Modern, new-sounding, catchy albums I thought I would tire of...

[Erik]

...but that I didn't:

1. Thyrfing "Vansinnesvisor"

2. Katatonia "Viva Emptiness"

Discuss.

 

[spaffe]

Yay for Vansinnesvisor, I listened to it some week ago and was once more reminded how very good it actually is. I was really surprised to find so good lyrics from a band I looked upon as dull "viking" thugs

From the top of my head, I'd add Lake of Tears's Crimson Cosmos to that list as well. Not very metal, but very very cool. I'd like to do drugs and listen to it sometime

 

[Lies and Perfidy]

I should give Viva Emptiness another chance. I liked Last Fair Deal Gone Down & Tonight's Decision, but the first track on Emptiness just sounded like utter mallcore and I had to make it stop. I'll try it again sometime.

 

[J.]

I still haven't come around on that THyrfing. I like them better when they are fun-loving vikings like on Urkraft. I really like their bombastic demo stuff on Hednaland.

Gave up on Kata after LFDGD

some of mine:

Edge of Sanity - Unorthodox

Armageddon - Crossing the Rubicon

 

[spaffe]

It COMPLETELY rules, well I just posted the lyrics for "Ångestens Högborg" in the lyric thread 'cause they're some of my favourites... Complete ownage. Got the LP, just downloading the MP3's now for convenience

Are their earlier albums very dissimilar?

Oh, and they'll release a new this autumn in case you've missed it.

 

[Hell Mike]

Real good for what it is though.

Good for happyCRAP is far from good.

 

[Russell]

2. Katatonia "Viva Emptiness"

Discuss.

I felt and feel exactly the same way. That album has had surprisingly longevity

 

[JayKeeley]

I always liked Thyrfing's "Urkraft", including the Gary Moore cover. Actually I like all Thyrfing albums and occasionally listen to them back to back with some Einherjer.

Katatonia's LFDGD bores me, and I'll probably throw it out for trade, Viva is slightly better (even though we all laugh at those lyrics, haha), but the best one is Tonight's Decision.

 

[J.]

I always thought the best of Kata's goth rock was Discouraged Ones. I could not get nto TD or LFDGD. I'll stick with pre-DO material.

 

[Demilich]

Oh man, don't get me started on Katatonia! Omerta and Evidence are SUCH good songs... rest of the album is pretty nice too... not the kind of thing I listen to much anymore, but very fun, simple stuff! I'm a complete fanboy for this band! I don't even hear too much of the mallcore in Ghost of the Sun, it sounds like good old Katatonia to me.

Edit: Add to this list for me, all 5 Nightingale albums! I don't know why, and I don't listen to them too often, but when I do, I just love em! Ditto the 4 Unicorn demos and to a lesser extent their 2 studio albums.

 

[Demonspell]

I still listen to Viva Emptiness, the only tracks there I don't really like are Wealth and Will I Arrive, where the otherwise gripping contrast between the melodies and the dissonance backfires (the chorus of the latter is great though). Tonight's Decision is my favorite of theirs, but Discouraged is definitely their bleakest and I've grown to love the less polished clean vocals on it.

 

[SonOfNun]

Tiamat - Skeleton Skeletron. Severely underrated, this isn't shit as many would lead you to believe. My first album from the band, so I didn't know what they did in the past, but regardless, this is pretty good atmospheric, sullen, doomy stuff. Emotional and pretty good and I still like it as much as the day I scooped it out of the used bin.

 

[Krilons Resa]

1. Thyrfing "Vansinnesvisor"

Never heard it.

2. Katatonia "Viva Emptiness"

Perhaps, my least favorite Katatonia album. I never saw why this album got so much praise.

 

[dill_the_devil]

Viva Emptiness is great, but after a while I found it to be something of a backwards step after LFDGD. I really, really love that album, I fall asleep with it on in the background on a regular basis. Tell me you don't get caught up in tracks like 'Teargas'... some of the songs on that album are some of my favourite tracks ever, by any band...

"Will the streetlights reflect me well enough, am I transparent when I'm clean? Will the darkness around me be so strong, that there is no way I can be seen? When I pause for one breath, I see millions like me."

Maybe it's 'cause the lyrics speak to the depressed teenager in me, I dunno...

 

[dill_the_devil]

I don't get it... the track's got such an in-built surge when it comes crashing in, I just don't get how you can't get swept along by it... ah well, to each their own...

 

[Crimson Velvet]

Maybe I should give "Viva Emptiness" another chance as well. I don't get the "goth" connection, but it did sound a little too "modern" for my taste.

 

[dill_the_devil]

Did anybody follow that thread on the Katatonia forums about the lyrics to 'Viva Emptiness' possibly being a concept album about a former Mafia dude going into the witness protection programme, then agreeing to meet one of his old friends before being poisoned for squealing? Apparently Jonas and the others totally denied it, but the theory tied the lyrics together so well that it seems that the band doth protest too much...

 

[MajestikMøøse]

I gave VA another chance after watching the DVD that just came out. I guess it's a bit better than I previously thought, but I agree that Jonas could tone down some of the excess profanity.

 

[Demilich]

I don't like how the VE songs come off live, I always find myself skipping them on the DVD, except Evidence. "I Am Nothing" is definitely one of my favourite Katatonia songs.. man, was I pissed when they took it out of the setlist at Montreal last year!

 

[Demonspell]

Yeah, I got a boot from that tour off an FTP site and they don't come across well, but that may just be a combination of terrible sound quality and the show being early after VE was released. And songs like Sleeper don't sound like they would translate live to begin with.