Artist: Katatonia
Label: Peaceville Records
Release Date: 4/29/03
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Title: Viva Emptiness Artist: Katatonia Label: Peaceville Records Release Date: 4/29/03 |
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Abyss's Review:
Having earned a spot on my top ten two years ago, Last Fair Deal Gone Down still gets considerable time in my CD rotation. So much so that I can't even say I've been really looking forward to this record, I'm actually still enjoying the last one. Oh well, it's here and I couldn't be any happier.
"Viva Emptiness comes across as the logical follow up to their last album. It continues in the same vein, exploring desperate beauty and exhalted sorrow." Viva Emptiness comes across as the logical follow up to their last album. It continues in the same vein, exploring desperate beauty and exhalted sorrow. While it would be remiss to describe this album as 'heavy' in any metal sense of the word, the music herein has a different, but undeniable sense of weight. Oppressive rather than aggressive. Desperate rather than frantic. It's like choking to death on perfumed carbon monoxide.
The album explodes out of the gate, opening with "Ghost of the Sun", which is simply one of the best songs I've ever heard; heavy enough to keep me interested and haunting in its essence. In fact, the album starts out a little too strong for its own good. The lead track, along with the following two tracks "Sleeper" and "Criminals", comprise (along with the later track, "Evidence") my favorites on the record, which is a bit troubling. While the rest of the album is still really good, these songs set the bar way high right at the beginning. I think I would enjoy the album a bit more if these tracks were interspersed throughout the album. As it is, the record just seems a little too front loaded for me.
"This is exciting music, the kind that stirs all of your emotions, not just anger and hate." This is my only criticism, however. There aren't any bad tracks on the whole disc, just songs I like more than others. For some reason whenever I listen to Viva Emptiness, I'm reminded of Blue Oyster Cult's The Revolution By Night, especially when it comes to the vocals/lyrics. Of course, I realize that reference is just obscure enough to be pointless, but I just felt I had to write it, just call me Dennis Miller.
As I said before, any fan of the last album will be anything but disappointed in this one. Katatonia remain one of the few bands that have softened their sound and remained relevant. This is exciting music, the kind that stirs all of your emotions, not just anger and hate. Any fan of music, let alone metal, should have this band in their collection. One word review: Haunting.
Death's Review:
. . . beauty in despair . . .
"The first three tracks on this, Katatonia's sixth full-length studio record, are some of the best music I've heard in a long time." The first three tracks on this, Katatonia's sixth full-length studio record, are some of the best music I've heard in a long time. Stellar production in service of mororse yet aurally bright music with Jonas Renkse's understated and hauntingly melodic vocals and subtle, underlying doom elements all coalescing together into memorable and powerful songs. In fact, although this opening trio stand out as a highlight, the entire Viva Emptiness album could be similarly described. Vocally, we're talking part Roger Waters and part Coldplay, but musically we're talking part Pink Floyd, part Trouble and/or Candlemass and part prog-metal with subtle background elements still present from Katatonia's death metal past. The cover art by Travis Smith helps to set the tone. But it is the experience of the musicians, the integrity of the songwriting, and the brilliance of the album's dynamic range that seem to come together with a force that only the best and most magical of albums ever achieve, making Viva Emptiness deserving of attention from a wider audience.
With the weight of thirteen years of band history on their shoulders, Katatonia have become a confident and important Swedish rock band. These songs get under your skin, the somber melodies burying themselves deep within your soul. If you liked Last Fair Deal Gone Down, you will absolutely love this album. If you like softer, alternative "hard rock" like Queens of the Stone Age you also might be able to digest and appreciate this sound. If you like Opeth or Amorphis but are OK with an almost complete absence of death metal vocals (except for the occasional background death layering on a word here or there for emphasis), you will definitely want to get to know Viva Emptiness. Genre classifications aside, this really is a masterpiece. The modern, hard rock equivalent of a Pink Floyd album - there is a lot to digest. Hopefully, people will get a chance to hear it and to fully absorb this music in the months ahead.
"Genre classifications aside, this really is a masterpiece. The modern, hard rock equivalent of a Pink Floyd album - there is a lot to digest."
Hel's Review:
Do we have a "dark metal" sub-genre yet? If not, then I hereby declare Katatonia to be a dark metal band. Their latest works have proved to be more gloomily atmospheric than outright metallic, but, as most of us are already aware, metal is more than a simple descriptive musical term; it is also a state of mind. Katatonia will always be metal, as long as they continue to expel discontent and woe in such a raw and powerful way. Sure, not every track has a heavy, riff-laden guitar focal point. But that does not in and of itself preclude it from being metal, now does it? Instead, the vocals seem to be the central focus, and upon examination of the lyrical content, the overall gestalt of this band makes complete sense.
"Katatonia will always be metal, as long as they continue to expel discontent and woe in such a raw and powerful way." Now, I admit, I didn't entirely embrace the over-the-top mellowness of Last Fair Deal Gone Down, not that there was anything wrong with it. And I think that the beginning of Viva Emptiness was designed to land such naysayers as myself on their respective asses. It certainly worked in my case, anyway. Viva Emptiness comes off the starting line with a strong, undeniably metal tune, arguably the heaviest on the album. While few of the other tracks match its metal straightforwardness, it does an excellent job of priming you to enjoy the songs to come. Or at least, it did for me. And don't get me wrong, heavy guitars abound throughout this album, often in combination with effects (methinks someone might have a fun new pedal) and the end result is a strong metal feel to the entire album.
"Fans of Katatonia should run out and by this record as soon as possible. It's just as simple as that." Katatonia's ultimate strength lies in their songwriting. The songs manage to convey a level of gut-wrenching feeling that is extraordinarily rare. When I have reigned back my inclination to give something five skulls in past weeks, saying that I had to hold out for something that really "wows" me - Viva Emptiness has the quality that I'm talking about. Listening to this album can help you transcend your daily cares and shelter you in a place far away for a time. Only the really great albums have the ability to do that. Katatonia's exceptional musical skill, combined with their stellar songwriting ability, creates an unequalled emotional experience.
Fans of Katatonia should run out and by this record as soon as possible. It's just as simple as that. Any metalhead who enjoy dark melodies combined with emotive vocal lines and lyrics you can not only understand, but sing along to, definitely also needs to make a trip to the store or online music seller of their choice. See, this is mandatory metal 101 if you're looking to be a well-rounded metalhead. Otherwise, go ahead sit back into your little niche and miss out, it's your call.
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