Well, quite simple really. General discussion relating to Swedish band Katatonia.

And seen as I'm jumping on the band wagon of starting new band-related threads before anyone else, I may aswell have my two cents regarding this one.

Their later albums are better. Both "Viva Emptiness" and "The Great Cold Distance" have far surpassed not only the bands own early material, but that of most other bands making music today.

Here is a link to their official website, where you can find out all sorts of juicy information: http://www.katatonia.com/

Cheers.

"Viva Emptiness" is my favorite (grrr....reminds me that the girl I let borrow my copy lost it and I have to get it replaced, but I digress) of all their releases. Why? Well, I just love the heavy (alternative?) sound to it, especially with Jonas Renske's voice. My favorite track on there is "Evidence", without a doubt, because it is catchy and has a good chorus. I don't know why (maybe its just me), but I keep thinking that the lyrics in the album sometimes seem connected, like a loose theme here and there. "Omerta" is also an excellent song which abruptly ends and the album closes out with the instrumental 'Inside the City of Glass". Excellent album; highly recommended.

"The Great Cold Distance" I have heard only once. "My Twin" is my favorite but I get bad memories from whenever I listen to it; excellent video though.

Their black/death doom era is special; my favorite song from that time is probably "Brave" and "Without God". "Brave Murder Day" is good to hear on a rainy day (well, doom metal in general just is I should add).

I bought Viva Emptiness about a month ago without ever hearing anything by this band. It sounded more nu-metal than doom to me, but I still liked it. From my point of view, it sounds like Opeth's Damnation mixed with Chevelle.

The only albums I own is Dance Of December Souls and The Last Fair Deal Gone Down. I really like Dance Of December Souls, though I don't like Last Fair Deal that much.

Well i like Katatonia ,but OLD Katatonia and "Dance Of december souls" is one of the best album for me after the album "Brave Murder Day" Katatonia started to be pop band ,like Paradise Lost ...

I should listen more to Katatonia, I really like "Soil's Song".

Written by The Walrus on 17.05.2006 at 14:34

Well i like Katatonia ,but OLD Katatonia and "Dance Of december souls" is one of the best album for me after the album "Brave Murder Day" Katatonia started to be pop band ,like Paradise Lost ...

I agree, although I don't see New Katatonia as a pop band, but I just can't listen to them. Brave Murder Day isn't juch a great album IMO, I mean it has a lot of katatonic sounds.

Written by Damnated on 17.05.2006 at 16:57

Written by The Walrus on 17.05.2006 at 14:34

Well i like Katatonia ,but OLD Katatonia and "Dance Of december souls" is one of the best album for me after the album "Brave Murder Day" Katatonia started to be pop band ,like Paradise Lost ...

I agree, although I don't see New Katatonia as a pop band, but I just can't listen to them. Brave Murder Day isn't juch a great album IMO, I mean it has a lot of katatonic sounds.

No of course it's not pop dude it just a nickname to their new style of music ,Brave Murder Day is the last normal Katatonia album IMO like Paradise Lost's last normal album Draconian Times .

Katatonia is one of my fav bands. But I'm really disappointed by their new album. I mean....ok, it is good, but if they are going to go on like this,... just listen to Dissolving Bonds...ok, lyrics are in Katatonia way, but the sound is like I would listen to Coldplay, or something like that...fortunatly, they still have their style.
But still...they made really good music. The first song, that I heard was Criminals, and I'm always speechless when I hear it. Without God, Murder, 12, Saw You Drown and Sweet Nurse are their best songs ever.

The new Katatonia is so much better than the old albums. They keep the sadness and melancholy, but there is so much added! The atmosphere! It's great!
A very strange claustrophobic feeling resides in their two latest albums. It's nothing like 'nu-metal' or pop (Coldplay, as mentioned), as some people claim it to be. Just listen to 'Walking By A Wire', 'Complicity', 'Evidence', 'Omerta' and 'Inside The City Of Glass' in a row. It's like a huge conclusion of a tragic story! The part in Complicity where the guitar has this reverse effect on it really gives me shivers every time I listen to it, this is brilliant. And then after Complicity 'Evidence' sets in like a conclusion.

I call their latest two albums 'progression'.

Written by The Walrus on 17.05.2006 at 18:50

Written by Damnated on 17.05.2006 at 16:57

Written by The Walrus on 17.05.2006 at 14:34

Well i like Katatonia ,but OLD Katatonia and "Dance Of december souls" is one of the best album for me after the album "Brave Murder Day" Katatonia started to be pop band ,like Paradise Lost ...

I agree, although I don't see New Katatonia as a pop band, but I just can't listen to them. Brave Murder Day isn't juch a great album IMO, I mean it has a lot of katatonic sounds.

No of course it's not pop dude it just a nickname to their new style of music ,Brave Murder Day is the last normal Katatonia album IMO like Paradise Lost's last normal album Draconian Times .

I know what you ment, man, I was just saying, that pop metal is the worst of metal, and new Katatonia isn't necesarily that.

For me this band are death now, gone and I can not listen them after style change, only what left from old Katatonia are lyrics, thay are diferent but still whit deep meaning, but music is gone
I like them in death/black/doom metal ere and Dance Of December Souls, Im lucky I saw live video from this album

hmm I like New Katatonia more then their first albums. However I must say that Brave Murder Day is very good... but not as good as some of their later releases imo

Its a little weird with this band for me...this is one of the few bands that I can honestly say I like their old and new stuff the same

Brave Murder Day is of absolute brilliance and no one can change my opinion. it's one of the best doom albums ever recorded. i still listen to Rainroom with the same love as the first time i heard it, which is like 2 years ago. maybe it's not a lot for some but it is a lot for me since i tend to get bored with music really fast. Dance of December Souls is also a wonderful album, not as good as BMD but definitely close. as for the more atmospheric period of Katatonia... i'm very open to music and i can take changes so i like them any genre they'd sing.

