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Black Sessions

Katatonia - Black Sessions Audio CD

A fair review of the Katatonia "Black Sessions" 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: Black Sessions
Rating:

Release Date: 2005-03-29
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Teargas 2: Right into the Bliss 3: Criminals 4: Help Me Disappear 5: Nerve 6: Future of Speech 7: Ghost of the Sun 8: I Am Nothing 9: Deadhouse 10: Passing Bird 11: Sleeper 12: Sulfur 13: No Devotion 14: Chrome 15: Premonition 16: Dispossession 17: Cold Ways 18: Nightmares by the Sea 19: O How I Enjoy the Night 20: Evidence 21: March 4 22: I Break 23: For My Demons 24: Omerta 25: Tonight's Music 26: Stalemate 27: Wait Outside [#] 28: Fractured 29: Sweet Nurse 30: Black Session 31: Ghost of the Sun [DVD][Live] 32: Criminals [DVD][Live] 33: Teargas [DVD][Live] 34: I Break [DVD][Live] 35: I Am Nothing [DVD][Live] 36: Sweet Nurse [DVD][Live] 37: Tonight's Music [DVD][Live] 38: For My Demons [DVD][Live] 39: Chrome [DVD][Live] 40: Future of Speech [DVD][Live] 41: Complicity [DVD][Live] 42: Burn the Rememberance [DVD][Live] 43: Evidence [DVD][Live] 44: Deadhouse [DVD][Live] 45: Murder [DVD][Live]

my Favorite boxset

granted jonas does not look terribly happy to be there, but he sounded great. first off, to all the people who wrote in and said the dvd is not good WHAT DID YOU EXPECT? THE HOLY GRAIL IN THE FORM OF A DVD? THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST PERFORMANCES I'VE SEEN & HEARD.
while i, too, got all the studio albums the day they came out i had to get this collection (mainly for the dvd. . . which does not dissapoint)but also for the unreleased songs. . . nothing about this set let me down (although i would like to have seen an interview or video on the dvd).

FOR ANY FAN OF KATATONIA-DON'T MISS OUT.
a lot of it is redundant, but the rest is fantastic.

Black Sessions: Bad Concert!!!
First of all I started listening to them by the Viva Emptiness(saw them on a festival) so we can say that this box is my type. . No! because when I listen old albums I liked them better. If you want to learn something about this band and if you are not a really hard stuff person go and buy this box I can tell you this box can really make you love the band.

About DVD: IT IS AWFUL. I am a concert guy and I get so bored during this concert thing and MURDER(from their old, old, old. . . album Brave Murder Day) is being MURDERed in the concert.

A massive collection of the modern Katatonia, but not enough rare material to be essential.
While the "Brave Yester Days" compilation covered the bands earlier period (from 1992 through 1998), "The Black Sessions" covers the bands output from 1998 through to 2003. "The Black Sessions" is the second of the two Katatonia compilations (the first being "Brave Yester Days" to be released in consecutive years. So there's no death / doom material here, it's all in the depressive rock vein that they evolved towards through the mid nineties. The other striking difference is that this compilation contains not only two CDs worth of material, but also a bonus live DVD recorded in Krakow, Poland. Basically, the 2 CDs contain tracks from "Discouraged Ones", "Tonight's Decision", "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" and "Viva Emptiness". These are all great releases and so the level of quality amongst the tracks is very high as expected.

But what most fans will be interested in is what rare and unreleased tracks are on here as well as what the quality of the live DVD is. As for rare material, there is only one previously unreleased track which is "Wait Outside". This track was recorded in the "Viva Emptiness" sessions and is a fairly decent one too, although nothing to get too excited about. There are also two tracks that were released as bonus tracks on the slip-case reissue of "Tonight's Decision". These tracks are titled "No Devotion" and "Fractured". These tracks are of less value and I think it was correct to leave them off the original release of that album. Finally, they have included both the "Teargas" and "Tonight's Music" EPs in there entirety, which are difficult to get your hands on these days. The two original tracks on the "Teargas" EP are excellent, with "Sulfur" being a particular highlight. The two original tracks on the "Tonight's Music" EP are not really very good, which is a shame since the title track is one of Katatonia's greatest moments. So, in general, there are only a few bits and pieces on here to get excited about, and for those (like myself) who already own the albums and EPs, there's almost nothing.

Which brings me to the DVD. Now don't get me wrong, Katatonia are a wonderful band. One of my favourites in fact! But they just don't seem to be able to recreate the atmosphere of the studio albums when performing live. Jonas in particular doesn't have any energy on stage and his vocals are a little lacking. The sound in general is decent enough and the tracklisting is also ok. There isn't much here for fans of their early material which is expected since they've left that sound far behind. I don't have too many complaints about the DVD, but can't say I found it tremendously exciting. I doubt I will watch it very often at all.

