Darkthrone Album: “F.O.A.D [Limited Edition]”

The Great Cold Distance is in many ways the best Katatonia album since their undisputed 1996 masterpiece Brave Murder Day. It was after this album when Katatonia decided to explore uncharted waters, opting for a more laidback yet perhaps darker and more depressing songwriting formula. With amazing records like Discouraged Ones and Last Fair Deal Gone Down, they have established themselves as one of the leading forces in the genre, rivaled by only a handful other bands, if any.

Despite the relatively compact songs, the new Katatonia album is an extremely demanding listen, the compositions being made up of complex arrangements, deliberately disfunctional rhythmic patterns, and often discordant riffs. Given songwriters Jonas Renkse and Anders Nystrom have cited Tool as one of their favourite bands, it comes as no secret that the main riff of the album opener "Leaders" bears a similarity with Tool's "The Grudge", not to mention vocalist Renkse's great vocal melodic progressions that bring to mind the great Maynard Keenan. Daniel Liljekvist provides some amazing screams on this track, contributing to the dark nature of the piece. However, it is his drumming on The Great Cold Distance that will leave many fans' jaws hanging. This guy is a monster and this album features without doubt the best Katatonia drumming in years. Same thing goes for Mattias Norrman's bass work. The song "Follower" seems like it was developed around his amazing bass groove, with powerful guitar work that entails tons of reverb rendering it perhaps the most atmospheric and depressive number on the album. The guitar theme that soars above the composition before the heavier final section sends shivers down the spine: melody and emotion unite in order to create magic during a ten second solo passage.

The album's first single "My Twin" is a suitable choice. Layers of subtle keys, rhythmic drumming and amazing vocal melodies all create a dreamy atmosphere as a dark acoustic guitar melody is played underneath the arrangement. "Deliberation" isn't too different in the way that it retains the trademark Katatonia atmosphere with thorough production and an infectious chorus, not to mention the amazing backing vocals by Anders Nystrom. Songs like "Rusted" and "Increase" feature cascading guitar swells, rising mellotron sounds, shifting dynamics that alternate between the band's love for depressing serene sections and grinding, riff-based textures.

There are also some great Opeth-like moments on the album. When I say Opeth, I'm strictly referring to their Ghost Reveries period. The third track "Soil's Song", considered a favourite by many, is formulated by distinct Opethian guitar work with its pull-offs and open strings, dictating a multi-layered arrangement with detailed production values. The guitars are thick and the keys at the end are sublime. "Consternation" is a heavier track, but still marked with creative Opeth traits. The chopped riff progression and constant use of ninth chords and triplets culminates in one of the heaviest and most dynamic songs on the album.

It could be argued that The Great Cold Distance, while compositionally strong, doesn't really reinvent the wheel, and is more of a continuation of their sounds achieved on Last Fair Deal Gone Down and Viva Emptiness. This may be true to an extent, but there are two songs on this album where Katatonia really break new ground: "July" and "In the White". The former finds the band pushing their melodic aspects a step further, utilising sparse drum beats and excellent vocals; while the other piece is a perfect harmony of bass, drums, acoustic guitars, and keyboards. Renkse's mournful vocals on the song are betrayed by thundering bass explosions and crashing cymbals. These songs are among the most progressive (in the truest meaning of the word) Katatonia songs ever.

Lyrically the album is equally complex. Though various interpretations could be made, such as coldness, nervous breakdown, and the contrast between light and dark, I firmly believe Renkse expresses ideas of freedom of speech (or lack thereof) or lack of freedom in general. Given lines that go like, "My mouth remains inactive" (Deliberation); "Keep your last words in your hand" (Soil's Song); or "My mouth was sewn" (Leaders), Jonas Renkse must have felt the need to write about these thoughts a lot. A more general outline could be made if you give the lyrics a closer attention, with the exception of the song "July" (which itself signifies a new direction for Katatonia).

If you decide to get the special edition box of the album, your copy will contain the band's first ever video of "My Twin", a poster, some postcards, and a special CD with both sides being black. Get this album immediately because it's going to be a top release for most listeners.

