THE BLACK SESSIONS

KATATONIA have been releasing albums for 30 years now, and I feel they have three distinct periods when it comes to their style. The first two albums from '93 and '96 used extreme vocals and this was a band who were huge BATHORY fans, along with that British scene that included ANATHEMA's early stuff, along with PARADISE LOST and MY DYING BRIDE. I have a hard time with the early stuff, even if Mikael Akerfeldt guests on that second album "Brave Murder Day".

The next phase includes "Discouraged Ones" from '98, "Tonight's Decision" from '99, "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" from '01 and "Viva Emptiness" from '03. The extreme stuff is gone, this is just sad, beautiful music. "The Black Sessions" is a mini box set consisting of two cds, both over 68 minutes long. The music is from those four albums. A cool idea to focus on this period, and we also get a DVD from a show they did for Krakow TV in Poland, in April of '03. So two cds in their slip cases, a DVD in it's slip case, plus thick liner notes.

The liner notes are mostly the lyrics plus Travis Smith's incredible art work. Just a great package if your a KATATONIA fanboy. Each disc has 15 tracks all from those four albums, plus four songs from the two EPs they released during this period called "Tonight's Music" and "Tear Gas", both from '01. Two tracks from each of those two EPs are included by the way. The longest track is called "Black Session" at 7 minutes, and it's the only previously unreleased track on here, taken from the "Viva Emptiness" sessions.

This has been sitting on my shelf with my other KATATONIA cds for many years. Good to finally talk about it. While I'm not big on compilation albums, this one has merit with the four tracks from the two EPs and that unreleased song, plus the DVD. This would be great for someone new to the band. That period before they went into more of a Prog Metal style. I prefer "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" from the '98 to '03 era, but my favourite is "The Great Cold Distance" from 2006, the first of those Prog Metal records.

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