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Katatonia - Brave Murder Day



8.8 | 967 votes |
Release date: November 1996
Style: Death doom metal

Owners:

1186 have it
104 want it
2 trade it


01. Brave
02. Murder
03. Day
04. Rainroom
05. 12
06. Endtime
07. Funeral Wedding [1997 re-issue bonus]
08. Shades Of Emerald Fields [1997 re-issue bonus]
09. For Funerals To Come [1997 re-issue bonus]
10. Epistel [1997 re-issue bonus]
11. Nowhere [2006 re-issue bonus]
12. At Last [2006 re-issue bonus]
13. Inside The Fall [2006 re-issue bonus]

Top 20 albums of 1996: 4
Top 200 albums of all time: 87
Featured in "Getting Into: Opeth"

Additional info
Re-released by Century Black in 1997, coupled with the 1995 EP titled For Funerals To Come.
Remastered and re-issued by Peaceville Records in 2006, coupled with the 1997 EP titled Sounds Of Decay.

Guest review by
Allen
Rating:
9.5
After the release of their debut recording and proceeding EP, Katatonia was put on a short hiatus by its' founding members, vocalist/drummer Jonas Renkse and guitarist Anders (Blackheim) Nystrom. It was during this hiatus that the two would indulge in their individual side projects, October Tide and Diabolical Masquerade. With October Tide, Jonas would focus on the gothic/melancholic aspects of Katatonia's sound, while Diabolical Masquerade saw Anders exploring a more black metal approach with slight gothic overtones. When the two got back together to refocus on their main band, it was without original bass player Le Huche and with a newly acquired second guitarist, Fredrik Norrman. And it was refocusing that indeed took place, as the band's second album, Brave Murder Day, would see a reinvention of sorts for Katatonia, one that would be a second birth for the band and a foundation from where they would build upon with future endeavors. The most noticeable aspect of Brave Murder Day as compared to earlier material is the simplistic structuring of the songs. Katatonia have condensed their ideas and have utilized the "less is more" approach. The six songs that make up this album are all built upon simple rhythm foundations, over which weeping guitar harmonies are laid over minimalist musical themes. This is strikingly effective and often leaves the listener in a hypnotic trance. It's a more streamlined Katatonia, without the meandering and sometimes aimless wandering of the past. These compositions are strategically designed to pull the listener in and confront them with their loneliness, come face to face with life's darkness and to analyze their inner pain. It is a study in melancholy. Jonas's lyrics are just as the music; simple yet effective. Much improved over his words from the debut, these lyrics are from the heart, naked and honest. Bleak and deeply introspective:

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published 18.09.2003 | Comments (10)

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Comments: 73   Visited by: 2074 users
06.12.2021 - 08:18
JoHn Doe

Written by AndyMetalFreak on 06.12.2021 at 07:58

I like the growls, and the guitar tone is great, but other than that, the album bored the pants off me, I've tried many times to get into it, but the atmosphere does nothing for me, and leaves me emotionless, and the riffs dragged on too long, and were just plain dull imo. "Brave", and "Rainroom" are proberbly my favourite songs on the album, but are still nothing special to me, maybe Katatonia are not for me?


your opinion is quite negative but your rating is still high. I'd expected a low rating based on what you wrote there.
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06.12.2021 - 14:08
Rating: 7
AndyMetalFreak
A Nice Guy
Written by JoHn Doe on 06.12.2021 at 08:18

Written by AndyMetalFreak on 06.12.2021 at 07:58

I like the growls, and the guitar tone is great, but other than that, the album bored the pants off me, I've tried many times to get into it, but the atmosphere does nothing for me, and leaves me emotionless, and the riffs dragged on too long, and were just plain dull imo. "Brave", and "Rainroom" are proberbly my favourite songs on the album, but are still nothing special to me, maybe Katatonia are not for me?


your opinion is quite negative but your rating is still high. I'd expected a low rating based on what you wrote there.

I found the same problem with Blackwater Park, there is quality musicianship there and I really like the vocals, I just found the songs a bit of a chore to listen too, I personally prefer the riffs to have a bit more melody, and a little less repetitive, but death doom metal has always been a hit and miss genre for me.
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06.12.2021 - 20:21
Rating: 7
Redel

Written by AndyMetalFreak on 06.12.2021 at 07:58

maybe Katatonia are not for me?

