I was blown away but that release at the time. I probably listened to it for 6 months straight. My Katatonia fandom was at fever pitch when The Great Cold Distance was release and it didn't disappoint. To this day I still think those two albums are their most consistent. Each subsequent release has had some major high points but also a few songs here and there that haven't been as strong.
I will be following the album discussion for sure.
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Even though I ranked some of the other albums higher, I think both Viva Emptiness and The Great Cold Distance are perfect. I just like the others slightly more. But I think everything from Viva Emptiness to now is stellar. I wouldn't change anything about them. (And Last Fair Deal Gone Down is pretty close).
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Well, that came out of nowhere. Wonder what the release options will be like. They always had exquisite deluxe packages previously that I always dropped my cash on.
I already pre-ordered a limited edition box set that they have for this. No vinyl in that package but they do have vinyl as well.
And I love how stealthy they were about this. :)
Yep. Just ordered the Deluxe box from Napalm. Held off on the vinyl, but I'm sure I will pick it up later. Just wanted to lock in the deluxe since it is limited to 700.
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Great new song. Kind of giving me a Dead End Kings vibe.
Love Katatonia but have been a bit underwhelmed by their last two albums. Some standout tracks but a lot of filler as well. Not quite up to snuff with their Great Cold Distance/Night is the New Day/Dead End Kings run which I feel like was the artistic high point of the band (under their current sound, anyway).
A little concerned with Jonas’ vocals. He’s struggled on the more challenging parts for a long time but his range seems completely shot as of late. He still seems to be getting the job done in the studio, thankfully.
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New song sounds great! I really love everything this band has done, so I am really excited to hear the new album.
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I've now seen comments that Atrium sounds like/reminds people of:
The last two albums together (City Burials and The Fall of Hearts)
The last two albums separately
Dead End Kings
The Great Cold Distance
Last Fair Deal Gone Down/Tonight's Decision
:)
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I've now seen comments that Atrium sounds like/reminds people of:
The last two albums together (City Burials and The Fall of Hearts)
The last two albums separately
Dead End Kings
The Great Cold Distance
Last Fair Deal Gone Down/Tonight's Decision
:)
So, what you're telling me is, it sounds like Katatonia?
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A little concerned with Jonas’ vocals. He’s struggled on the more challenging parts for a long time but his range seems completely shot as of late. He still seems to be getting the job done in the studio, thankfully.
Jonas has never been been someone to listen to for vocal chops and acrobatics. It's all about the emotionality of the delivery, and the frailty and struggle of his voice actually enhances that for me. That said, the notes he hits on "Lacquer" show a range and power he's never demonstrated before, so I think he's still fine in the studio. Live has always been spotty, it's amazing he can do it at all given his ongoing stage fright issues. Particularly earlier on, but still sometimes he'll perform with his hair in front of his face, and he's definitely not the most comfortable live vocalist. Their sound is often in a far too rare category that I'd call under-powered vocals, where the music is much heavier than the vocal style. Some find it frustrating, but I find it intoxicating and unique.
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A little concerned with Jonas’ vocals. He’s struggled on the more challenging parts for a long time but his range seems completely shot as of late. He still seems to be getting the job done in the studio, thankfully.
Jonas has never been been someone to listen to for vocal chops and acrobatics. It's all about the emotionality of the delivery, and the frailty and struggle of his voice actually enhances that for me. That said, the notes he hits on "Lacquer" show a range and power he's never demonstrated before, so I think he's still fine in the studio. Live has always been spotty, it's amazing he can do it at all given his ongoing stage fright issues. Particularly earlier on, but still sometimes he'll perform with his hair in front of his face, and he's definitely not the most comfortable live vocalist. Their sound is often in a far too rare category that I'd call under-powered vocals, where the music is much heavier than the vocal style. Some find it frustrating, but I find it intoxicating and unique.
Oh I totally hear you- Jonas has never been Pavarotti or a Ronnie James Dio, but his range has definitely taken a hit over the past decade- he simply doesn’t have the chops that he had during the Fair Deal/Viva Emptiness days. Granted that was already 20 (!) years ago.
While I get that some of the straining adds an emotive quality to the songs, I find their latest live releases (Sanctitude and especially Dead Air) to be, sadly, virtually unlistenable. Not sure if it’s Father Time catching up or if he’s sustained some sort of vocal injury recently. I believe he had issues early on in his career which is one of the reasons they strayed away from growls in the first place.
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I absolutely love Sanctitude. It may not be perfect but I enjoy his vocals very much.
Dead Air is difficult, but I don't know if it's a lack of range. To me he sounds nervous, and maybe that's because he said he was, but that's how it sounds. I think he gets better as the set goes on.
I last saw him live in 2019; and he sounded great.
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I'm a bit surprised about Jonas live vocals being questioned. I have always thought he sounded great and I love Sanctitude. His live vocals just aren't quite as refined as in the studio and that is the case with most vocalists live. I mean, compared to another vocalist whose live vocals are a very big discussion point on this forum, Jonas always delivers to me.
I have seen Katatonia live a couple of times and never had a problem with his singing.
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I saw Katatonia tonight. Maybe YouTube will prove me a liar, but I thought Jonas sounded great.
The sound at the venue wasn't so great, but otherwise the show was amazing. They were clearly very happy to be on tour again. If you can see this tour, do.
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Has anyone else caught a show on this tour yet? I've seen a few and they've been incredible.
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Waiting for Dec 2 or Dec 6 here in Austin. Soen was added to this bill as well. Pretty excited about going to this one.
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That looks like it would be an incredible festival lineup. :) I think I'm going to make a Soen show and if so I'll get to see it all separately.
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I wanted to go see the NYC show, but didn't make it in the end...
