Let's talk about Katatonia, shall we?

It's all I can talk about. We might be looking at album of the year candidate...A career best with their new darkened opus, Night Is The New Day. Released last week around the world and this past Tuesday here in the States, this 48 minute haunting epic masterpiece is another in the fine line of jaw-dropping albums by the most underrated band on the planet. I said it in my update yesterday and I meant it. The fact that Katatonia isn't as big as Opeth, Porcupine Tree or even Tool, is criminal. Recognize.

"Forsaker" kicks off this motherfucker, bringing the listener in with sweeping harmonies by vocalist Jonas Renske, then crushing skulls with some of their heaviest riffing to date. Other highlights include the rest of the album. I know, a shitty review but it's the truth. No weak spots, no filler, no fat. This record is lean and hungry...The only other band in their space that seems to have drive like this is Paradise Lost. Ther new LP is amazing as well...A post for another day I suppose.

Bottom line: Pick this record up and support a band that will truly hit on your every emotion and work their way into "favorite band territory" in no time. If you're not a fan yet, work backwards. Their early material is killer melo-doom-death (w/a certain someone from Opeth on vocals) and is quite different from where they've been heading from 1997's Discouraged Ones and on.

I tagged their new video on the last post, so check some of this out...

Night Is The New Day is in stores now. Why are you not in one buying it this very second?

"Cold Ways" (live):

"Deadhouse" (live):

So Much New Junk. So much.

Well, it's clearly been a long fucking time since I've updated this blog. So much has happened since my last update, I don't even know where to begin. So instead of going on and on about shit that only I care about, I want to talk about some new jams that making living extremely pleasurable these days:

- Slayer-World Painted Blood
If you don't like Slayer, you have no business listening to, reading about or discussing anything that even remotely comes across as metal. This is the best Slayer album since Diabolus and possibly since Seasons in the Abyss (www.slayer.net)
- Katatonia-Night Is The New Day
Best unheard of band of the last ten years. Why this group isn't as big as Opeth or Porcupine Tree is beyond me. Better songs, better hooks, more mass appeal. Could be their best effort yet (www.nightisthenewday.com)
- Converge-Axe To Fall
Another stellar album from start to finish. Just as brutal as No Heroes and perhaps more diverse (www.convergecult.com)
- Kowloon Walled City-Gambling On The Richter Scale
Like Unsane, Helmet, Crowbar, Jesus Lizard, Tad and The Melvins? I thought you might. Think about all of this, summed up in one band...then add 10 times the heavy. Oh, and they write songs, not just sludgy riff after riff. This is killer shit from SF. (www.inthewalledcity.com)
- Matthew Good- Vancouver
The follow-up to Hospital Music blows it out of the water. Heartfelt and honest, like he always is. An homage to his city, one that he loves and despises. Great stuff (www.matthewgood.org)
- Living Colour- The Chair in the Doorway
Like Sly and the Family Stone...But with balls. Big balls. Truck nut style (www.livingcolour.net)

Also jamming on new releases from: Armed For Apocalypse, Fight Amp, Russian Circles, Doomriders, Om, Saviours, Baroness, Thrice, Long Distance Calling, Ghost Brigade and more.

What a great year for music.

Converge "Axe To Fall":

Katatonia The Day and Then The Shade":

Progressive Nation 2009 = Shitstorm

Mike Portnoy is an awesome drummer and up until last year, a killer tour organizer. The first annual Progressive Nation tour featured Dream Theater, Opeth, Between The Buried and Me and Three...I know, so good it barely made sense. So myself and a horde of fans around the country were eagerly awaiting this year's lineup. Could they add Meshuggah? The reunited Cynic (a band DT owes a a lot to)? Porcupine Tree? Katatonia? Shit, they really have their pick of the litter when it comes down to it.

Syncopated drum roll please (terrible drummer joke, I'm well aware)...Progressive Nation 2009 will be Dream Theater, Zappa Plays Zappa, Pain of Salvation and Beardfish. What and who the fuck are all these guys? I'm well aware that ZPZ is Dweezil playing his Dad's tunes. Fine. Pain of Salvation and Beardfish are nerd prog bands from Sweden. Jesus this sucks. No Dillinger Escape Plan. No Spylacopa. No Protest The Hero. No Redemption. No Fates Warning. No Battles. No nothing.

I am eagerly awating the tenth Dream Theater LP, which was completed in October and comes out later this year, but this abomination is some serious bullshit.

"Wait For Sleep" Live:
"The Mirror" Live 2004:

I Miss Katatonia

We're now nearly three years removed from the masterpiece that is the Great Cold Distance and I'm fucking dying for new music from Katatonia. Yes, Andy and Jonas are also in Bloodbath, who put out both an EP and full-length in 2008 (which were insanely good), but it's no Katatonia.

All I'm saying is enjoy these clips and respect this band. They are THE prime example (with Cave In and possibly Clutch not far behind) of a band that sounds nothing like their early material, yet sound light years better. The only band that evokes as much darkness and hopelessness through their music is My Dying Bride...and Katatonia smokes those dudes.

Can't wait for the new record, possibly Summer 2009.