Before concluding that you should check out their debut if you havent already.
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06.12.2021 - 21:24
Rating: 7
AndyMetalFreak
A Nice Guy
Written by Redel on 06.12.2021 at 20:21

Written by AndyMetalFreak on 06.12.2021 at 07:58

maybe Katatonia are not for me?

Before concluding that you should check out their debut if you havent already.

I haven't yet listened to their debut so I will make sure to check it out
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20.12.2021 - 05:13
Rating: 5
Ivy Patterns

I'll simply never understand how this album is rated higher than The Great Cold Distance.
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20.12.2021 - 10:26
Rating: 8
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Written by Ivy Patterns on 20.12.2021 at 05:13

I'll simply never understand how this album is rated higher than The Great Cold Distance.


Than keep on thinking ........ simply black doom classic album, one of best album what ever came out in doom metal, not that after style change and sortha emo sounduing music what they plays after Brave Murder Day
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apos;'
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20.12.2021 - 20:09
Rating: 5
Ivy Patterns

Redundant riffs, mundane vocals, very few chord changes. It's an excruciating task just to sit through the whole thing. Not even in the same ballpark as Great Cold Distance, Viva Emptiness, or Last Fair Deal Gone Down
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11.03.2022 - 01:36
Rating: 10
F3ynman2000
Nocturnal Bro
I usually like more exciting metal, so I was about to agree with Andy. But upon closer inspection, I really like the atmosphere and drawn-out riffs and vocals that have a kind of blackened flavor to them. "Brave" and the second half of the album ("Rainroom", "12", and "Endtime") are especially good
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15.02.2023 - 17:47
Rating: 10
F3ynman2000
Nocturnal Bro
I just realized that Mikael Åkerfeldt is listed as a studio musician for Katatonia in 1996. But he doesn't show up at all on the musician timeline page. How much of the vocals here are Mikael Åkerfeldt's?
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15.02.2023 - 18:34
Rating: 10
Growing

This and their debut not being considered gothic metal makes no sense to me.
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15.02.2023 - 18:40
Rating: 8
Starvynth
i c deaf people
Written by F3ynman2000 on 15.02.2023 at 17:47

I just realized that Mikael Åkerfeldt is listed as a studio musician for Katatonia in 1996. But he doesn't show up at all on the musician timeline page. How much of the vocals here are Mikael Åkerfeldt's?

I'd estimate that 70% of the vocals are by Åkerfeldt, as he did the (harsh) lead vocals on all tracks but "Day".
And there's a very simple reason why you can't find his name on the timeline page: session musicians are generally not listed there.
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18.01.2024 - 09:08
Rating: 9
Zyk

I think Dance Of December Souls has more to offer but Brave Murder Day is easily a close contender.

This album is a great example of lightening in a bottle because the band could not have planned for it to turn out the way it did. They had disagreements with their producer about the direction of the band, Jonas Renkse's voice gave out so they had to bring in Mikael Åkerfeldt for the growls, when the master tape went out it was actually an unmastered rough version, when the album was printed the writing on the album cover blended into the background too much, things were a total mess behind the scenes. Even despite all of these setbacks the album's magic spread far and wide and has remained a cherished classic by many.

I've only recently added this to my collection but a had a few songs from it for many years. I prefer the earlier version of "12" (called Black Erotica) but otherwise this album just perfectly captures a specific mood that I don't think any other album really replicates. The writing is not terribly interesting, the repetitive nature of some of the songs makes this harder to spontaneously jump back into, and honestly I find most of Renkse's singing here to be crap (which wasn't really his fault), but when the time is right I like Brave Murder Day quite a lot. It encapsulates the ambitions of these then young musicians battling against their trials at the time and they made something that really resonated with a lot of people. I also consider it to be the last great thing they did.
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18.01.2024 - 09:15
Rating: 10
F3ynman2000
Nocturnal Bro
Written by Zyk on 18.01.2024 at 09:08

It encapsulates the ambitions of these then young musicians battling against their trials at the time and they made something that really resonated with a lot of people.

It's interesting that many masterpiece albums have a background story of trials and tribulations. Electric Wizard's Dopethrone (with personal issues and pressure from the label) and Dissection's Storm of the Light's Bane (with producer Dan Swano suffering from a fever during the mixing) come to mind.
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