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New song from Sky Void of Stars out today, Austerity. I love this one! A bit on the heavier side, nice and dark, and has a really great solo section. Like this one a bit more than Atrium. Super pumped for the new album!
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I just heard it. :) It's going to take a couple listens as new stuff always does, but there are little parts I already loved.
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After a month of immersion in early Katatonia the shred solo is a little jarring. :lol Pretty cool tune though.
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I gave it one listen too...I'll probably stop there, as I did with the first single. Too curious to ignore it completely, but don't want to spoil it too much :)
First impression, yes, it's a pretty cool tune. Agreed on the solo...I tend to forget Roger Öjersson can get shreddy at times ;) There are some brief spots here and there in the phrasing/closing of certain riffs that sounded a bit Opeth-like to my ears, but with the trademark Katatonia darkness all over. Vocals sound a little different too.
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I listened to it a couple more times, and liked it more each time. I would usually not listen to the singles at all, but I wanted to be familiar with Atrium for the tour and I think they may play Austerity before it's over as well.
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Damn cool song!
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Personally I enjoyed Atrium much more than Austerity, but they are very distinct singles. Looking forward to hearing more. :metal :metal
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Luke, while we're waiting for Litho to take his sweet time posting about Viva Emptiness, tell us your thoughts on Last Fair Deal Gone Down. :)
I saw Katatonia last night, and I'm still emotional and excited about it. They were amazing on this tour.
I'm still regretting not going to NYC...but it just didn't work out. Haven't actually checked out the setlist. What were the highlights for you? Anything surprising they dug out of the vault?
Replying to this here, which is probably where I should have posted it in the first place. :)
If by vault you mean really old, no. But they did play Onward into Battle, which was a big surprise to me. And it sounded fantastic.
Highlights - it's hard because it's kind of the whole thing. :) But I do have some, aside from the above rarity, which was a highlight, there's also:
- Liberation, they hadn't played it here since 2011 (at least not at the shows I saw).
- The Racing Heart; one of the best songs ever
- All 4 of the City Burials songs; they opened with Heart Set to Divide, which was the perfect way to open, and closed the main set with Untrodden, which was also perfect. The Winter of Our Passing is a great song. And Behind the Blood was very energetic. I wanted to hear so many more from the album.
- Atrium and Austerity
- closing with Lethean :)
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Replying to this here, which is probably where I should have posted it in the first place. :)
If by vault you mean really old, no. But they did play Onward into Battle, which was a big surprise to me. And it sounded fantastic.
Highlights - it's hard because it's kind of the whole thing. :) But I do have some, aside from the above rarity, which was a highlight, there's also:
- Liberation, they hadn't played it here since 2011 (at least not at the shows I saw).
- The Racing Heart; one of the best songs ever
- All 4 of the City Burials songs; they opened with Heart Set to Divide, which was the perfect way to open, and closed the main set with Untrodden, which was also perfect. The Winter of Our Passing is a great song. And Behind the Blood was very energetic. I wanted to hear so many more from the album.
- Atrium and Austerity
- closing with Lethean :)
This all sounds great! By "vault" I meant not played often, not necessarily super-old. So, yes, you answered my question. I get that they don't play early songs (unless it's some "special occasion"), I really do. I guess I'd be happy with some more songs from Last Fair Deal Gone Down and Viva Emptiness (not surprisingly, since they are my favorite records of theirs :)). And, why not, a couple of revisits from Discouraged Ones, since stylistically it wouldn't be completely out of place.
But, hey, they have so many awesome songs, wherever you pick... and yes, Heart Set to Divide is indeed a fantastic opener to the album, I bet it works great live...
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"Heart Set To Divide" might be my favorite song of theirs.
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Replying to this here, which is probably where I should have posted it in the first place. :)
If by vault you mean really old, no. But they did play Onward into Battle, which was a big surprise to me. And it sounded fantastic.
Highlights - it's hard because it's kind of the whole thing. :) But I do have some, aside from the above rarity, which was a highlight, there's also:
- Liberation, they hadn't played it here since 2011 (at least not at the shows I saw).
- The Racing Heart; one of the best songs ever
- All 4 of the City Burials songs; they opened with Heart Set to Divide, which was the perfect way to open, and closed the main set with Untrodden, which was also perfect. The Winter of Our Passing is a great song. And Behind the Blood was very energetic. I wanted to hear so many more from the album.
- Atrium and Austerity
- closing with Lethean :)
This all sounds great! By "vault" I meant not played often, not necessarily super-old. So, yes, you answered my question. I get that they don't play early songs (unless it's some "special occasion"), I really do. I guess I'd be happy with some more songs from Last Fair Deal Gone Down and Viva Emptiness (not surprisingly, since they are my favorite records of theirs :)). And, why not, a couple of revisits from Discouraged Ones, since stylistically it wouldn't be completely out of place.
But, hey, they have so many awesome songs, wherever you pick... and yes, Heart Set to Divide is indeed a fantastic opener to the album, I bet it works great live...
I might die if they played Dispossession. I'd also love to hear Tonight's Music - it was incredible on the live stream. But really I'd like to hear anything besides Teargas (and I enjoy hearing Teargas, I'd just like to hear others from Last Fair Deal Gone Down too). From Viva Emptiness, I'd be happy with anything from that entire album; maybe not Ghost of the Sun or Criminals since they played those on the last tour. But I'm perfectly happy hearing Evidence as much as they want to play it.
I loved Heart Set to Divide being the opening track to the shows; it was perfect.
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I woke up with Austerity in my head this morning. It felt like the song really hit me when I saw it live; that might just be good timing or it might be that live made it come to life, or both.
