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Rating:
"Ten strings of darkness on a violin sad. Flowing tunes on autumn funeral, ashes spread in the northern storm. I can fly"
The average age of the members of Katatonia at the release of "Dance Of December Souls" (1993) was about 18/19 years old, no more. It should be noted that in their youth our common friends did not devote themselves to the calm and melodic Dark Rock of recent times but moved in decidedly heavier territories.
The genre offered is a Doom Metal heavily influenced by Black and partly by Death. I will make it clear from the outset that in my opinion "Dance Of December Souls" is the heaviest album by Katatonia. If the following "Brave Murder Day", their masterpiece, was full of sad and catatonic atmospheres, here it is the anger that takes over. Characteristics that become clear right from the start. After the spectral intro "Seven Dreaming Souls", it starts with one of the best chapters of this record, which is "Gateways Of Bereavement". The riffs played at a considerable slowness are perfectly inserted into the composition as a whole and make the track very heavy in its progression. The voice inserts itself into these passages with its lacerating timbre, and if Renske's voice is certainly very raw here, it must be said that he compensates for everything with great expressiveness.
"In Silence Enshrined" does not change the coordinates of the album; the track has faster rhythms, although it never deviates from that sense of desperate anger. Anger that completely spills out with "Without God", full of violent riffs and extremely aggressive vocals, maintaining medium-low speeds. The album reaches its peak when anger atmospherically gives way to despair. The sixth, marvelous track "Velvet Thorns (of Drynwhyl)" after a brief initial fast part, unfurls into total darkness for about a quarter of an hour between enticing and very sad melodies, disturbing silences, culminating in a series of nearly imperceptibly whispered words. The last real song is another masterpiece of notable interest. The very long "Tomb Of Insomnia" is indeed decidedly the darkest and most desperate track on the album. Typically Doom/Death riffs intersect with acoustic interludes, all led by Renske's growl/scream, perhaps at his peak as a singer here. A track, therefore, not to be missed that fully encapsulates the essence of the album, which is closed by the brief outro "Dancing December".
"Dance Of December Souls" is an album that is basically harsh and raw but full of brilliant ideas that would be expanded and perfected in the subsequent masterpiece "Brave Murder Day". Nevertheless, listening remains an obligation for lovers of the genre because it contains some of the most beautiful tracks Doom has ever offered, and ultimately for the undeniable emotion one perceives among the grooves of these tracks.
Tracklist and Lyrics
02 Gateways of Bereavement (08:15)
[november 92]
I stand as I cry
Mourning in the Silent rain
Death will light my Burden
Endless is my Sorrow
Gateways so Dark
All these years of Dying
Gone are dreams of Velvet Voices
I am you, we were one
Vast are fields I walk
Where sorrow never dies
The Sky unities with the Blackened Rain
Summon with my Tears
Now descend on WinterWings
My withering Soul.
Let me Die.
Gateways of Bereavement
A Temple of guilt
Falling Deep
Embraced in Grief
My withering soul
Let me Die
Farewell life and all I died for
now my time is over on Earth
Another journey has begun
Alone I died, not praying for mercy
nor praying for Salvation
A lonely Journey in a Darkened Dream
Time has come to spread my Wings
Slow...
Descending from a Silent sky
Death comes to take me away
And from the Gateways you hear me
cry...
...I love you...
03 In Silence Enshrined (06:30)
In silence enshrined through ages
A dying beauty on a journey far
Fading roses enchants the garden
Sleeping, dreaming of my bride
In quiescence faces borders the path
On the shore of no hope I am stranded
Fading roses enchants my grave
Sleeping, dreaming of my bride
Lift my remains from water violent
Unite the body with a serene sky
Enlight my wounds with healing tongue
The portrait is kissed in a solemn night
In silence enshrined through ages
A rotten beauty on a journey far
Blackened roses celebrates my death
How I never could reach my bride
Putrid faces engulfs the path
To the shore of no hope, a bridge
Blackened roses in the cradle of sleep
Whispers: "our death is eternal"
In silence I fall through sorrows
A dying lord on eternal journey
Your face is torn and lifeless
And the passage is locked now forever
Tearful my face borders the path
Sleeping, dreaming of my bride
And freezing my soul is praying
"Take me the way, through the night"
04 Without God (06:51)
[april 91]
Human Birds Watch the Sky
Where Dark formations sail
Infecting the area of God
"JHVA ELOHIM METH"
I am God creator of Life
I am God Enchanter of Death
Death - that now marks you
Life - that slowly pass away
Screams of fear, dismembering the wind
Helpless souls drowning in Pain
But storms of dawn...
