I don't dig most of Katatonia's stuff... a little bit too slow and doomy for my liking most of the time... I kind of dig some of the stuff on the last album tough... My Twin is pretty cool... But I think there are much better bands out there... I don't understand how did Katatonia get so cult for some people...

When it comes to new vs old Katatonia, I think I prefer the newer stuff because I like the clean vocals better. I've only heard Viva Emptiness, The Great Cold Distance, and Brave Murder Day though. I like Viva Emptiness, but it's a little too nu-metal for me. I also like The Great Cold Distance quite a bit, especially the song, My Twin. However, I found Brave Murder Day to be a little boring.

One of my favorite things about this band are their album titles. "Tonight's Decision," "Brave Murder Day," and "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" almost sound like titles to a story. Also, the album covers create a good mood (is that the word I'm looking for?) for the music.

Written by Dangerboner on 22.09.2006 at 02:27

When it comes to new vs old Katatonia, I think I prefer the newer stuff because I like the clean vocals better. I've only heard Viva Emptiness, The Great Cold Distance, and Brave Murder Day though. I like Viva Emptiness, but it's a little too nu-metal for me. I also like The Great Cold Distance quite a bit, especially the song, My Twin. However, I found Brave Murder Day to be a little boring.

Viva Emptiness "a little too nu-metal" ??

Are you kidding me?? Viva Emptiness doesnt sound anywhere close to nu-metal. I think the story is that you have probably listened to Untouchables by Korn and mistakenly thought that it was Viva Emptiness because if you had listened to Viva Emptiness you would never say such funny thing.

Written by Azhidahak on 27.09.2006 at 21:08

Written by Dangerboner on 22.09.2006 at 02:27

When it comes to new vs old Katatonia, I think I prefer the newer stuff because I like the clean vocals better. I've only heard Viva Emptiness, The Great Cold Distance, and Brave Murder Day though. I like Viva Emptiness, but it's a little too nu-metal for me. I also like The Great Cold Distance quite a bit, especially the song, My Twin. However, I found Brave Murder Day to be a little boring.

Viva Emptiness "a little too nu-metal" ??

Are you kidding me?? Viva Emptiness doesnt sound anywhere close to nu-metal. I think the story is that you have probably listened to Untouchables by Korn and mistakenly thought that it was Viva Emptiness because if you had listened to Viva Emptiness you would never say such funny thing.

uhhh, I don't even have Untouchables.

I'm not saying that Viva Emptiness is 100% nu-metal, but there is a bit in there.

There's a Katatonia tribute album coming out soon and a fair number of interesting black metal bands are on it like Xasthur and Dark Fortress. If you haven't guessed already, this tribute album covers the earlier years of the back catalogue.

It's quite rare for a band the same age as Katatonia to have a tribute album released but I think Katatonia certainly deserve it and although I don't really look into tribute albums much this one sounds like it is worth it.

Written by Dangerboner on 22.09.2006 at 02:27

I found Brave Murder Day to be a little boring.

I totally follow you with that... I had tried with that album many times, had been rather close to enjoy it, but overall it's a very boring piece... anyway, at least is the last Katatonia album I can somehow stand.

I missed their show here because I had no money..

I think this band is pretty slow and not that interesting. But I haven't heard so much from them so you all shouldn't really listen to me

I think that "The Great Cold Distance" is really a tribute to how much the band has grown musically. The technique on this album is a lot more in depth than some of their older stuff and you can hear how they've really started to define themselves. In comparison to their earlier stuff (Brave Murder Day's been brought up a fair bit, I've noticed) it's a lot cleaner and easier to listen to.

I have to admit though, "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" was the first album of theirs that I heard, and it's always going to have a bit of sentimental value to me, despite the sheer brilliance of TGCD and Viva Emptiness

They are at times brilliant, but suffer at others. I'm just a huge Swanö-whore though :>

Last night was amazing!! Katatonia, Daylight Dies, and Moonspell came to my city finally

Where to begin..... I had a great time watching each show (Daylight Dies was one hell of an opener, I wished they had played longer) and met some REALLY awesome people.. but Katatonia left us a little disappointed. The set-list left something to be desired. Mostly tracks off TGCD, several from Viva Emptiness, and only ONE each from Last Fair Deal, Discouraged One's and Tonight's Music. NONE from Brave Murder Day

Dispite any bands' setlist it's still possible to put on a kick ass show. Not this time. Jonas basically hid behind his hair the entire time and Anders did not ONCE look at the audience. Mattias was very enjoyable though, he had lots of energy and kept shaking our hands between songs. I can't say it was a BAD show (since I had a kick ass time and heard some great music) but I was expecting so much more. A friend I was with said that Katatonia is the most boring band he'd ever seen live... I wouldn't go quite that far

When the show was over we chanted "Kat-a-tonia!" for a few minutes but since they weren't the final act we knew there was little hope of an encore. Moonspell came out next and put Katatonia to SHAME with their stage presence, professionalism, and sheer ENERGY. Their set was very long but they never tired of performing.

aaaaaawwwwww you liked Moonspell better! They were good, but c'mon...Katatonia was great. The drummer was awesome and it was interesting to see how "full" they sounded. I think that if Moonspell was more consistant they would have done more for me. I dunno....maybe it was cuz my back was hurting from the 5+ hours of standing straight and Moonspell played for like 3 hours lol. Their older gothic songs were kinda weird for me...like the song about vampires and stuff.

I don't think Katatonia could have played anything from Brave Murder Day because Michael Akerfeldt wasn't there and I don't know how good Jonas' harsh vocals are these days. I agree that their setlist wasn't as good as it could have been, but they performed the songs that they chose well. On cd, I can't stand July and Soil's Song, but somehow it sounded good live.