It's going to be hard not listening to the next single but I really want to just wait for the album and experience it all together.
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Another new song, 'Birds' https://youtu.be/_ILWPwc4KaY
Only two more weeks until the new album :biggrin:
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I'm holding off on listening to the last song; but it's been hard. :)
Two weeks can't come fast enough.
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I normally only listen to pre-album release singles just the once and then wait for the complete experience of a long player.
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I guess for me it depends. I've been trying to avoid them and did so for City Burials and liked how it turned out. I've also done it for the new Riverside being released the same day as Sky Void of Stars. I did listen to Atrium and Austerity this time since they were on tour.
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I couldn't resist, and I really like Birds as well. The album reviews that are trickling out are pretty positive also. Can't wait to hear the whole thing!
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Haven't heard a note of the new album. Waiting on my deluxe set from Napalm. Hoping they are on the ball. I've learned that Amazon is horrible with Napalm releases so hoping the label itself is a bit quicker. Sadly, there are multiple Napalm releases on my radar over the next few weeks/months.
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Well that doesn't sound good - Amazon has been pretty quick in the past so I was counting on that as my back up plan. I have the deluxe set ordered from Napalm and a regular cd from Amazon in case the deluxe version gets delayed. I really hope I get at least one of the two on release day.
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I pre-ordered the Threshold album and Amazon kept pushing it's delivery date. Once it got a month past release I canceled and ordered from Laser CD. I've had issues with mainly Napalm and Inside Out releases from Amazon. Not sure what the deal is. I tend to end up just going with Laser CD instead after I give up on Amazon.
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I don't even remember who I ordered the Threshold album from - whatever their site led me to, but it was very very late. I got it at the beginning of December. The Laser's Edge was late with Dream Theater and Leprous a few times, but that all seemed to be out of their control. (I did order from them for Riverside though; fingers crossed). I guess everyone's having issues getting stuff out on time.
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Didn't want to derail the Katatonia discography discussion thread. LaserCD has the mediabook in stock
https://www.lasercd.com/cd/sky-void-stars-mediabook
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Haven't purchased the vinyl yet so this is good to know. I prefer to order my vinyl from Ken. I see he has it so I will probably get an order in there.
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Eagerly awaiting to dive into this new album tomorrow!
Just saw that Anders will miss the first leg of the tour due to "personal family reasons"...
Hope everything is okay.
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I hope mine arrives tomorrow. I know someone who got a tracking number from Napalm but I don't, so I'm not sure if it's on the way or not. Hopefully the Amazon copy will arrive at least.
I hope everything is ok with Anders too. He'll definitely be missed on that tour.
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I got nothing from Naplam yet. Ken already shipped my vinyl so it will get here before the stuff from the actual label. Pretty crazy.
EDIT: Just got my shipping notice from Napalm. Will obviously be next week.
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Loving the new album so far. Had 3 casual listens. Impermanence stands out from the pack as a great song.
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Just finished listening to it. Definitely going to take a fair number of listens to really start unraveling it. No major departures in style, but it does have a slightly distinct feel from all their prior albums. They really just can't do any wrong at this point, but I still don't know if the early 00s-early 10s albums can ever be topped for me. It'll certainly be interesting to try and see where this fits in the discography in the upcoming weeks, particularly as I reevaluate TFOH and CB as well. "Opaline" and "Author" felt like standouts on the first play.
Moilanen continues to play perfectly well, but I guess I'm still not over Liljekvist leaving, and possibly never will be. I'll have to try and pay more attention to this in revisiting the prior two albums and in further listens to this one, but one thing I'm noticing that people who don't pay as much attention to these fine details and/or aren't drummers is that Moilanen's snare ghost notes don't pop out crisply like Liljekvist's did. I'm not sure how much is a difference in their style and technique vs. the snares Moilanen plays vs. how the albums are mixed. Overall the drumming in general just sounds a bit more anodyne to me, Liljekvist's feel seemed more organic, kind of like the difference between Lopez and Axenrot in Opeth.
It's interesting how they've used Jacob Hansen for this and the past album instead of Jens Bogren, who'd they'd been going to for awhile before that. I can definitely hear a subtle difference in the sheen of the album from the signature style Hansen has had for many years (and is one of my favorites of modern metal producers), but yet it still sounds remarkably Katatonia.
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I'm a listen in, and really enjoying what I hear. I feel like it's a step up from City Burials.
Litho, I agree with your comments on the drummers. Axe was great in Opeth, but Lopez is the Opeth drummer for me. Moilanen is a great drummer, but something about Liljekvist's drumming... Obviously, part of it is growing with the band in the earlier years, and playing on their best records (or what I think are their best), but there is more to it that is hard to explain...
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Just started my first listen...
I'm loving the chorus in Opaline!
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First spin was majestic. Loved every minute of it.
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Just started my first listen...
I'm loving the chorus in Opaline!
It's kind of an unusual song for them. With the straightforward rhythms in the chorus it's weirdly the closest they've gotten to a dance-pop song. I can hear a fantastic synthwave cover of it in my head.
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Mine is out for delivery. Going to listen to the new Riverside a couple more times before it arrives. :)
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Just started my first listen...
I'm loving the chorus in Opaline!
It's kind of an unusual song for them. With the straightforward rhythms in the chorus it's weirdly the closest they've gotten to a dance-pop song. I can hear a fantastic synthwave cover of it in my head.
I was thinking the same thing ;)
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This is way, way, way too early, but I feel like this might be their best album outside of the '01-'12 golden era for me. Definitely going to be a challenging album for other bands to beat in '23 as well.
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Love this band.
Love Amazon and auto-rip.
And I frickin' love this new album!
Buying Riverside next.
