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Brave Yester Days

Katatonia - Brave Yester Days Audio CD

A fair review of the Katatonia "Brave Yester Days" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Katatonia reviews here, or go back to the Katatonia tabs.

Band: Katatonia
Title: Brave Yester Days
Rating:

Release Date: 2004-05-04
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Midwinter Gates (Prologue) 2: Without God 3: Palace Frost 4: The Northern Silence 5: Crimson Tears (Epilogue) 6: Gateways of Bereavement 7: Velvet Thorns (Of Drynwhyl) 8: Black Erotica 9: Love of the Swan 10: Funeral Wedding 11: Shades of Emerald Fields 12: For Funerals to Come 13: Epistel [Instrumental] 14: Murder 15: Rainroom 16: Nowhere 17: At Last 18: Inside the Fall 19: Untrue 20: Nerve 21: Saw You Drown 22: Quiet World 23: Scarlet Heavens

A great chronological journey filled with rare and unreleased material.
But the two releases do not cover the same ground at all. "Brave Yester Days" is the first of two Katatonia compilations (the other being "The Black Sessions") to be released in consecutive years. "Brave Yester Days" covers the earlier period of the band between 1992 and 1998, whereas "The Black Sessions" covers everything from 1998 through to 2003. Both compilations are spread across two compact discs and include rare and unreleased material making them worthy of attention for any fan of this melancholic Swedish band.

This first compilation is of value for fans of the band during their death / doom period. It includes some of the classic tracks off "Dance of December Souls" and "Brave Murder Day". Since those tracks are readily available and most fans will already have them, the interest really lies in the rare and unreleased material of which there is plenty. Firstly, there are 4 EPs included in their entirety, all of which are extremely difficult to get your hands on these days due to their limited release. The EPs are "Jhva Elohim Meth" from 1992, "For Funerals to Come" from 1995, "Sounds of Decay" from 1997 and "Saw You Drown" from 1998. All of these EPs are well worth listening to for various reasons. "For Funerals to Come" and "Sounds of Decay" are of particular interest as all the tracks on each were not released on full length albums, whereas "Saw You Drown" is worthwhile due to the original album being limited to only 1500 copies (it sells for hundreds of dollars on Ebay!). On top of all the above you get 2 tracks that were on the War Compilation in the very early 90s as well as a previously unreleased track called "Untrue" that was originally intended for the "Sounds of Decay" EP. This track is fantastic and I'm not sure why it was left off in the first place.

Is "Brave Yester Days" worth your hard earned cash? Well, it depends on whether you own any or all of the above EPs. If you don't own them and you like the bands earlier, heavier sound, then this is fairly essential. But even if you do, there's over 2 hours of great Katatonia music on here for the price of a single album and it flows fairly well due to the tracks being set in chronological order. It's a great snapshot of a band evolving from a raw, aggressive, yet melodic band into the suicide rock that they play today.

Best (Murder) Days
Details on the tracklist are below:

(from The Encyclopedia Metallium's online entry):

This is a best of album featuring their doom/death metal material (the early era. For fans of early Katatonia (before they watered down their sound following the great 'discouraged ones' album), this is a nice collection of harder-to-find tracks. )

Tracks 1-5 from "Jhva Elohim Meth"
6-7 from "Dance of December Souls"
8-9 from "War Compilation Volume One"
10-13 from "For Funerals To Come"
Disc 2
1-2 from "Brave Murder Day"
3-6 from "Sounds of Decay"
(track 6 - "Untrue" is previously unreleased)
7-10 from "Saw You Drown"

First edition came in a limited DIGIPAK format.

The song "Black Erotica" is an earlier version of the song "12" from the Brave
Murder Day album.

a peek into Katatonia's closet
these 2cd set compiles their early mini albums into one handy package for those who missed it the first time around. Katatonia meld their own atmospheric style of moody heavy metal with morose funeral doom and the results are outstanding. . . people like me. so count yourself lucky to get your hands on Brave Yester Days.
musically, this band seems to share alot in common with those seminal UK alternative rock bands like Joy Division or The Cure. very slow passages built up with emotional tension and bleak atmosphere, rather than anger or aggression. but Katatonia approach it from a black metal standpoint. on later albums, this band would transform into a much more mainstream sound, and to brilliant effect, i might add. but it's nice to peek into Katatonia's dusty cobweb encrusted closet and discover these gloomy bleak gems.

for true katatonia fans
first off i was skeptical about buying this cd becuase i own all of the other cd's by katatonia and i thought this would be just another "hits" cd's. . i am ashamed i thought that of katatonia. . . one of the most inspiring bands ive ever had the chance to listen to. most of the songs on here ive never heard before and i own dance up to viva. they all are high quality songs. a treat to me especially was an alternative version of my favorite katatonia song "black erotica". and look for a box set at the end of march.

Essential for any fan.
For fans like me, who got into the band fairly recently and still want to collect everything, this is perfect. This is a great compilation of the band's now mostly unavailable EP's. It is mostly older material, similar to "Brave Murder Day," which I like better then their newer material. This includes the following EPs in their entirety, which are probably all out of print: "Jhva Elohim Meth," "For Funerals to Come," "Sounds of Decay," and "Saw you Drown," also 2 tracks from "War Compilation Vol. 1". . . apparently some compilation they contributed to. It also includes some tracks from full albums also, "Dance of December Souls," which might be very hard to find, (but only includes 2 out of 8 tracks) and "Brave Murder Day". . . which shouldn't be that hard to find, I don't think. But that also includes only 2 of 6 tracks.

The first EP is "Jhva Elohim Meth," I'm assuming is their very first, and is very good. It includes an early version of "Without God" later found on "Dance of December Souls," and the epilogue is cool sounding :) The War Compilation includes "Black Erotica" which is an earlier version of "12" from Brave Murder Day, and "Love of the Swan" which is also very good. The whole EP "For Funerals to Come" is amazing and an absolutely essential part of this band, except the last song which is some weird experimentation. "Sounds of Decay" on disc 2 is almost the same case. "Nerve" and "Saw you Drown" can be heard on "Discouraged Ones" and both are excellent songs, "Saw you Drown" being one of my top favorite Katatonia songs. The last two songs were only on the EP, "Quiet World" is very mellow, but keeping the same mood as the rest of Discouraged Ones, and "Scarlet Heavens" is over 10 minutes and also very good of course, nothing on here isn't.

I don't really think this is a great way for fans to discover the band, except maybe for the song "Saw You Drown" and the songs on Brave Murder Day and For Funerals to Come, other than that, it kind of should be the last thing you buy after all their full length albums, as it is a collection of out of print things. I might be wrong though. All I know is I've been listening to it a lot since I got it; it's a great collection and really needed to be done.

You can see a complete list of all Katatonia discography, or go back to the Katatonia tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.