A dawn without your fucking God
My spirit filled with hate sets free
The force of the Golden Dawn
Without God
Entomb your fear
The spirit is free
Jhva Elohim Meth
Satan laughs
Jhva Elohim Meth
I raise my fist
To the sky
Swear the Ancient oath of Black
The lambs shall bleed
Eternally bleed
Your fucking God is Dead and shall forever be
06 Velvet Thorns (of Drynwhyl) (13:56)
[february 93]
Ten Strings of Darkness on a Violin Sad
I watch the Mountains where the Frost begins
The Northern Storm is Guiding me
To the Forest
Silently the Nightbirds fly
Their last scream my eternal Dirge
Under the Fullmoon a Funeral
In the Forest
Still I walk with open wounds but the Third is now
rising
Through the ashes of a Dying Love a new soul is born
I watch the feathers like Snow in the Winter
The Angels that fell, splendid to rape
Tall are the shadows that dance before me
as they
Shows the way to the Dawn
An Autumn forest that never reach
Condemned to Sorrow
Chasing the Wind / Like a Spirit fly
Through the Autumn trees / Towards the Sky
Hoofs are pounding / In the clouds above
The Chariot of Sorrow / Watch me die
Hear the Violin / So sad and blackened
Like a Breeze / The songs of Drynhwyl
Chasing the wind / Like my spirit die
Dreaming of the Queen / The queen of roses
Now they die, Pure Sorrow flow
My Souls Funeral, Too close to the End
Now they Die, Purest blood pours
Forever Die, but I must...
I must Die
Through the Sky
And the Forest
Follow the Wind, go North my Child
to the purest of Winters
Go to the Forest that never Ends
There you'll find your fate
And to the North I rode, on the coldest of winds
I watched the Mountains where the frost begun
Where no Angels ever dare to tread
Where Death is all mine
At last I found the Throne of Bereavement
Grim and bleak raised to the Sky
The Velvet Thorns of Drynhwyl are mine
and so are death and sadness
See...
My final Sacrfice
In the trees you will hear my voice
ever calling ever falling
Ten Strings of Darkness on a Violin Sad
Flowing tunes on Autumn Funeral
Ashes spread in the Northern Storm
07 Tomb of Insomnia (13:09)
Falling, Crying, Sleeping, through the air
with the evil, shadows, moving towards the sky!
Tomb spirits marching in the fields of eternal....life
crying like a God....a terrified...God!!
Falling, crying, sleeping in the air
with the evil, shadows, moving towards the sky!
[chorus riff]
Behold the ancient sky, clouds of lie
Souls can't sleep, until the throne's mastering..again!
Tomb of insomnia.........can't sleep
[guitar solo]
Uh!
Cry!! Cry!! Ahh!! Cry!!
Falling, crying, sleeping the land is weak
With the evil shadows, moving towards the sky!
Tomb spirits marching, in the fields of eternity
Laughing, rotting, tainted...this sorrow gone...
[whispering words]
to cry...of an ancient.??.into the sky
??
[guitar solo]
Behold the ancient sky, clouds are black
Souls can't sleep, or nor can I..........kill me! uh!
yaahh!!
[beggining riffs with organ]
uh!
yaahh!!
yaahh!!
[guitar riffs begin]
Now they fall, behold the angels
Their withering souls, in blood
They can't fly
And in confusing anger, they fall so low
Now I can't sleep
Purest sorrow, embrace my soul
I can't sleep
Ahh!
08 Dancing December (02:18)
Dancing...
Dancing...
Dancing...
Dancing...
Dancing...
Dancing...
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Other reviews
By katharsys
"Dance of December Souls stands as the expressive apex of the Swedish group."
"Velvet Thorns...undoubtedly reveals it to be the best of the entire Dance."