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I've listened to it twice now and I think it might be time to listen to it again. :)
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The store had both the jewelcase and the little mediabook versions and I'm glad I picked up the mediabook because I didn't even realize it had a bonus track that the jewelcase doesn't. :o
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A couple of listens in, and so far it's a big yes for me. Can't wait to dig in some more and give the record more (focused) attention. Katatonia is certainly one of those bands that have earned that for me :)
Kinda cool that they have the singer from Soen guesting on one of the songs. I always thought that the song Modesty from Imperial had a mood that would have fit City Burials quite well.
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My wooden box showed up on my front porch this morning. Smells wonderful. The wife and I are going out of town for a few days so guess what the listening music will be?
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Yep, I'm pretty sure Opaline will show up in my list of favorite songs for 2023. A brilliant dark-pop (or pop dark?) tune.
My wooden box showed up on my front porch this morning. Smells wonderful. The wife and I are going out of town for a few days so guess what the listening music will be?
Nice :tup
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My wooden box showed up on my front porch this morning. Smells wonderful. The wife and I are going out of town for a few days so guess what the listening music will be?
If you are willing to part ways with the Atmos mix disc, let me know.
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I don't want to burn out on this ;)... but I keep coming back to the album. REALLY liking it.
Of course, I'm not even attempting to put it in context within the discography yet. I can say, though, that it sounds to me like a natural follow-up to City Burials...the mood is not too dissimilar, and I'd say the sound is overall a tad heavier, but not by much. I guess it feels that way mostly because there aren't any tracks like Lacquer or Vanishers. Maybe a little less dark (I mean, we are still talking about Katatonia, so...), with relatively more catchy numbers (Opaline, Birds, Sclera, Atrium...).
Anyway, I loved City Burials (liked it more than The Fall of Hearts) and I feel this might settle more or less at the same level.
As a fan, I'm happy so far :)
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Maybe we'll burn ourselves out, but I doubt it. :) It seems like there's enough going on in this album that it's going to take a while to fully absorb.
And we can always sprinkle in the new Riverside and Threshold...
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I'm pretty bored with this band by this point but Opaline slaps. :metal
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Spent the last three evenings spinning this on the headphones. Very solid album with superb sonic values. Each spin reveals more detail. There are some pretty complicated rhythms that are really well executed. Drummer continues to get better and better with each release.
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I suppose I'll have a better feel for this when I listen more in-depth for the last three albums in the discography discussion, but offhand it's hard for me to recall, because the last two albums are structurally more straight forward than TFOH, which makes me feel like the drumming is less complex now.
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There's a great lyric line that is a perfect encapsulation of so many people..." keep your promises negotiable. "
That's signature worthy in my book. Great line!
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So I went into this album with the same thoughts as I always have with a new Katatonia album: Cool, there's always a few tracks I'll enjoy. Katatonia is just one of those bands for me where I always like what they're doing, but not enough to go to a concert or listen to an album from start to finish.
But this album, while not doing much on first listen, has proven to be a real grower. I like to listen to the whole thing, and I love how varied it is, how cool the grooves are and how consistently hooky it is. The production, when it comes to polished atmospheric metal production, has never been better on a Katatonia album, in my opinon.
The pacing is excellent too, with Austerity busting out of the gate with off-kilter rhythms, only to give way to a song with a great chorus and killer guitar solo. How Colossal Shade seamlessy follows with its marching tempo is absolutely smooth. Birds is a beautiful straightforward rock song reminiscent of Alternative 4 Anathema. Simply a beautiful vocal performance and lyrical work as well. I love how driving the song is.
I could say something about each track, but Drab Moon is a perfect example of the subtle way this album sinks itself into my mind as a listener. First few times I heard it I was far from impressed. But on repeat listens this track is a fine moody piece that fits perfectly into the flow of the album. Only Sclera hasn't fully clicked with me yet.
Also a fan of Atrium, the awesome guitar solo in Author, but my absolute favorite here is No Beacon To Illuminate Our Fall. It contains all the good ingredients of the album within one song. Structurally intricate, but with an amazing payoff at the end. The heavy section in the middle and how the song gets there, might be my favorite section on the entire record.
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Great post!
For me, Opaline and Atrium are the more obvious early favorites, not surprisingly given how catchy they are. But, even so, they have the magic Katatonia dust sprinkled all over.
I, too, love how Austerity kicks off the proceedings with a bang. And the chorus is fantastic in how it manages to be ear-wormy despite the odd time signature (btw, to the drumming experts on the forum - what is the time signature there?). And Colossal Shade is another "sneaky" favorite of mine...didn't strike me right away, but it grew a ton. I like the description of it as "marching"...love the drumming on it, by the way. It's seemingly straightforward, but it has lots of cool, unexpected turns.
Also agreed on Birds - the initial lead guitar line is worthy of the best Paradise Lost. And yes, it has that Alternative 4 vibe too. I haven't looked anything up yet, but any idea on the significance of the numbers Jonas is singing about during the bridge?
Impermanence is more of a "traditional" song...it's almost like the Soen influence was absorbed together with the guest spot ;) But I really like the melodies (and the solo) in it.
I actually enjoy Sclera very much. The chorus melody is definitely sticking with me.
No Beacon to Illuminate Our Fall is such a satisfying, brooding closer. Yep, great payoff. And, of course, Absconder continues with the tradition of brilliant Katatonia "bonus tracks" :)
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Funny how Katatonia has transitioned pretty good into this new sound and still sound like Katatonia. Wish Opeth would have kept the heavyness and crushing riffs instead of going for the noodling prog and wouldn't have mind if they got rid of the growls only (Mikael has a beautiful clean voice). Aside this Opeth jab, this Katatonia album is amazing. Still enjoying it a lot and still digging deeper with the lyrics.