___________

Tracklisting- Leaders . Deliberation . Soil's Song . My Twin . Consternation . Follower . Rusted . Increase . July . In the White . The Itch . Journey Through Pressure

This is one of those albums that takes you by surprise.....I popped this one in my car, and found myself unable to get past the first four tracks, as I had to keep skipping back to them to hear them just one more time....phenomenal album, excellent songwriting. Katatonia is a band that warrants comparison to Pink Floyd, Radiohead, and (especially) Porcupine Tree. Melancholy, mournful vocals float and dance over narcotic, densely-layered modern rock music, creating an extremely well-crafted and compelling album which is one of the best progressive rock albums I have heard in years. One thing that really sets this album apart is the fact that every facet of the album, from production to songwriting and percussion, is simply top-notch. The production, in particular, is reminiscent of Steve Wilson's near-perfect production and mixing on both his various Porcupine Tree projects as well as Opeth's recent releases. I simply cannot recommend this enough for fans of intelligent modern progressive rock.

With the majority of Katatonia's albums, I find myself describing the changes that have occurred between the current release and its predecessor. This has been due to the bands habit of constantly editing their sound, evolving from their raw deathly doom of the early 90s through to the still doomy but far more commercial rock of the band today. This constant change could also be due to the bands line-up changing regularly over the years. But Katatonia has managed to keep a solid line-up for the past 6 years and it's not surprising to find the last three albums that have contained these members being somewhat similar in style.

This is not a bad thing at all as 2001's "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" was in my opinion one of the biggest highlights of a long and successful career, and I'm pleased that they've chosen to run with such a good thing. "The Great Cold Distance" may not be quite as crushing as that release, but the comparisons are still plentiful. Jonas' lyrics and vocals continue to be both emotional and honest, Daniel's percussion is still constantly interesting, Anders' and Fredrik's guitar work remains breathtakingly melodic and full.

I hope I haven't made it sound as if "The Great Cold Distance" doesn't bring anything worthy to the table, as that would not be true. This album contains a wonderful consistent quality that while not completely unique and cannot be considered their best release, still manages to be thoroughly enjoyable. The band have really matured and concentrate on writing constantly moving and interesting rock music that can still be classified as metal due to the occasionally heavy riff and a generally downcast mood. The previous album, 2003's "Viva Emptiness" was solid also, yet it contained a couple of awkward moments that slightly let it down somewhat, but "The Great Cold Distance" holds a steady class throughout. The highlights would have to be "Deliberation" with its superb rousing chorus, "My Twin" and "Follower" with that intriguing percussive beat. Surely Katatonia are close to breaking into the mainstream as some of these tracks have real chart potential.

"The Great Cold Distance" is exactly what I expected from the new Katatonia album. While it's a tiny bit more-of-the-same, it's a perfectly produced, finely crafted album that showcases the Swedes sound in all its glory. I really enjoyed it on first listen and still do so after dozens more, so I'm completely satisfied.

The Great Cold Distance continues the trend toward the mainstream. Though singer Jonas Renske lost his ability to do Monster vocals due to medical problems -- has refined his voice into a much smoother and, surprisingly, more powerful instrument that's capable of greater emotional shadings. Similarly, this album forsakes the blastbeats and hyperspeed riffing for a more dynamic sound that makes smart use of slow and quiet passages. They're still heavy: "Deliberation" and "Leaders" are as brutal.But that heaviness is set off by gems like the surprisingly restrained "In the White," a powerful and heartfelt song that's among the band's finest. The Great Cold Distance a stronger, more compelling listen than a more bludgeoning effort would be.

I did not know what to expect before I got this CD. I had read great things about it on Amazon.com but I had never heard Katatonia before this album. On to the review:

I could not be more pleased with this band. I had read some reviews that compare Katatonia to TOOL, but in my opinion this disc is lightyears beyond the most recent TOOL effort (10,000 Days) in both creativity and musical accomplishment. There are definitely some similarities between TOOL and Katatonia, but in my honest opinion Katatonia has a sound all their own (and it's better than TOOL). In a nutshell, if you happen to like TOOL chances are great that you'll really dig Katatonia. I'm not going to go through and rate each individual song because in my opinion every track on this disc is worthy of a 10 out of 10, but if you still aren't quite sure about Katatonia yet I suggest you download the following tracks:

Leaders (a great album opener)

My Twin

Follower

The Itch

and Journey Through Pressure

Overall this is one of the better releases of 2006. Along with most of the fans of bands such as this I wonder how a band this talented and diverse does not draw a much larger crowd. It seems to me, and perhaps I'm the only person who has noticed this, that when bands harbor a death/black metal past such as Katatonia that it is difficult for them to breakthrough when they make truly outstanding and accessible music. Don't get me wrong, I love both death and black metal, it's just something that I've noticed (Other examples include Anathema and The Gathering, both exceptional bands if you haven't heard them.)