Overall, I'd recommend "The Black Sessions" only to the completists out there that have to have everything the band releases, or the casual fan that wants a blueprint of Katatonia's output without collecting all of their albums. Then again, if you don't have the "Teargas" EP, try tracking it down or purchase this compilation for that alone. There's still an awesome array of quality tracks on here, but in my opinion, it just doesn't contain enough unreleased and rare material as the "Brave Yester Days" compilation, which is a tad disappointing.

A Fair Warning...
However, this box set is a bit disappointing. I love Katatonia as much as any fan. Here's why.

I like "Brave Yester Days" (a similar collection of early material) so much because it contains all the songs from now out-of-print EP's and singles and condenses them into a handy listening experience. It has the songs from full-length albums too, but only one or two from each album.

For this collection, there is not nearly enough "unreleased" material that Katatonia has done in these years to include on it. Honestly, there doesn't need to be two CD's of material. They throw half of "Tonight's Decision" on here (7 songs), three-fourths of "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" (7 out of 11 songs), five songs from "Discouraged Ones" and six songs from "Viva Emptiness. " Now, I'll agree that there are so many good songs on these albums that it's hard to pick one or two favorites but that's why I (and any fan should) have the original album to listen to.

The Math

On 2 CD's there are 30 Songs.
2 are from "Tonight's Music" EP.
2 are from "Teargas" EP.
1 is previously unreleased from "Viva Emptiness" sessions.
That makes 5 that are unreleased or were only on EP's.
The other 25 are all on the albums mentioned above.

So in reality I'm spending money on one CD that I already have all the songs on originals, and one CD with only 25 minutes of music that I don't have. It is just a bunch of extra fluff so the record company to make more money. They could have at least waited to release this until "The Great Cold Distance" came out 9 months later and included the songs from the singles from that album. That would have been enough to make a double album I think. One may ask, "Then why did you go ahead and spend money on it?" Well, I didn't sit there and study the tracklisting before I bought it. I saw some songs I wasn't familiar with and some that I was. I also am content for buying it simply for the few unreleased songs anyways because Katatonia is one of my very favorite bands, and of course, the DVD is a little extra bonus. Dedicated fans will probably buy this reguardless (and most likely, have already - I waited a long time) so I would assume mostly casual fans or people just getting into the band are reading this and I would not particularly recommend it to either. Both casual and brand new fans are only getting five new songs that they can't get anywhere else and they really should eventually buy the four albums outlined here anyway.

I would also like to point out all the tracks are in completely random order, which I personally don't like. . . I would like to see how the band's sound has changed throughout the years by having the songs in order (just like on "Brave Yester Days").

As for the actual quality of the previously unreleased / EP only songs, they are pretty much just as good as any Katatonia material; nothing exceptionally outstanding for the band, but nothing to scoff at either. "Sulfur" is probably the best "new" song, and one of the band's longer songs; starting off with a very melodic, atmospheric clean riff and harmonization for a good minute and a half, before being bombarded with heaviness, switching between very mellow versus and quite powerful and melodic choruses, like many of their songs. This is a very good quality track that would have fit right into "Last Fair Deal Gone Down. "

On a good note, the packaging is really nice, there's a booklet with all the song lyrics and tons of Travis Smith artwork. Each CD lists, all the songs, their length, and what albums they're from, all contained in a nice quality "box. "

Live DVD

The DVD is pretty good; decent cinematography, except for a few montages which have extremely quick cuts that are almost dizzying. Jonas could be a little more interactive, he doesn't look too excited to be there. Maybe he's always like that; it would explain the mood in the band's general sound. . . who knows. Near the end the band announces their last song is "Evidence," and when they are done the crowd urges them to continue, and they do so and add in "Deadhouse" and "Murder" which must have been somewhat a surprise. These last two songs seem to be the most energetic for both the band and the crowd and "Murder" is a much more appropriate ending to the set.

The sound quality is pretty good; I don't have any complaints about it. The set list is nice, very well-rounded, they've got at least something from each full album out at the time except "Dance of December Souls" which isn't surprising.

Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of Live DVD's in the first place; they don't have too much replay-value. I would rather have a live CD so I could listen to it anywhere instead of having to watch it (or at least, have a computer or DVD player nearby to listen to).

So, to sum up, a decent box set for dedicated fans, not something I would particularly recommend to new or casual fans, too much "fluff" from old albums unnecessarily making a double-disc set, and a pretty good live DVD.

Essential Katatonia
It is a great starting point for new fans as well as offering rare tracks and the DVD live show for longtime fans. This CD/DVD set is essential Katatonia as far as I am concerned. The selected CD tracks cover from the Discouraged Ones album to Viva Emptiness with some rare material from various EP's. The song selection is pretty good, fairly evenly spread and chosen from Katatonia's four albums that this set is representing. I really enjoyed it and the live show is a treat seeing how Katatonia does not have an official DVD separate from this box set yet. Recommended.

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.