TGCD - The review thread

[daimonion]

How 'bout a thread dedicated to reviews of the new album from different zines and stuff. Also personal reviews could be put up here.

(In other words: This is not another "TGCD IS SOO GREAT" thread)


I was a bit surprised to see a review in one of Norways absolutely biggest newspapers. I'll try to translate...



Helt siden Century Mediedebuten «Brave Murder Day», har det svenske mørkrock-bandet Katatonial levert eggende og solide album, med foreløpig høydepunkt i «Last Fair Deal Gone Down» (2001). Med «The Great Cold Distance» forteller kvintetten klart og tydelig at de ikke har tenkt å bryte den gode trenden. Andreas Nystrøm sin hang til kjølige, tilbakelente og episke lydvegger får fremdeles boltre seg fritt under vokalist, Jonas Renkse, sine særegne fraseringer. Fra den mektige åpningen «Leaders» via de medrivende tonene til singelen «My Twin» og den raust orkestrerte «The Itch», bretter Katatonia ut hele registeret fra det vare og sakrale til monumentale drønn. Nystrøm har tydeligvis gravd litt dypere i lommene denne gangen, på sitt tyngste, skjeler «The Great Cold Distance» mot bandets death metal-røtter. Bunnsolid

Terningkast 5


Ever since the debut album on Century media "Brave murder day" the swedish dark-rock band Katatonia has delivered moving(?) and solid albums, with a so far highlight in the album "Last fair deal gone down" (2001). With "The great cold distance" the five guys really delivers the message that they are not about to break this good trend yet. Andreas Nystrøms habbit of making chilly, relaxed and epic soundwalls are still able to flourish freely behind vocalist Jonas Renkses original frases. From the mighty opener "Leaders" further on to the catchy melodies in the single "My twin" and the orchestrated(?) "The itch" Katatonia unfolds the whole nine yards(?) from the vary and beautiful to monumental explosions. Nystrøm have obviously digged a little deeper in his pockets this time, at its heaviest, "The great cold distance" is reminicent to the bands death metal-roots. Rock solid.

5 out of 6

 

[madu]

Heh, Nystrøm. And uh.. BMD was their debut since when?

There was an article in this one magazine I read, I'll translate it here in a moment.

 

[madu]

Ok:

Katatonia's new album bears the name The Great Cold Distance. Guitarrist Anders Nyström and vocalist Jonas Renkse are still behind Katatonia's music.
"We started putting new ideas together right after Viva Emptiness was released", Jonas tells. "However, we didn't want to start writing the actual songs until the tour for the previous album was over."

"Gathering the material for the new album took about two months. We started around a year ago, when we also booked the studio for the recordings. This was because we had some sorts of pressures to get the album together."

While the band certainly knows their style, they also managed to conjure some freshness on the album.

"Actually it was easier this time. Things went pretty well. Earlier it's sometimes felt that stuff that meets Katatonia's quality requirements isn't too easy to come up with, but now that problem was nonexistent. It was a relief to us, seeing as we didn't have much time."

"Besides the song Consternation everything is new. We recorded Consternation for the previous album, Viva Emptiness, but it disappeared from the studio's harddrives. At that time it didn't feel too nice, but now we think we made a better version of it this time."

Nyström and Renkse finished the songs by themself and sent them to the others on CD. This was because the Katatonia members live apart from each other and don't rehearse much.

"We don't usually have much time to rehearse before going to the studio. Particularly Daniel (drums) was very nervous at the beginning of the recordings. In studio we played together before starting the actual recording, so Daniel would get the right feeling of the song"

"The others do have their say on the songs too. We keep the songs slightly open when we go to studio in case someone comes up with a good idea."

Anders and Jonas also produced The Great Cold Distance.

"Nowadays I require a lot from myself as a singer. Before I didn't so much, because I didn't feel I was a very good vocalist. Now, however, singing interests me also in the technical way and that's why I'm putting all my effort into singing. Related to that is the flow and rhythm of the text and everything else. I spend a lot of time when coming up with the vocal lines for our songs."

Have you tried expanding your vocal range by singing other kinds of music?

"For my pleasure, yes. However, it always ends up as how I sound on our albums. Hard to change one's singing styles, and one should sound like himself anyways. No use being something I'm not. It's entirely impossible for me to sing with a regular rock-style like Bryan Adams or someone. My voice just isn't made for singing like that."

Katatonia has found their own style many years and records before. Keeping the business fresh must be a lot of work.

"We are still hungry when it comes to music. We aren't bored of playing. Our interest isn't limited to just metal either, we are influenced by many genres."

--

Surprisingly they didn't have a review for the album

 

[daimonion]

Heh, Nystrøm. And uh.. BMD was their debut since when?

Yeah, i'd hardly expect the reviewer to be a big metal/katatonia fan. However, he might have meant their debut WITH Century media - not their debut all together.. But probably not.

 

[daebreak80]

i might make a few enemies with this post, but am i the only katatonia fan who thinks this is their worst album since before brave murder day? i hate to say worst, because i think it is a good album, but it seems like every review i read and every fan comment calls TGCD the best katatonia album yet. katatonia has been my favorite band for years, so i'm not trying to insult the band or other fans with this post. i've been listening to the album for a few months now (and yes i have ordered it so i'm not ripping the band off). my twin jumped out at me as a standout track right away, but most of the other songs did nothing for me at first. it was hard to get into this album. previous katatonia albums always struck me as masterpieces on the first listen. over the last few months, the album has grown on me, but i feel like it lacks something that prior albums had. some of the songs start off nicely and then take a wrong turn. some of the riffs remind me of nevermore, another band i really like, but i want katatonia riffs to sound like katatonia. i feel that most of the songs have a riff or two that just doesn't belong and some of the riffs are kind of boring to me.

this being said, there are a lot of strong points to the album and it will certainly land on my top 10 of 2006 list, just not at number 1 where i expected it. i think in the white is one of the best songs katatonia has ever written. my twin and soil song are great too. there are other songs i love parts of, but can't rank them among the band's best. i hate to complain, because i have the utmost respect for katatonia and still regard them as my favorite band. i feel a bit disappointed by TGCD, but i like it more and more every day. i guess i just felt like every new katatonia album was even better than its predecessor and the new one, in my opinion, doesn't come close to matching the excellence of viva emptiness. i hope the band and other fans won't be offended by my opinion. katatonia is still the greatest.