KATATONIA — The Great Cold Distance

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4.05 | 48 ratings | 3 reviews

Album · 2006

Filed under Alternative Metal
By KATATONIA

Tracklist

1. Leaders (4:20)
2. Deliberation (3:59)
3. Soil's Song (4:12)
4. My Twin (3:41)
5. Consternation (3:50)
6. Follower (4:45)
7. Rusted (4:21)
8. Increase (4:20)
9. July (4:45)
10. In the White (4:53)
11. The Itch (4:20)
12. Journey Through Pressure (4:20)

Total Time: 51:46

Line-up/Musicians

- Jonas Renkse / Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, Loops, Programming & F/X
- Anders Nyström / Guitar, Backing Vocals, Keyboards, Loops, Programming & F/X
- Fredrik Norrman / Guitar
- Mattias Norrman / Bass
- Daniel Liljekvist / Drums, Backing Vocals

Additional musicians:
- Jens Bogren / Keyboards, Loops, Programming, F/X
- David Castillo / Keyboards, Loops, Programming, F/X
- Peter Damin / Percussion, additional Drums (on "Journey Through Pressure"),
Drum Tech
- Andreas Åkeberg / Backing Vocals

About this release

Recorded & mixed at Fascination street studios,Orebro,June-September 2005.
Produced by Nystrom & Renkse.
Co-produced,mixed & engineered by Jens Bogren & David Castillo.
Mastered by Thomas Eberger with Jens Bogren at Cutting room,Stockholm.
All lyrics written by Renkse.
All music written & arranged by Nystrom/Renkse except 'Deliberation' by Nystrom/Renkse/F.Norrman.
Art direction by Nystrom & Renkse.
Artwork & design by Travis Smith for Seempieces.
Limited Swedish edition (Cat. CDVILEF128X) released as a box with a poster, some
postcards and an enhanced video track on the CD.

Released in a special package including the original album, which also includes 2 bonus tracks (‘Displaced’ & ‘Dissolving Bonds’), and a second disc containing a 5.1 channel mix of the album.

Also available in a red colored double vinyl limited edition (2000 numbered copies) from June 5th 2006 with these bonus tracks:
13. Displaced
14. Dissolving Bonds
15. In The White (Urban Dub Mix)
16. Code Against The Code

Music videos for the songs "Deliberation", "My Twin" and "July" were made.

Thanks to Prog Geo, bartosso, adg211288, UMUR for the updates

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KATATONIA THE GREAT COLD DISTANCE reviews

Specialists/collaborators reviews

Warthur

I have real problems getting behind doom metal groups who decide to go all alternative rock and inject lots of recycled Pink Floydisms into their music. Whilst Katatonia don't, at least on this album, go quite as far down this particular rabbit hole as peers such as Anathema have, the end result is still a piece which is executed with reasonable technical proficiency but leaves me feeling cold afterwards. And it's not a good sort of cold, not the sort of cold lifeless bleak feeling that, say, the better sort of funeral doom offers, so much as it is the result of a complete failure of a piece of music to move me on an emotional level.

more than 2 years ago
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Report #296599

bonnek

After falling in love with Katatonia when they released "Last Fair Deal Gone Down", I've been looking out for every new Katatonia release with the highest levels of urgency and expectation. And they certainly didn't let me down with this release, which I regard as their magnum opus.

The band's line-up had remained unchanged for more then 5 years and I believe that such can clearly be heard here. They sound like a well-oiled machine, tight and unrelenting, more metallic then they did on the previous releases and without any dip in the songwriting. The songwriting remained largely in the indie/goth area, with their typical variation of subtle melodic verses and huge almost anthemic choruses, not dissimilar to the template that was laid down by Paradise Lost on their album 'One Second'. But Katatonia tops them here, making their songs more musical and adventurous, with tasty math/progressive riffing and those typical odd time signatures and poly-rhythms. Also Blakkheim's continued experimental approach towards guitar sounds and effects make Katatonia into a true progressive act.

Being both a fan and a skeptic of progressive rock/metal I can only applaud that they never indulge into unnecessary song lengths, pointless solos and the cheesiness that often spoil the Prog experience for me. In a similar way, they also avoid the pitfalls of much Goth acts, by staying far away from the pose, pathos and formulaic approach that makes so much 2nd and 3rd tier Goth acts a self-parody and total turn-off for me.

Katatonia found a way to marry the strengths of progressive metal with those of indie and Goth. With that mix it's no wonder this band hits me right in the heart, especially on this album. One for my all-time metal top 10.

more than 2 years ago
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Report #251819

bartosso

The Great Cold Album

Katatonia is like wine, the older, the better. Having said that, I know that their latest release, Night Is the New Day - being of an inferior quality in my opinion - contravene this theory. However, when I listened to this record for the first time, five years ago, it was their newest opus and, undoubtedly, a depressive metal triumph.

That's one of the most musically consistent works in modern doom metal, one of the best produced metal releases of the decade and one of my favourite albums. Both massive metal riffs and haunting melodies are dripping with genuine emotions, so beautifully expressed by Jonas Renkse with his unique, gentle voice. The band manages, with equally good effect, to create both beautiful, haunting melodies(e.g."July", "In The White") and extremely dark, massive and discordant sounds with progressive structures(e.g."Leaders", "The Itch"). I'm also full of praise for the drummer who really deserves a separate commendation. I love the way he plays in this album. This guy manages to create fantastic drum patterns which, while being relatively understated, are powerful and quite progressive. But most of all his playing somehow matches the concept perfectly... as everything here actually.

Even though the music slips into pretentious vibes at times, I don't really have much to complain about. This is a classic already. Haunting, mature, consistent release, recommended to all fans of well-composed, atmospheric and genuinely emotional metal with modern, progressive edge.