Katatonia - Viva Emptiness review
| Band: | Katatonia |
| Album: | Viva Emptiness |
| Style: | Alternative rock |
| Release date: | March 24, 2003 |
| Guest review by: | Justin |
01. Ghost Of The Sun
02. Sleeper
03. Criminals
04. A Premonition
05. Will I Arrive
06. Burn The Remembrance
07. Wealth
08. One Year From Now
09. Walking By A Wire
10. Complicity
11. Evidence
12. Omerta
13. Inside The City Of Glass
Katatonia's third album Discouraged Ones was a brave turning point for the band. It distanced the band from the black metal tag that shackled them, and allowed some more subtle influences to creep into the mix. Both 2000's Tonight's Decision and 2001's Last Fair Deal Gone Down seemed to build upon their strengths as musicians and the fine art of crafting songs, and clearly showed the bands growing skills in both atmospherics and the ability to project the depths of human despair without losing hope.
Both Jonas Renkse [vocals, guitars and programming] and Anders Nystrom [guitars, keyboards and programming] spent the early part of last year with their other project Bloodbath [Resurrection Through Carnage] before reconvening in their hometown of Stockholm with fellow Katatonia members Fred Norrman [guitars], Mattias Norrman [bass] and Daniel Liljekvist [drums and percussion] to begin work on the Sweden's sixth studio album.
Katatonia themselves claimed that Viva Emptiness would take on a harder edge than their previous few efforts, and opener ?Ghost Of The Sun? proves that they weren's leading fans astray with false hope. The guitars are certainly a dominant feature, while Renkse's melodies and vocals are as tortured and mesmerising as they ever were. The back up screaming through the chorus and the female chant around the halfway mark are both stunning effects. ?Sleeper?, ?Will I Arrive? and ?Wealth? are all surprisingly heavy solid upbeat guitar driven numbers, and provide an ingredient that has been missing on the last couple of releases. But for all the number of tracks that show the band is still capable of creating heavy music, there's the trademark depressing anthems of emotional suffering. The best examples are clearly audible through ?A Premonition? and ?One Year From Now?. The percussive brilliance featured on ?Burn The Remembrance? is impressive, while the acoustic tinged aggression of ?Omerta? was not what I was expecting from them. The Nick Drake/Jeff Buckley influences are still imbedded within Renkse's songs, but perhaps not as obvious as previous releases.
Viva Emptiness is one of Katatonia's strongest releases to date. The combination of the album title, songs, atmosphere and cover [from the legendary Travis Smith] makes this the perfect Katatonia release.
Written by Justin | 18.09.2003
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
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Comments: 41
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| InnerSelf proofread free Posts: 2681  |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 22.02.2011 at 16:03 I totaly understand wht you're talking about , it is "good" just because it is Katatonia  I think a sort of fanboysim from our side  LFDGD has some of Katatonia's greatest songs but also has some strange not-so-good moments. and the thing that makes me say that Viva is their best work from the new era is that it had much of the old elements "in terms of song writing" plus the new elements making it a masterpiece. @J.O.O.E : Agreed and Agreed
---- He who is not bold enough to be stared at from across the abyss is not bold enough to stare into it himself.
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| saw_you_drown Posts: 24  |
With a few minor changes and rearrangements this would be my favorite Katatonia album -- and that is saying a lot!
---- In the water I saw you drown...
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| saw_you_drown Posts: 24 |
Written by [user id=4365] on 21.02.2011 at 15:49 Ok, Katatonia is responsible for writing "We Must Bury You," an obvious misstep in composing and an unfair test and failure of Jonas' vocal range. Other than that, Katatonia are without question among the premier songwriters in hard rock/metal. These guys find more talent and soul under their couches than 10 Children of Bodoms combined.
---- In the water I saw you drown...
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| saw_you_drown Posts: 24 |
Written by [user id=4365] on 10.05.2011 at 02:56 That was in fact the most pertinent example. You challenged both vocals and songwriting, and I searched my itunes (where i have every track they have ever released), and found exactly one example that supported your claim.
---- In the water I saw you drown...
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| Slayer666 Posts: 2466  |
Written by [user id=119833] on 29.07.2011 at 01:55 Me too. IMO, only the first 3 songs + Evidence and Omerta are worth something on this album. The rest is a yawnfest.
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374  |
Criminals is indeed one of their bests ong. The chorus is so fucking catchy is ridiculous.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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