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I, too, love how Austerity kicks off the proceedings with a bang. And the chorus is fantastic in how it manages to be ear-wormy despite the odd time signature (btw, to the drumming experts on the forum - what is the time signature there?).
Maybe someone more specialized than me wants to try and break it down more closely, but it sounds like it's still in 4/4, it just has some of the chord changes on upbeats and snare accents in unexpected spots, so it has a more complex feel than it actually is. I think some of the other sections might be in odd times though, I'd need to take longer to work them out, they aren't intuitive. There's definitely some 6/8 in spots.
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This album is taking me some time to figure out, but that's not a bad thing. It's the norm for me and Katatonia, whether it was listening to new albums when they were released or going back to older ones. City Burials was a bit of an exception - on first listen I had the usual "hmm" reaction and already on the second time through it was really hitting me. Sky Void of Stars has been more slowly getting into a song here or moments of a song there. But even if I'm still discovering it, these little moments sneak up on me and I feel the emotions I generally only feel when listening to Katatonia.
Austerity and Atrium were my initial favorites because I already knew them. Colossal Shade and Opaline have been hitting me a lot. I feel like there's some unusual combinations of ingredients here and there's a lot of depth and I keep wanting to come back to it.
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Lots of great comments here on the new album that I can relate to. I think doing the discography dive over the past couple of months and being so immersed in their music lately really piqued my readiness for the new album to drop. Of course they drop a really great album with so much depth and quality, and I just can't put it down. I am really enjoying everything on this album, but currently Colossal Shade is what is rocking my world.
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Really enjoy the album. A bit surprised by the love for Opaline as that's one of the weakest songs on there for me. They've just done the 'slow Katatonia song' formula a lot better in other similar tracks on previous albums IMO. This album starts off a bit disorienting with Austerity - which I love the chaotic nature of. Then you get Colossal Shade which actually reminds me a bit of Deftones (in a good way) and then Opaline comes on and I just want to hit skip song. But overall it's a great album and I'm digging it a lot.
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It's not really that slow though, it's pretty mid-paced for them. It's an entirely different sort of song to "Lacquer", "Omerta", "The Racing Heart", "Unfurl", or even heavy and slow like "Nephilim" and such. Can't really think of any other song they've done quite like it, which is impressive to me given that they're pushing towards 200 different songs in their oeuvre.
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It's not really that slow though, it's pretty mid-paced for them. It's an entirely different sort of song to "Lacquer", "Omerta", "The Racing Heart", "Unfurl", or even heavy and slow like "Nephilim" and such. Can't really think of any other song they've done quite like it, which is impressive to me given that they're pushing towards 200 different songs in their oeuvre.
Not necessarily slow but for me it falls in the category of 'them trying to break the album up with a different sounding song' which is usually the kind of song you get in the 3rd or 4th spot on a Katatonia album. I'm not saying it's a bad song but for me it's maybe my least favorite on the album.
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Really enjoy the album. A bit surprised by the love for Opaline as that's one of the weakest songs on there for me. They've just done the 'slow Katatonia song' formula a lot better in other similar tracks on previous albums IMO. This album starts off a bit disorienting with Austerity - which I love the chaotic nature of. Then you get Colossal Shade which actually reminds me a bit of Deftones (in a good way) and then Opaline comes on and I just want to hit skip song. But overall it's a great album and I'm digging it a lot.
Same for me with Opaline. It's the only song I'm indifferent to. Just not at the same level as the others.
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Hmm, seems like an all or nothing song. Anyone in this thread think it's just ok, right in the middle of the pack in the album?
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Nope, I absolutely love it! :biggrin:
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I think it's a great song, but it could end up in the middle of the pack just because I think this is a really strong album.
I definitely don't think it sounds like a been there done that type of song; seems pretty different to me and again I think the elements put together are unusual.
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I will say this feels like a nice return to form because City Burials was the weakest Katatonia studio album in my opinion. It wasn't all bad, I quite liked Lacquer and a few other songs but it just felt a bit lacking overall. I think it was originally a Jonas solo album and it kinda showed in my opinion. Still decent but this new album feels like a level above that IMO.
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City Burials is one of my favorites. I think I can say that now 2 and half years in. Still feels brand new and fresh even though I've listened to it many many times.
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I think it was originally a Jonas solo album and it kinda showed in my opinion.
Well, this is also basically a Jonas Renkse solo album, as was a lot of Night is the New Day.
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Yeah, I don't really think that has any bearing on anything. I think it was going to be a solo album when the band's future was uncertain, but to Jonas it probably always sounded like Katatonia.
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At this point Jonas and Anders both are Katatonia, so I think virtually anything they do is going to sound that way (unless it's intentionally different like Bloodbath, Diabolical Masquerade, Korda and such).
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Oh that's cool, did not know that. I don't hate City Burials by any means but it's like a 6/10 and the fact that a 6/10 is their worst album is still pretty great. Only negative is that I don't think they have a 10/10 but their albums are usually in that 8/10 range (with a few 9/10) so they've always been pretty consistently great in my mind. This new one might be my favorite for a while though.
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So I commented in this thread or somewhere a week or two ago that I have a Katatonia hoodie that I occasionally wear out, and no one has ever commented on it, unlike some of my others. Well, tonight while shopping at Costco I was wearing it and some guy said "cool T dude". What timing! I've had it for almost a decade now.
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My Katatonia shirts have gotten more comments from musicians than other band shirts, which I think is really cool.
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Also, Author is sounded particularly awesome today.
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I took about a week off from the new album, and since have given it a few more spins...
