Viva Emptiness
Recorded October-November 2002 at Studio 301 and Fascination Street (known by a different name back then), released April 2003 on Peaceville Records.
Tracklist:1. Ghost of the Sun - 4:07
2. Sleeper - 4:08
3. Criminals - 3:47
4. A Premonition - 3:33
5. Will I Arrive - 4:09
6. Burn the Remembrance - 5:22
7. Wealth - 4:22
8. One Year From Now - 4:02
9. Walking By a Wire - 3:32
10. Complicity - 4:01
11. Evidence - 4:36
12. Omerta - 2:58
13. Inside the City of Glass - 4:08
Total Track Time: 52:45
Lineup:Jonas Renkse - vocals, guitars, programming, songwriting, lyrics
Anders Nystrom - guitars, keyboards, programming, backing vocals, songwriting
Daniel Liljekvist - drums, percussion, backing vocals ("Ghost of the Sun")
Fredrik Norrman - guitars, songwriting
Mattias Norrman - bass, slide guitars
Production - Anders Nystrom, Jonas Renkse
Mixing - Jens Bogren, Anders Nystrom, Jonas Renkse
Mastering - Peter In de Betou
Additional editing - Dan Swano
Engineering assistance - Ian Agate
*So this was their first new album after I'd started to get into them. They went from a band that I mildly enjoyed as having a few cool songs to where maybe a year after this album had come out I was listening to it pretty obsessively.
*While previously Anders had handled the bulk of the music writing, and Jonas the lyrics, the process was more evenly split for this album. This is their first self-produced album, and they admitted they were a bit in over their heads and the recording was a near disaster. They set up a home studio, and had their most productive writing at night. Then they recorded the album with the rest of the band at 301, where Europe's "The Final Countdown" was recorded. They only had assistance with micing the drums. They wasted a lot of the studio time they had booked with Anders having to learn a different music production program than he had been used to. They couldn't get the guitar tones they wanted because they didn't know how to work all the studio gear, and said the result at that point was chaotic. In desperation, they called Dan Swano, who recommended another studio, that would eventually become Fascination Street, with Jens Bogren and Dan.
*It still didn't come out like they had envisioned it, but it was much better than when they were initially working on it on their own. But in particular, they weren't fully happy with the sound of this album, especially the drums, and most importantly the snare sound. It sounds ok to me personally. But they would make efforts to address this a decade later, though we'll talk about that then.
*Their sound was becoming more metallic and higher energy again with the chugging guitars and heavier stabbing riffs, harsh backing vocals from Liljekvist, and some cruder, less poetic lyrics at times. Some double-bass was back as well.
*There are some rhythmic patterns in the pre-chorus to ""Wealth" that are similar to Tool's "Schism". They had said on the previous album they had been influenced by
Aenima, but I'm definitely hearing more
Lateralus in this album.
*Everything Liljekvist does here is tasty, including expanding the dimensionality of his sound with some percussion in spots, like the intro and bridge of "Burn the Remembrance". I suspect it's another Tool/Danny Carey inspiration. I love some of his ride bell patterns on "Complicity" "Will I Arrive", and "Wealth", the buzz roll around 1:08 of "A Premonition", the triplet hat stutter into verse 2 of "Evidence", and the atmospheric innstrumental break in the same song with tasty splashes and Chinas over the melodic guitar lead, just to highlight a few moments. I don't like how "Burn the Remembrance" fades out though, obscuring some killer fills from Daniel. "Evidence" is a better example, where the fade is just for a repeating chorus. They also continued to experiment with electronics and drum loops, like on the calmer part of "Walking By a Wire".
*To me the guitar tone is ok, but not their best. They have now settled into almost their primary tuning now, of C standard. Anders focused on writing in a riffier, less chordal style than the last few albums. The clean guitars are a little plainer than I'd like in comparison to their earlier albums. I do love the E-bow in middle of "Ghost of the Sun" though, very Opethian. There's a cool wah-ish filter effect around 3:00 in "Burn the Remembrance". "Wealth" has another of those nice slower tapping licks. The panning makes it sound like two guitar parts interlocking. I love the unusual melody and chord choices in "Will I Arrive", and with the tremolo guitar effect, which is also used in "One Year From Now", as well as some flanger in that song and in "Evidence".
*I find that Jonas sounds so much better here. This is really where he starts to sound like himself and makes a case as one of my favorite vocalists. "Burn the Remembrance" is the song where I remember thinking Jonas has this preternatural ability to pluck magical melodies from the ether. "Complicity" had a similar effect on me. Almost every song on the album has been stuck in my head at one point or another. I also like the effect on Jonas' voice in the latter half of "A Premonition", which sounds like a mild bullhorn. The vocals on "Inside the City of Glass" with reverse reverb are haunting. They would do more with this song later, which we'll return to in a decade of Katatonia time.
*There's lots of cool piano ornamentation, like the opening of "Complicity" and "One Year From Now", and some nice background keyboard melodies in "A Premonition".
*Speaking of "One Year From Now", I find it one of their most unique songs, not only that piano riff, but the waltzy, lilting feel, and the mysterious vibe of the half-diminished chord that dominates the verses.
*Mattias has a neat bass tone and lines on "Wealth".
*Songs like "Complicity" are a great example of a style of music that is quite rare to find. Heavy, frenetic music with calm melodic vocals. Usually anything with this intensity is going to have a lot of vocal wailing or even growling. I find the contrast between the energetic music with the mellower vocals quite intoxicating.
