How do you like TGCD two years after its release?

batmura

Sea of Tranquility
Nov 1, 2001
2,828
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www.seaoftranquility.org
Hey guys, it's been almost two years since The Great Cold Distance came out and I'd like to know how the album has aged for you. Usually when a CD comes out, the hype is so much that we tend to call it the best the band has ever done. In time, however, we come to our senses and take a more realistic stance.

Anyway, I still consider TGCD the band's best body of work, especially post-Brave Murder Day. To me, in terms of composition, arrangement and musical performance the album is a high point in Katatonia's history and from the jaw-dropping drumming to Renkse's vocals, the band has never sounded tighter.

One last question for the completists. When I bought the CD here in Turkey, the only available version was the boxed version. I've never been too fond of SE discs or digipacks. It's always been jewel case for me. Today I was checking out my local CD stores and saw they still carry the boxed version, which had me thinking. Did this album ever get released in standard jewel case?

Any thoughts? Any comments?

Cheers guys!
 
I put it aside for months. Good album, but I needed a break from it. I'm rather waiting for new Kata material and am listening more to other bands until then.
 
Well you can never have the same feeling as the first time listen, but I still have the same feeling where I can't decide if this or Last Fair Deal is the best, but either way when I listen to this all the way through I still get the same feeling as before
 
Didn't really like it so much when i first bought it...but I brought it to work recently..and now i can't stop listening to it:headbang:
 
This is actually a pretty interesting question...
I used to listen to it all the time and somehow it became the Kata album I could listen to anytime. But then I stopped because I feared it would wear out and turn into some background music. I realized the album (feelings & atmosphere included) were too precious for me to be treated like that. So to say, maybe I was afraid it would get spoiled by wrong feelings/thoughts if I have it on the spin 24/7. (Pretty pathetic to dwell on problems like that, no?)
And also, since lots of things in my life changed there was quite a long time where I didn't even touch it o_O
Lately I've only been listening to it when I really, honestly felt like doing so. This still means that I could listen to it every second of my life *lol*

I guess this already answers the question if I still like it or not. Imho true brilliance never fades and TGCD is made of sheer awesome.


tl;dr :rolleyes:
 
Yes, really interesting thread imo. I still remember the day when I had only heard something about Katatonia but never really listened to it and then I noticed that Åkerfeldt sang on one of the records (while browsing metal-archives) and then I decided to download that Brave Murder Day album where Åkerfeldt was but I couldnt find anything except TGCD. When I first listened to it, I immediatly thought that Renkse's vocals had some very unique things and It didnt take long for that album to be one of my favourites. After I started to like TGCD I went to the record store and bought (if I recall right) Discouraged ones and Brave Murder Day albums and I didnt like neither of them that much as I did TGCD maybe because the lack of technical drumming etc. I was disappointed because TGCD was really the kind of music I wanted to hear more but DO and BMD didnt immediatly achieve that thing. But I gave those 2 records very very much listening times and I still remember that one night when I was lying in my own bed and it was dark as hell and I was listening to BMD... Man the shivers I got... From that moment it has been one of the best albums of all time I guess for me. Before that "BMD enlightement" I had bought Viva Emptiness and that had instantly become the best Katatonia album after TGCD, maybe because I had listen to TGCD that much and viva was something newish. It really took a while when I finally bought the last katatonia records too but man, as you can see from my lastfm I have really spent some time listening to Katatonia.
 
In some ways it is my favorite album, in some ways it isn't which means it is part of the "listen to it for a long time" and "disregard it for a long time" cycle. What mainly puts me off is the difficulty to relate to some parts of the lyrics (July and My Twin excluded). Musically however it is another different yet awesome Katatonia experience and I still love it and I'm very fond of my special edition iwth all its useless innards.
 
This album has seen me through the last few years of my life.

You probably already know how I feel about it, it was and still is by my standards a benchmark of modern metal/rock/goth/whatever the fuck you wanna call it.

What really makes is the collaboration between the engineers and the band.

Amazing.

Can that get close again? If thay do they should be classed as gods.
 
TGCD is my 2nd favorite Katatonia disc. My favorite is Viva Emptiness for it's more melodic sound. Viva Emptiness is the cd of theirs I turn to the most when I want to listen to them! But I love everything going back to Discouraged Ones. (not much a fan of their death vocal offerings)