I just love this record! It will likely be my album of the year, as I can't see anything topping it. The production on this one to me, has this cold, mechanical (not in a bad way) feel that works really well for what they do. The guitars sound awesome. Also, love the production on Jonas' vocals and where they sit in the mix. This record just keeps revealing parts and pieces that I pick up on, and I hear new things to confirm what makes this album so great. Author is currently my favorite track, but it literally keeps changing.
Man, what a record!
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I took about a week off from the new album, and since have given it a few more spins...
I just love this record! It will likely be my album of the year, as I can't see anything topping it. The production on this one to me, has this cold, mechanical (not in a bad way) feel that works really well for what they do. The guitars sound awesome. Also, love the production on Jonas' vocals and where they sit in the mix. This record just keeps revealing parts and pieces that I pick up on, and I hear new things to confirm what makes this album so great. Author is currently my favorite track, but it literally keeps changing.
Man, what a record!
Yes, yes, yes to all of this (well except maybe for Author being the favorite track...I mean, it's awesome, but I have others that I currently rank above it)
The album has been in constant rotation. It's generally catchier, I think, but in a way that's full of fantastic songwriting and sonic details.
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And I agree with both of you, except it'll be a little while yet before I take a week long break. :)
Author is one of my favorites I think, but it's still impossible to choose just one.
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I like this new album much more than last 2. Really, every song is a banger.
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I've been following Katatonia since The Great Cold Distance, but Sky Void of Stars marks the first time I stay engaged to make it to the end of an album. I've always thought they have a really good sound, but a little one-dimensional. This new record has groove, melody, great production (synth atmospheres are awesome) and killer guitar solos throughout. And last but not least: the vocals are maybe Jonas' best yet. I absolutely love this record and it's one of my favorites so far this year, for sure.
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By the way, I can't seem to find any credit for synths/keys/electronics on my mediabook...any idea who that is? Frank Default no longer collaborating...?
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Im addicted to this piece. Very strong imo
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Sky Void of Stars? Or a particular song?
Sky Void of Stars is an incredible album. :)
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Sky Void of Stars? Or a particular song?
Sky Void of Stars is an incredible album. :)
The album indeed SVOS
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I saw that yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the release of Discouraged Ones. It's a pretty unique release in their discography that I happen to love. I feel like this is a pretty polarizing album among fans. I have seen people rank it at or near the top, and I have seen it at the very bottom. We talked about it back in the discography deep dive thread, but I really love the bleak, brooding atmosphere of this record. The production definitely contributes to that dark atmosphere too. Also, Jonas was trying to find his footing with doing clean vocals, and I think that adds to what makes this an interesting album. Also, this record has my favorite Katatonia song overall, Saw You Drown, which is one of the bleakest things I have heard.
Give it a spin if you haven't in a while.
Happy Anniversary, Discouraged Ones! Cheers!
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I saw that yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the release of Discouraged Ones. It's a pretty unique release in their discography that I happen to love. I feel like this is a pretty polarizing album among fans. I have seen people rank it at or near the top, and I have seen it at the very bottom. We talked about it back in the discography deep dive thread, but I really love the bleak, brooding atmosphere of this record. The production definitely contributes to that dark atmosphere too. Also, Jonas was trying to find his footing with doing clean vocals, and I think that adds to what makes this an interesting album. Also, this record has my favorite Katatonia song overall, Saw You Drown, which is one of the bleakest things I have heard.
Give it a spin if you haven't in a while.
Happy Anniversary, Discouraged Ones! Cheers!
Big fan of Discouraged Ones here!
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Happy (belated) anniversary to Discouraged Ones. It's indeed near the bottom of my list, but I still think it's great. :)
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So apparently Anders has yet to return. I saw some pics from a festival they played recently and it sure looked like they played as a 4 piece. They are still posting tour posters with Anders in them but he was supposed to be back by Spring and the fill-in kept playing instead and now it looks like they were a man down entirely. Wonder what is going on.
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So apparently Anders has yet to return. I saw some pics from a festival they played recently and it sure looked like they played as a 4 piece. They are still posting tour posters with Anders in them but he was supposed to be back by Spring and the fill-in kept playing instead and now it looks like they were a man down entirely. Wonder what is going on.
Same in their recent concert in Greece. No comments from the band whatsoever about it, and worst of all, pre-recorded guitars? I was very disappointed.
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I saw them yesterday at Graspop in Belgium and they were my highlight of the festival (together with Gojira and Meshuggah).
There were some pre-recorded guitars yes, and the usual atmospheric layers that their music always has (especially on their latest album) but that really didn't bother me. The sound was great, the vocals were great - tasty harmony vox by the guitarist as well. And well, the guitarist has amazing leads and a fantastic guitar sound. I wasn't disappointed at all. On the contrary, I was surprised their brand of 'overproduced' atmospheric metal sounds so superb live.
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KATATONIA Announces “Sky Void Of Stars” North American Tour
https://lotsofmuzik.com/katatonia-announces-sky-void-of-stars-north-american-tour/
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Katatonia is currently the band that I most want to see live, as I have yet to see them. I'm gonna try to make the trip to Atlanta for this one. I wonder if Anders will be on this tour...
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“Atrium” nominated for a Grammy - best metal performance
https://x.com/katatoniaband/status/1713116261662507465?s=46&t=y8sY28P3mpLnlyGxcOTPxg
Not that this is of any particular relevance, I know, but I’m happy for them if it provides some extra visibility. Plus, it’s a fantastic song, so it’s a win-win :)
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To be honest I'm really not sure how to react to this. I don't really pay much attention to mainstream music awards, but I suppose more visibility for them can hardly be a bad thing. I know nothing about how the process works though, are you sure it's actually being nominated for one, or is that just Napalm Records making it eligible?
