KATATONIA — Discouraged Ones (review)

KATATONIA — Discouraged Ones album cover Album · 1998 · Gothic Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Sinkadotentree
After the European tour for "Brave Murder Day" the attempts the band made for writing material for the next album failed big time. Stagnation had set in plus Jonas' vocals were at the point that he couldn't perform his growls. They knew they couldn't keep Akerfeldt to do this job permanently so the decision was made to change their style. Gone were the growls along with the second lead guitar. They also dropped the double bass drumming and their pentagram tinged logo. They set the course for new waters as it were, although if you've heard "Day" from Brave Murder Day" you would know what to expect with "Discouraged Ones". Man I love this album. There are so many amazing tracks on here but the first three really blow me away. "I Break" has this nice and heavy but melodic intro as the vocals join in. This is almost upbeat(haha). "Stalemate" is heavier and I like the hauntingly sung chorus. "Deadhouse" might be the best one on here. That repetitive grinding rhythm is so good. It's haunting with piano 3 1/2 minutes in before it kicks back in. "Cold Ways" is fantastic. A good rocking tune. "Gone" reminds me of ANATHEMA around the "Judgment" album. Very gothic and emotional. "Last Resort" is a top four reminding me again of ANATHEMA but this is more uptempo than "Gone". "Saw You Drown" is another fav of mine. We get an instrumental called ahem... "Instrumental" which is very good. Just a great album that might be closer to 4.5 stars.
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more than 2 years ago
Hey Jonas ! The only thing it's missing is Travis Smith's artwork which comes on the next album.
UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I agree. It´s a great album and very, very different from the first two albums by the band.

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