*"Omerta" is a completely different sort of song for Katatonia. They'd never really had those strummy rhythms, this one kills as a campfire tune. Daniel's ghost notes in the verses are delicious. I love the bridge, and the sudden ending is so chilling.
*They bring back a taste of doom again with "Inside the City of Glass".
*Another drinking game of "spot the Nystrom lick" at 0:26 on "Inside the City of Glass".
*Liljekvist didn't like how little they were touring and rehearsing.
*Band/family balance was starting to become a struggle, with the birth of Jonas' first child, and Daniel's and Frederik's soon to come. It was particularly hard on Jonas, having to miss much of the first few months of the baby's life while they were touring.
*Anders was effectively the band manager and agent since none of the others were good with administrative details. But Anders was considering quitting the group, feeling frustrated with how slow their success was building, that he didn't think they were good live, and that Peaceville wasn't promoting them enough, including not booking them for enough tours or booking video shoots. Jonas was able to talk him out of leaving, fortunately.
*They toured with Daylight Dies (drummer Jesse Haff had been their webmaster for awhile at this point), Finntroll, Beyond the Dawn, Dark Suns, Pornorphans, Amaran. I consider Daylight Dies and Amaran especially great and overlooked bands. The junky tour van they were in had the heat go out right in the middle of the Nordic winter for a long drive. Then the next tour bus they were in had some kind of toxic substance that kept them sick for the next couple months.
*Future member Per Eriksson became their guitar tech in the touring cycle.
*
Favorite songs: The whole damn album, but specifically, "Complicity", "Burn the Remembrance", "Omerta", "Criminals", "A Premonition", "Wait Outside" (see below)
Brave Yester Days
Released April 2004 on Avantgarde Music.
Remastering - Roberto Mammarelia, Anders Nystrom
Disc 1 Tracklist:1. Midwinter Gates (Prologue) - 0:44
2. Without God - 6:54
3. Palace of Frost - 3:40
4. The Northern Silence - 3:59
5. Crimson Tears (Epilogue) - 1:49
6. Gateways of Bereavement - 8:12
7. Velvet Thorns (of Drynwhyl) - 13:55
8. Black Erotica - 9:08
9. Love of the Swan - 6:53
10. Funeral Wedding - 8:41
11. Shades of Emerald Fields - 5:23
12. For Funerals To Come - 2:47
Total Track Time: 1:13:18
Disc 2 Tracklist:1. Murder - 4:54
2. Rainroom - 6:30
3. Nowhere - 6:07
4. At Last - 6:10
5. Inside the Fall - 6:13
6. Untrue - 2:34
7. Nerve - 4:30
8. Saw You Drown - 5:01
9. Quiet World - 4:37
10. Scarlet Heavens - 10:24
Total Track Time: 57:00
*Compilation of material from the pre-Peaceville years, particularly B-sides and such that we've discussed from the various earlier EPs, splits and so forth.
The Black Sessions
Released February 2005 on Peaceville Records.
Disc 1 Tracklist:1. Teargas - 3:32
2. Right Into the Bliss - 5:05
3. Criminals - 3:47
4. Help Me Disappear - 5:14
5. Nerve - 4:30
6. The Future of Speech - 5:39
7. Ghost of the Sun - 4:07
8. I Am Nothing - 4:37
9. Deadhouse - 4:35
10. Passing Bird - 3:38
11. Sleeper - 4:08
12. Sulfur - 6:23
13. No Devotion - 4:49
14. Chrome - 5:14
15. A Premonition - 3:34
Total Track Time: 1:08:52
Disc 2 Tracklist:1. Dispossession - 5:37
2. Cold Ways - 5:23
3. Nightmares By the Sea - 4:16
4. O How I Enjoy the Light - 2:44
5. Evidence - 4:36
6. March 4 - 3:53
7. I Break - 4:22
8. For My Demons - 5:43
9. Omerta - 2:58
10. Tonight's Music - 4:20
11. Stalemate - 4:19
12. Wait Outside - 3:38
13. Fractured - 5:52
14. Sweet Nurse - 3:56
15. Black Session - 7:02
Total Track Time: 1:08:39
Disc 3 Tracklist:1. Ghost of the Sun - 5:28
2. Criminals - 3:51
3. Teargas - 3:17
4. I Break - 4:14
5. I Am Nothing - 4:36
6. Sweet Nurse - 4:07
7. Tonight's Music - 3:57
8. For My Demons - 5:06
9. Chrome - 5:04
10. Future of Speech - 5:16
11. Complicity - 4:04
12. Burn the Remembrance - 4:54
13. Evidence - 5:08
14. Deadhouse - 4:41
15. Murder - 5:11
Total Track Time: 1:08:54
DVD Lineup:Jonas Renkse - vocals
Anders Nystrom - guitar
Daniel Liljekvist - drums
Fredrik Norrman - guitar
Mattias Norrman - bass
*Discs 1-2 are a compilation of various material from
Discouraged Ones through
Viva Emptiness.
*"Wait Outside" is a bonus track from the
Viva Emptiness recording sessions.
*Disc 3 is a DVD with full concert footage from a gig in Krakow, Poland. Here is the whole concert.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax16jxrdLh0
Topic: Katatonia Discography Discussion: Sky Void of Stars (2023) (Read 22505 times)