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To be honest I'm really not sure how to react to this. I don't really pay much attention to mainstream music awards, but I suppose more visibility for them can hardly be a bad thing. I know nothing about how the process works though, are you sure it's actually being nominated for one, or is that just Napalm Records making it eligible?
Yeah, you are probably right :) I have no idea how the process works either, but it doesn’t look like actual nominations are out yet. Oh well, still a great song!
EDIT: so, yes, it is sort of a marketing thing labels do to highlight eligible songs for Grammy consideration…I don’t know how the process for nomination works from there…
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Like with Dream Theater, part of me thinks the Grammys are lame and that it's irrelevant whether they would get one or even be nominated, and part of me thinks it would be cool as hell.
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Like with Dream Theater, part of me thinks the Grammys are lame and that it's irrelevant whether they would get one or even be nominated, and part of me thinks it would be cool as hell.
100% with you on this one…
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I just saw Katatonia. Doing Dead End Kings in its entirety. Silje was there. :) And Per Eriksson - no Anders still. Per was announced as a special guest who was part of Dead End Kings.
It was awesome.
And right before that, it was Leprous playing Coal. Awesome.
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“Atrium” nominated for a Grammy - best metal performance
https://x.com/katatoniaband/status/1713116261662507465?s=46&t=y8sY28P3mpLnlyGxcOTPxg
Not that this is of any particular relevance, I know, but I’m happy for them if it provides some extra visibility. Plus, it’s a fantastic song, so it’s a win-win :)
Not quite, it just means that the band submitted a song for consideration to be a Grammy contender. The actual nominees will be announced on November 10th.
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Per and Roger both playing? A lot of unused firepower there.
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Per and Roger both playing? A lot of unused firepower there.
They used it at the end of Lethean and traded back and forth.
I'm not sure if Per will be with them today as well or if it'll be back to just Roger.
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Per was just on the DEK anniversary show. So awesome that they did this though. Hopefully some good youtube clips surface, because I would love to see some of this.
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Unfortunately they had technical issues for their second set and it was significantly shortened - I think 36 minutes instead of the 55 they were allotted. But the set itself was great and I loved every second until the end. I guess if I had gone specifically for that set I would have been bad, but I went for Dead End Kings and though it was disappointing, I can look at the Saturday set as a bonus.
I hope things are Ok with Anders because I definitely missed him, but at the same time it's not something I'm going to complain about.
(Edit - a couple setlist spoilers below; I'd guess some are likely to also be played on the upcoming North American tour.)
However, we did get a live premiere of No Beacon to Illuminate Our Fall and it was *awesome*. Perhaps my favorite track from the new album. They also played Opaline and it's just as good live as on the album.
Nephilim was played and Jonas introduced it as being semi satanic. :)
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North American tour thoughts!!!
Spoilers of course. I wasn't spoiled for the show last night and I'm glad because it was a very surprising set.
No Anders, so it's still just 4 of them. I know this is not ideal, and the tracks are definitely not as good as having Anders there. But it was still an awesome show. I'd absolutely encourage everyone to catch a show if you can and you'll likely hear lots of stuff you haven't before.
It was a very energetic show; Jonas is moving around the stage quite a bit, the crowd response was insane which I was happy to see considering they did a lot of new stuff. Sound was ok; probably could be better but after a few minutes I didn't care.
And the setlist! They still played a bunch of expected songs but also had some great surprises.
They started with the first two songs from Sky Void of Stars. I'd heard Austerity last year but they didn't play it at beginning of that tour. Colossal Shade is a favorite of mine from the new album so I was happy to hear it.
New and/or surprising songs:
Flicker - for some reason I wasn't really expecting new City Burials songs. It's great live, and a favorite of mine on the album too.
Opaline - I did expect this one but it's new and noteworthy. :) It didn't disappoint. This song has a great energy to it.
Decima (wow) - Jonas said that they'd be playing songs they'd never played before this tour, including this next one from The Fall of Hearts, a ballad. Decima, and it was beautiful. :)
And speaking of beautiful: Lacquer was next. I really wanted to hear it last time and was a little sad it wasn't played. I wasn't at all expecting it now. Jonas handled it really well - not effortlessly, but I loved it, every second.
Nephilim - not a huge surprise to me since I saw it at Damnation festival but I'd consider it a surprise in general.
Two more new ones - Birds and Author. I really like Birds and live I think it's even better. But Author is special.
Journey Through Pressure - I was pretty shocked to hear this. And again, it was so so good.
Incredible show.
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My thoughts too! :)
Went to see the band in Brooklyn last night. I wasn't spoiled either as I didn't look at any setlist in advance. But, of course, spoilers below!
A few general thoughts:
- As Lethean said, no Anders, which is known by now, so no "disappointment" per se (since it's expected). I'm still unsure why they don't have someone playing live. I would imagine it's a deliberate choice, although I guess it wouldn't be terrible if they elaborated a bit on it. Not on the reasons why Anders is not on tour (privacy and all...), maybe just a little more clarity on the whole thing.
- The sound was so-so. Hadn't been to that venue before, so I don't know how it normally is. The bass frequencies were quite overwhelming, and you could barely hear Roger's rhythm parts (solos were ok).
- The performance itself: what they played was GREAT. Agreed that there was pretty good "energy" on stage. What I will say, though, is for a band with such a lengthy catalog (as Katatonia now has), barely getting to play 90 minutes is maybe a tad disappointing. I'm super-happy with them not playing pre-Viva Emptiness material (I mean, I'd love that too, but I get it)...I'm just saying that, even only considering albums from Viva on, there's a lot to pick from ;) That said, again, what was in the setlist was really good.
