Question For Old School Fans

Schism

Evacuate, Assemble here..
Jan 15, 2003
1,110
6
38
47
Mittagong, NSW Australia
Visit site
Hey Guys.

Just a curious investigation to those who were fans of Katatonia pre-DISCOURAGED ONES

Please express your thoughts and feelings (maybe shock) after hearing Discouraged Ones or Saw You Drown EP for the first time after Brave Murder Day, Just wondering how you felt, obviously I am working backwards through their discography and I imagine some mixed feeling with the change in songwriting and vocal style.

For Example, with the Saw You drown EP being released as a teaser for the new style that was to come, I believe SYD and Nerve are probably two of the weakest tracks on DO and I might have been worried!!

When DO came I would have been relieved with tracks such as I Break or Deadhouse because they are really great songs.

All thoughts appreciated!!

N.P. Green Carnation - A Blessing In Disguise
 
Well, I´ve been listening to Katatonia since J.E.M demo was released and I can assure that I´ve never been shocked or disappointed about how the next release has turned out to be.
And before Saw You Drown EP was released, I already had the information about the changes in their music. So when I bought it (paid $ 7 for it:cool:) I already knew what to get.

One could say that I´ve grown up with Katatonia´s music. Maybe if I was younger and still that "teenage BM maniac" I was around D.O.D.S. era, maybe then that quite radical change between B.M.D and S.Y.D would have been harder to handle.

Anyway, to me Katatonia has always been the most important band there is and the only band I´ve ever really adored!
 
I have been a fan since the early days and I had some doubts when I heard about the style change, already from DODS/FFTC to BMD, I was quite hesitant towards BMD at first too, took me a long time to learn and appreciate it. Also when DO came out, I didn't buy it right away, and once I had it (late '98), it again took me a while to get into it.

Then again I had my doubts when TD came out and only bought it quite some time after it was released, cause I somehow thought it would just be a lesser version of DO. But when I bought it in 2001 it appeared to be great and so was LFDGD of course.

I must say though, VE hasn't managed to convince me yet...
 
I think that Brave Murder Day sort of led me into the new katatonia sound. It was a mix of the old sound and the new sound, sort of a bridge between the two.
 
Dance of December souls is still a classic record, regardless of what you feel about the newer material. Personally, not my thing, but fuck it...its not my band :)
 
I remember a friend at the time telling me before Discouraged Ones came out that HIS friend "heard the saw you drown ep and was diappointed and he's even a big cure fan" I was worried but I bought DO anyhow and loved it. I forget my shock at hearing it, but I didn't get into katatonia long before that so i guess I took it for what it was worth.
 
Well, that was some kind of a shock, we had just started a band in the vein of old Anathema and Katatonia's BMD and then they start to sing without growls... But now I can live with Discouraged Ones... :) It's funny to imagine, how DO would sound, if it had growling vocals...

Schism said:
N.P. Green Carnation - A Blessing In Disguise

A VERY GOOD ALBUM! Got a promo some days ago and it gets better and better...
 
The most important change was the voice. I think, cold ways, i break... are nearly to Brave era. At first it was hard to recognize this change, 'cause i love the growls!!
But it was not a change of style, i think. It was an "evolution". I have to say, that i love death-metal and old school, and this kind of music/bands.
I was afraid for this change, but they can show me how good they are playing music. Perfect change, but of course, i would like some songs with growls...i know is not possible...only is my wish...
 
I like all Katatonia, but Tonight's Decision was the album that got me into them. No matter what style they are, they're always great. They're perfect.
 
I make it a point to never get surprised when a band changes. And besides, Brave Murder Day to Discouraged Ones is not that big of a shift, just in the vocals.

I mean, listen to Ulver - Nattens Madrigal and then the Metamorphasis ep. Or listen to Cave In - Until Your Heart Stops and then Creative Eclipses ep. Now those are signals of HUGE creative shifts. Ulver around Nattens Madrigal is 100% different from Ulver around Themes from William Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell. And Cave In around Until Your Heart Stops is also pretty much absolutely different from Cave In around Jupiter.

An analagous shift between styles for Katatonia would probably be Anathema. I guess you could say there's a pretty sizable shift between The Silent Enigma and Eternity, but not really. Only in the vocals and song length.
 
LuminousAether said:
An analagous shift between styles for Katatonia would probably be Anathema. I guess you could say there's a pretty sizable shift between The Silent Enigma and Eternity, but not really. Only in the vocals and song length.

I would have to disagree, there are huge differences between the albums. TSE was a very rushed album, it had some of the guitar effects and atmospheric keyboards (and 'atmosphere') found on Eternity but not much else. TSE was still a doom album, I believe when Eternity came out they evolved into something very different. So i think saying that only the song length and vocals are the only difference would be a huge understatement.
 
TSE... rushed? I disagree, it's one of their best albums and their best doom album by far, it's a masterpiece.

And Eternity sounds quite similar in mood and atmosphere to TSE, and it also uses many of the same instrument playing styles. The music was by no means heavier on TSE, but the songs were a bit more progressive. And I think that Eternity is a doom metal album as well, but it was a step away from doom.
 
I didn't hear the Saw Your Drown MCD before DO's....but at the time, I was playing in a band signed to German label and the guy who ran it knew I was crazy about Katatonia...and he called me up saying that their new stuff was 'pop, but great pop'. Anyway, I remember that summer...all I listened to was DO's.
Met Anders at anathema/Moonspell/Therion in London that Sept. ('98). We had met before (I arranged a Katatonia/In The Woods) show in Dublin in 1996...they were over to meet/sign with Peaceville and had a long chat about how some people were dissing DO's...I thought it was to be expected...still a stunning album.
I became introduced to Katatonia though the demo and then got DODS's. Everything they have done is godly....although the FFTC ep is my least fave...
TD was great...not as good as DO's...LFDGD is the ultimate. A flawless album, I think...
VE is not as good...but still wipes 99.9% of the competition

Regards Anathema and The Silent Enigma.....it was totoally rushed, I have had the whole story from them......but, that's Anathema....seems to be a lot of chaos with the band...but still, lots of genius with it!
 
I remember briefly listening to Dance of December Souls when I was about 14 years old (back in 1994) but it never really got to me. When they released BMD however I was euphoric. I loved that album (and I still do) to death and listened to it over and over and over again. When they unleashed Discouraged Ones I didn't know that they had made a 180 on their old sound so I was devastated at the first listen. Almost pissed off. Didn't take me long (a few listens) to grasp their new direction though and now I love that album - and all albums released since of course....