*oh, and I've pretty much bought all of their albums since the post I made on the top of the page. Jeez, I buy cd's faster than I thought...

I enjoy them. Their doomy/melancholic atmosphere is unlike any other band I've heard. Personally all I've heard is the old material but I'm still missing Dance of December Souls.

@Pyro, I do think Moonspell put on a far better "show" but I have to say I enjoyed Katatonia better. Even with their performance and setlist.. it was just pure magic to hear some of those songs played live by the band that made them That's all I really need in a live show, but then when a band like Moonspell comes out with such amazing stage presence it's easy to see all the opportunities that the Swedes missed that could have improved their performance.

I had such a great time though (despite feeling sick half the night); having fun at a show is the most important part

I totally agree with you on the stage presence thing. Like you said, Jonas just hid behind his hair the time, but I didn't care because his voice is amazing. Granted, Moonspell's music is much more aggressive so it's easier for them to move around and such, but I think he could have done more. I wish Katatonia headlined though so that we could have heard more songs from them.

Yes, the fact that they're playing slow, depressive doom metal is NOT an excuse for a boring show! Look at Daylight Dies, who played before Katatonia. Their music was just as slow yet they had SO much energy; the guys headbanged and the vocalist interacted with the audience.

I still love Katatonia VERY much and will stop bashing them now I'm a little disappointed with their show but I had SUCH a great time that it doesn't really matter

I think the reason Katatonia isn't playing older songs anymore is because they don't seem to want to dig deep in their past discography. And by that I mean their death/doom black/doom songs. I have seen them perform 'Murder' when I went to see them. But the sound was really bad. I do think Jonas can still manage the screams/grunts, but I think they prefer to let that part rest.
To be honest Katatonia is a bit disappointing when they play live.

They don't play old songs anymore because Jonas can't do the screams/grunts any more, he fucked his voice up that way. (that's what he said in an interview some time ago)

'Murder' seems to always be on their encore. I'd love to see them live.

I think I perfer the newer stuff better. But Dance Of December Souls is such a classic album and when I think about how much I love that album I can't bear to compare new and old Katatonia stuff together. They're both so different as well that comparission is a mission. My favourite 'new era' album is certainly Tonight's Decision. That album is so beautifull depressing. I could never get tired of it. And that Jeff Buckley cover is superb.

Unfortunatelly, I cannot talk about that...I was able to see them live this year, but I didn't go because I had no money. Anyway, to tell the truth I started listening to Katatonia with "Last fair deal gone down" and nowadays my favourite alboum is " Tonight's music", such as Daru does. I like the brave murder day from the older stuff.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 01.12.2006 at 00:49

They don't play old songs anymore because Jonas can't do the screams/grunts any more, he fucked his voice up that way. (that's what he said in an interview some time ago)

Well last time I've seen them -about a year ago I guess- they played 'Murder' and Jonas really screamed a lot, didn't really seem to hold back anything. So I think he somehow recovered a little from the sick screaming he did in the past. And I must say it was pretty insane screaming that he has done, very depressing.

I'm just listening to the tribute right now, and so far it's really good. Forest Stream's 'Without God' is a bit too rusty and black metalish, but other then that I have no negative observations

Written by Damnated on 03.12.2006 at 19:20

Forest Stream's 'Without God' is a bit too rusty and black metalish, but other then that I have no negative observations

I never would have thought that you would ever say that

why? Katatonia's sound was never THAT black metal. it was on the edge between bm and doom

Dance of december souls is a masterpiece. Take it or leave it Katatonia is awesome. Dont like the new material to much though.

I cannot enforce how much I love their older releases. DoDS is a fucking masterpiece... the songs are beautiful and emotional. The same goes to BMD with its rougher edge as well. Discouraged Ones was a great album too, very apathetic, cold, numb. And I guess the same goes to Tonight's Decision (that cover of Jeff Buckley is awesome!). LFDGD is a good album, but I don't find myself listening to it very often. Viva Emptiness featured some more heaviness and agression and was very masterfully crafted, full of details and textures.

Their last album, however... didn't really get me... My Twin, July and In the White are some pretty good songs, but the overall feeling of the album doesn't strike me with the same strength of previous albums. Also, it's pretty frustrating to see the same song structures being repeated over and over again and all songs having almost the same length (from 3:41 to 4:54)...

Anyways, I hope the next album will be better...

Katatonia's new stuff sucks ass. It's like listening to alternative rock! They were so good when they were death - doom metal. This is metal storm, not alternative rock storm. I do not understand how any of you guys can like this shit when you call yourselves metal fans. New Katatonia slurps ass, end of story.

Wow Jiri... I can't believe how open-minded you are! (insert rolling eyes). I'm glad that your opinion overrides all others...

I happen to be a bigger fan of katatonia's newer works (everything from Tonight Decision on up) than their older works.
Some say that their newer stuff sounds too "alternative"ish... but so what?
I'd say their last 4 released have been much more original than their bm/dm days.
No bands i know play music like they play now.
But i could name you countless bands that play doom metal with screaming/grunting vocals.

oh and this quote is probably the dumbest thing i've ever seen, Jiri
"I do not understand how any of you guys can like this shit when you call yourselves metal fans."
Are you implying that to be a metal fan all you must listen to and appreciate is metal music?

Dude, you are one sad fuck.

It took me a while to warm up to the newer albums but now that I have I play them constantly, especially the great cold distance

I agree same here Almighty Ent it took we a while but i really like Journey Through Pressure and My Twin its a good alumb