As to more specific setlist thoughts:
- Interesting to see that there were a couple changes vs. Lethean's gig (Was that Baltimore or Cambridge, btw?).
- They started with No Beacon To Illuminate Our Fall, which was quite a surprise. Good stuff.
- No Lacquer for us (which made me a bit sad), but we did get Racing Heart (which I love!).
- Decima was definitely a nice breather.
- I didn't expect Nephilim - that's the one I could maybe do without. Not among my favorites, but its heaviness worked well live.
- SO happy they played Flicker! It's one of my favorites from City Burials.
- The songs from Sky Void of Starts were great and incredibly well received. Colossal Shade is so good. We did get Atrium and not Author, which is absolutely fine with me - I like Author, but Atrium is one of my songs of the year and the live energy was special. Opaline is another favorite, and it delivered, as expected.
- Loved the final one-two punch of My Twin and Evidence. Not surprisingly, the crowd was really into them.
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I was there in Brooklyn too. :) (Spoilers continue.)
I was extremely happy that they opened with No Beacon to Illuminate Our Fall. They opened their set at Damnation Festival with it, and it was the live debut. When it wasn't played in Baltimore at all, I thought maybe they'd decided they didn't like it live or something. They do occasionally change a setlist song maybe in the middle of a tour, but usually not a situation where they're mixing a few songs up night to night. I was so happy with the Baltimore setlist that I couldn't dare be that disappointed though. But I was ecstatic about hearing it last night. :)
What a dilemma about Lacquer vs The Racing Heart. I really really really love Lacquer and want to hear it again (and again). But how could I ever not love hearing The Racing Heart? :)
Atrium vs Author: I heard Atrium at the shows last year, so I'd like some more Author. But... I think I love Atrium even more now than I did then, and I did notice its absence and miss it. So it's all good.
But to Nick's point, why not play them both and play a little longer? I can't really complain I guess unless I complain about seemingly everyone besides DT. (Ok that's a total exaggeration but it seems that way). Leprous is usually about an hour and 20, I think if Tesseract was an hour and 20 that's generous.... DT does give James a lot of long instrumental breaks so maybe it isn't a fair comparison.
Also, to Katatonia, almost all the bands at ProgPower, Tesseract... Please chill with the bass! I absolutely want to hear it, but maybe not feel it in my skull.
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I was there in Brooklyn too. :) (Spoilers continue.)
Ha! Did NOT know that (obviously ;)). We could've had a mini-DTF meet up!
Yeah, I guess the relatively "short" gigs are not unusual with, well, most bands these days. I just figured Katatonia at this point of their journey have been around for long enough to use slightly more extended setlists.
Also - how well could you hear Roger's guitar? There were moments when I could barely hear it. Was it the same in Baltimore?
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I guess I don't get the idea of setlist spoiler warnings. Is that really a big deal to people? It's not like you can get in a time machine to see that exact show again, and with bands that change their setlists you aren't necessarily going to get or not get a particular song anyway.
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I don't like to know the setlist ahead of time. Katatonia hasn't really been a band to change their setlist during the tours I've seen, but even if they were, it wouldn't be a completely different set. I don't want to know any of the set ahead of time. I like being surprised/shocked/delighted/etc during the show, and that happened a few times in Baltimore and a couple times last night.. It adds to the experience for me rather than knowing what to expect.
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I was there in Brooklyn too. :) (Spoilers continue.)
Ha! Did NOT know that (obviously ;)). We could've had a mini-DTF meet up!
I should post about it next time. I should be at the Midwest shows too.
Yeah, I guess the relatively "short" gigs are not unusual with, well, most bands these days. I just figured Katatonia at this point of their journey have been around for long enough to use slightly more extended setlists.
I would love nothing more than an evening with Katatonia.
Also - how well could you hear Roger's guitar? There were moments when I could barely hear it. Was it the same in Baltimore?
I feel like I could hear it better in Baltimore. But at both shows I ditched my earplugs; drums were then too loud but it helped me hear both Roger and Jonas better.
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In my case with various bands I've often preferred to look up the setlist ahead of time so I can freshly familiarize myself with what they've played recently, and then it can make the songs come alive more than "wait, do I know this song? It sounds sort of familiar, but is it?"
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In my case with various bands I've often preferred to look up the setlist ahead of time so I can freshly familiarize myself with what they've played recently, and then it can make the songs come alive more than "wait, do I know this song? It sounds sort of familiar, but is it?"
Oh I don't object to looking up the setlist for myself if I'm not as familiar with the band. Sometimes it doesn't matter and I like the set anyway, but it often does help to know the songs at least a little bit.
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I feel like I could hear it better in Baltimore. But at both shows I ditched my earplugs; drums were then too loud but it helped me hear both Roger and Jonas better.
Yep, the drums were extra-loud. Although I have to say I was pretty mesmerized by Moilanen's performance. He's so good.
In my case with various bands I've often preferred to look up the setlist ahead of time so I can freshly familiarize myself with what they've played recently, and then it can make the songs come alive more than "wait, do I know this song? It sounds sort of familiar, but is it?"
Oh I don't object to looking up the setlist for myself if I'm not as familiar with the band. Sometimes it doesn't matter and I like the set anyway, but it often does help to know the songs at least a little bit.
That's kind of where I am too.
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Sky Void Of Stars has been getting a bunch of play from me over the last couple of weeks. It's latched on more than any other K record so far. They're a band I like the sound of and periodically listen to for a bit but haven't before stuck with for who knows why.
This album is really working for me, though. The balance of styles is really something. The odd rhythms, the gloom, the catchiness, the riffs, shades of Opeth and Anathema - and pop! There's a few moments where I catch a change or arrangement that would sound poppy but has been through their filter of chord or timing choices. Very cool.