I CONFESS...These guys are my favs for the time being...TGCD soothes straight to mind and soul...and the musicianship is phenorminal...Saw the live a couple of weeks ago...and being a drummer io must admit that Daniel blew me away...That guy does so many unique and amazing stuff, i love the new album so very very well produced

I have only one original album of theirs which I am very proud of....bought it in Andorra and this time I spent there was awesome and Katatonia still reminds me of this gloomy lonesome night in this surreal town....I just cannot....and the dark summer nights and shades of the trees behind your window....Viva Emptiness brings all these emotions together and also inspires....the Inside Of the City of Glass fades away and leaves such a sad feeling in you.....memories of times you enjoyed and you wish to experience again and again....

Katatonia is good.....thats all I have to say....they are not one of my favourite bands but I definitely honour their creations very much and hope they'll keep on going....

their new album " The Great Cold Distance" is really cool ... and i loved the song "Deliberation" u should lestin to the whole album...
Katatonia is one of ma favourite bands they rock .. .. ..

Katatonia died for me with Discouraged ones, I love the growls of Blackheim full with pain and sorrow, I used to think that this was one of the best voices in metal scene, I can feel the sadness when I hear it, it seems that Katatonia lost their essence when Anders Nyström decided to appear like himself and not as Blackheim, songs like Velvet thorns(of Drynhwyl), Funeral Wedding, For funerals to come, Black swans are just amazing...

About Brave Murder Day, well it's great but not the best album I sincerely prefer "Dance of december souls", something that really freak me out is that they change the title of the song "Black erotica" to "12" why the hell????, Mikael Akerfeldt is a great singer but in the kind of music of Katatonia I prefer a voice more sad you can appreciate it with "Black erotica" the voices of Blackheim are abolutely awesome...

Katatonia is a nice band. For me they are the reference when you're talking about Doom Metal even if I am not an expert in Doom...

Their music really speaks to me, albums like 'Brave Murder Day', 'Discouraged Ones' or even 'Viva Emptiness' are just awesome... and for each one you can pick a different reason, their music style has kept changing and changing during the years which is a good sign I don't like bands that don't evolve...

Plus I don't know if some of you have listened to their last album called 'The Great Cold Distance'... it is just awesome kind of a remix between the nice prog/rock played on Viva Emptiness and some heavier parts of the previous albums... The growls are back

With Novembre, Katatonia is for me one of the most talented Band The Doom Metal has ever known... even if now Katatonia doesn't stick still in the doom category...

Written by Guest on 26.05.2006 at 19:07

...
With Novembre, Katatonia is for me one of the most talented Band The Doom Metal has ever known... even if now Katatonia doesn't stick still in the doom category...

You're right Novembre is an awesome band, but I have to tale you that thay have evolved since "Wish I could dream it again" till "Materia" and they are a great band now as before, I can't say the same with Katatonia...

Great band. I love The Great Cold Distance. Simply love it!

I just absolutely love Katatonia, both the older and the newer material. Dance of December Souls has great songs like Without God for example. A fantastic mix of black/doom/ really. Discouraged Ones is another one of my favorites, Deadhouse, Saw You Drown and Gone are such beautiful songs. Last Fair Deal Gone Down gives us Teargas, another awesome song. Viva Empitness has real gems too, such as Evidence, which I absolutely love. The Great Cold Distance is more complex and full of melancholy than the previous albums, I´d say. This album requires more attentive listening, you might not notice alll the little bits that make it so special at first. For me the album seemed a bit rough and too different at first but in time I started to love it so much. My Twin, Rusted, In the White - if this is not perfection, then what is? I appeciate how Katatonia keeps on evolving and getting even more touching with every album.

Dance of December Souls is the way to go. One of my favorite albums. I also have Brave Murder Day, which is good but doesn't stand up against DODS. Tomb Of Insomnia has to be one of the coolest songs I've ever heard.

All the songs from Dance of december souls are fantastic, Velvet thorns (of drinhwyl) and Tomb of insomnia the best ones...

I've listened to Katatonia's "The Great Cold Distance" recently and it actually was their first album that I've heard. My impressions are just undescribable!! Fantastic album! Btw, others didn't impress me after the latest one...

I just heard 'The Great Cold Distance' yesterday after finally getting my hands on it (like a few people in this thread, it seems) and it's a pretty solid album. Good for any band but for Katatonia I believe it's a little disappointing. I like that atmosphere it creates but it's sort of been done by other bands (it strongly reminded me of Ra, for example). Kata's old stuff is so much greater than this. As I say a good album but far from Kata's best.

Well i have loved all Katatonia alumbs (old style and new style) to me there music just gives me this feeling like i am not the only one shit happens too lol, anyays i got the new alumb a while back and i love it , nothing new i must say but MyTwin and JourneyAThorughPressure are some good tracks it feel like a continuation of there last alumb

Raputre, RainPaint are 2 bands i recomend if u like modern Katatonia

Well, see, now I'm just dancing around for joy, because I just saw that Katatonia and Moonspell are coming to NYC in October and they're playing at BB Kings! I LOVE Katatonia (some of my friends make fun of me for being such a fangirl) and I also happen to enjoy Moonspell, so for me, this is just full of awesome.


Any NYC fans of Katatonia, here's the show info: http://www.bbkingblues.com/schedule/moreinfo.cgi?id=3547

Viva Emptiness is still my favorite album of "new" Katatonia, but The Great Cold Distance is definitely a close second.