Katatonia - Tonight's Decision

[Mark]

Katatonia - Tonight's Decision
Peaceville - 1999
By Philip Whitehouse

Tonight's Decision saw a new chapter in the continuing evolution of arguably the best melodic doom band to date. Having long since given up growling in his vocals, Jonas Renske instead chose to concentrate on using his voice to touch gentler emotions, while the band's music progressed to lead them to create sonic soundscapes coloured with the tears and regrets of the sorry protagonists of their tales.
A slightly heavier proposition than latest album Last Fair Deal Gone Down, Tonight's Decision comes complete with the atmospheric lead guitars its successor made its own, and shows off a slightly crunchier, more aggressive rhythm guitar section than was seen in LFDGD. Jonas Renske's vocals are, as ever these days, faultless, capturing the bleak emotions portrayed in the songs perfectly.

At the time that this album was recorded, Katatonia's line-up was still missing a drummer. Dan Swano provides more than adequate session drumming for this record, but LFDGD showed exactly how much Katatonia's rhythm section benefitted from a dedicated drummer in the line-up.

None of the songs are ever anything less than excellent, but particular stand-out tracks include 'In Death, A Song' for it's driving pace and excellent lead-guitar work, and 'No Good Can Come Of This' for its haunting-into-crushing intro and sinister overtones.

As ever, Katatonia produced an excellent album with Tonight's Decision. Although LFDGD is a more enticing musical prospect, Tonight's Decision is still a fantastic album worthy of a place in anyone's record collection.

 

[_Transparent_]

and pop down to HMV and pick it up for £8.99 on a re-release with 2 bonus tracks which easily fit in on the album unlike other bands bonus tracks. deffinately an album that will open your ears up to a new style and new band. this one comes highly recommened for anyone into any style of music.

 

[dill_the_devil]

LOL - that's how I got the album! HMV in Wolverhampton, £8.99, 2 bonus tracks!

Do you know if those songs are new, or whether they were from the 'Tonight's Decision' recording sessions and were just left off the album? The latter seems more likely to me, considering how well they fit in with the stlye of the album as a whole...

 

[requiem]

Katatonia - Tonight's Decision
Peaceville - 1999
By Philip Whitehouse

shows off a slightly crunchier, more aggressive rhythm guitar section than was seen in LFDGD. Jonas Renske's vocals are,

Hey, it's JONAS RENKSE. Not Renske as you and most other publications try to propagate.

How can you get it wrong? It's just a word!

 

[dill_the_devil]

D'oh! Sorry... you'll have to excuse the occasional typos in my reviews - I generally review albums late at night after listening to them for several hours, and I'm not the most reliable touch-typist anyway. Anyway, does it really, cosmically speaking, matter if it's spelled incorrectly? Cut me some slack here!

 

[Raoul J.]

Good review man

 

[dill_the_devil]

*bows*
Why thank you!

 

[requiem]

Originally posted by dill_the_devil
Anyway, does it really, cosmically speaking, matter if it's
spelled incorrectly? Cut me some slack here!

Sorry if I seemed slightly on attack, it's just that it happens ALL the time. It's actually quite a startling phenomenon considering how often that very mistake is made.

I didn't mean to be harsh

 

[dill_the_devil]

LOL - don't worry about it man - I forgot to mention that I occasionally write these reviews while smashed on whiskey after a night at the pub too...

I shall endevour to correctly spell people's names in future, however, regardless of the alcohol content of my blood.

 

[Cythraul]

Hey, it's JONAS RENKSE. Not Renske as you and most other publications try to propagate.

How can you get it wrong? It's just a word!

Thanks for pointing that out. I've been listening to Katatonia for a couple years now and I always thought his name was Renske.

 

[Victim of Deception]

I know many people don't like the recent Katatonia sound and wish they would have stayed with the Brave Murder Day-era style, but I love it. Tonight's Decision is my favorite Katatonia release, though only slightly over Last Fair Deal Gone Down. I thought Viva Emptiness was somewhat disappointing, but it's great as well.

 

[DoReMi]

I have the three latest Katatonia releases, and must say that this one is the worst out of all of them. It's a good, solid output from the band, but some songs just don't hit me as hard as those found on LFDGD and Viva Emptiness. Others seem, dare I say it, bland and repetitive. Still, that's not to say that it isn't enjoyable. Nor does it lack any classic songs that make the album a worthwile purchase.

 

[selfabuse]

I find that a few tracks are a bit repetitive and weaker than the rest of the album and the closing chorus of Black Session is rather cheesy compaired to the bands often awesome lyrics. However, the burning depressive atmosphere of the album is amazing. I actually find Last Fair Deal quite ironically uplifting to listen to but a lot of this album is equally downbeat but actually depressing which is quite an impressive achievement. For My Demons, I Am Nothing and A Darkness Coming are classics, the first 2 tracks having some of the bands best ever lyrics. I dont get why a lot of people diss Jonas' lyrics. Occasionally (due to the language barier I would guess) they fall a bit flat or clichéd (a lot of darkness/light related stuff usually) but often they blow me away and he has a way of using very simple lines to convey very powerful feelings. The "I remember one of my friends telling me to go ahead" line in the context it appears in I Am Nothing is for me one of the most horrible, sad, understatedly devastating lines ever.