"Deliberation"

"July"

"I Break" (live, a true classic)

Paradise Lost=Gods, HIM=Pussies

Nuff said. My love affair with the mighty icons of British Doom was rekindled this year, with Paradise Losts' unbelievably good new record, In Requiem. It's my fault for letting them drop off my radar for the last 8 years. They make great albums, never do the same thing twice and helped invent a genre of metal that I adore. 1993's ICON is one of the finest metal albums and 2005's self-titled release is not far behind.

So news trickles down this week that on an upcoming UK run, Paradise Lost will open for HIM. Great exposure for the band on the dawn of their twentieth year, sure. Why HIM? Such pussies, I can't even explain. A good friend of mine from Miami calls it BubbleGoth. I love that term, since HIM play cheesy pop tunes about loving death and kissing bloody lips and the like. Frontman (?) Ville Valo is a turd, a skinny little nothing who makes everything he touches turn to wuss. I hope Paradise Lost wipes the floor with them and shows their fans what a real doom band sounds like.

Dream Doom Tour: Paradise Lost, Katatonia, Swallow The Sun, with special guest Wino. I just crapped my pants thinking about it.

This Tuesday (Monday in Europe, lucky bastards) sees the release of the 2-DVD set, Over The Madness, a look into the history of doom and the story of Paradise Lost. I already have the soda and popcorn ready to go.

Do yourself a favor and go here. Tower Records still has a killer website and tons of affordable stuff. I found a remastered/repackaged dual CD pack of Shades of God/Icon over there for only $12.99. Picked up a few other things as well.

HIM, you pussises...This is what you have to look forward to following up to. You're fucked and a new one.. and a trailer for the Over The Madness DVD

Sweden Rules

Fuck it. They rule. The whole country. Metal is cosistently in the Top 20 over there. Must be the cold winters or something...I don't know. In Flames: Awesome. Amon Amarth: Fucking Ridiculous. Cult of Luna: Owns you. Katatonia: GODS. And my new favorite export, Swallow The Sun. They opened for Katatonia in Poughkeepsie last month and I know it's not kosher, but they were the best band on the bill. Katatonia was killer and Insomnium was impressive, but Swallow The Sun just brought it...And it is fucking metal.

I picked up their latest release, Hope, after their set. So did 2 dudes I came to the show with. It's one of those records that feels like home. It feels like you know all the songs from years ago, but it's new and fresh at the same time. The riffs are thunderous and the vocals range from whispers (ala Jonas from Katatonia) to the deathiest of death metal rumbles. The cool thing is, it never becomes undecipherable or gets lost in the mix. I mean, their track "Don't Fall Asleep" is a single...A death metal band with a HIT single AND video! See, Sweden is so cool. Told ya.

Whatever. Pick this up. They have three LP's. The first two are a bit harder to find (try Amazon), but the new one is out on Candlelight and should be in your local metal store. Easily a Top 20 record this year. Easily.

Oh yeah, and the keyboardist looks just like James Hetfield. Not so much in the photo above, but at the show he had the whole 1992 Hetfield thing down. It was creepy because he's 5 feet tall (I imagine) and speaks little to no English.

Don't say I didn't warn you. Catchy death metal doom rock. Only in Sweden...

Soil's Song, In Your Blog

Nothing like a drive through the boringness of the upper Hudson Valley of New York State. Good thing for me, Katatonia is waiting for me when I get to Poughkeepsie tomorrow night. I've gone on about how seriously amazing they are and now I'll get to witness it all, live from the Center of Commerce and overall worldly importance, Poughkeepsie, NY.

I'm expecting a vast array of lunkheads: Hicks, meatheads, old school pre-good Katatonia death metal fans, Cure-ish wallflowers, dudes in black lipstick and some seriously ugly women. The people-watching will be worth the $25 ticket price by itself.

Request of the night is for "Criminals". These fuckers better come through.

Swallow The Sun is also on the bill and I've been hearing so many great things about them. Jonas from Katatonia helps out on vocals on one cut off their recently released LP, Home. Almost like a less proggy Opeth at times.

This makes me happy:

You should worship Katatonia

You know those shitty stickers on every CD that comes out now: "If you like Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance and eating horseshit, you'll love This Crappy Band"! Well, if I were an A&R guy, I'd sign Katatonia this second. Scratch that. I would've signed them years ago and be living high off the royalty checks right about now. Their CD would read: "If you worship Tool, A Perfect Circle and the Deftones, but you need something that lays all that shit to waste, LISTEN TO KATATONIA OR DIE". It's a no-brainer.

These dudes have been cranking the doom out for over 10 years and the thing that really sets them apart from bands like A Perfect Circle, is that they're REALLY f*cking depressed. No Hollywood depression here. This is cold stuff. Every song feels like it's 30 below and you're outside naked in a snowstorm.

They started out as a typical death/doom project with help from Mikael from Opeth on their first 2 releases (on vocals). They did a complete 180 and closed the door on death metal in 1997 and instatly became awesome. ALL their records are monsters, but the last two are gold: "Viva Emptiness" and last year's "Great Cold Distance". They have a live CD/DVD coming out on Tuesday June 5th called "Live Consternation"...It promises to rock.

Check out the video for "My Twin". It renders all other sad bands useless.