I was supposed to see Katatonia on stage twice, but as you well know, bad luck strikes blindly. Just like fortune.
Since things come in threes, I took precautions and bought one of their live albums.
"Live Consternation" is a work of excellent craftsmanship that presents us with the melancholic Swedish band led by the hefty frontman Jonas Renkse in top form.
The songs on this album come from what we could define as Katatonia's "depressive rock" phase. Classics from albums such as "Discouraged Ones," "Viva Emptiness," and "The Great Cold Distance" are, in fact, revisited.
It is an auditory-emotional pleasure to listen to the live versions of gothic shards that go by the names of "Evidence," "Criminals," "Ghost of The Sun," and the superb "Cold Ways" (in the writer's opinion, one of the best tracks ever written by them). Excellent recording, crystal clear sounds, and guitar riffs that slash like razors but at the same time manage to be sad and introspective.
These are Katatonia in live version. Take it or leave it.
The album was recorded in 2006 at the Summer Breeze Open Air Festival.
PS: the version in my possession also has a tasty DVD.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Leaders (05:11)
Leaders come, stand in line.
Feel your true self, conformed.
I sold my soul, crossed the borderline.
I found something I'd never adjust to.
Come here, I payed up for you.
I have sold my weakness too.
Come here, I split my heart in two.
But you don't have it in you, do you.
Carbon soul, transparent and faded out.
See you soon, in my fiction.
I sold my song, my mouth was sewn.
It's coming undone, that's why I sold out.
Come here, I payed up for you.
I have sold my weakness too.
Come here, I split my heart in two.
But you don't have it in you, do you?
(Do you, do you, do you...)
02 Wealth (04:48)
Cool night gave my thruth for a lie
Will you be here when I try?
I'm not set, cannot do it yet
Will you be here when I try?
Our wealth breeds emptiness
Another day to compress
My lips are dry when you gave me drugs to try
Hold me when I die
The sky has frozen to a wall
We die, we all
03 Soil's Song (04:15)
False
The dream is so far
Come and take the consequence
Few things are as certain
Winter stays
Oppressive wait
Evacuate
Assemble here
Soil's song
In your throat
Future death
In your reach
Who's first
Ok
Mask
Your face well hidden
Keep your last words in your hand
Fold it and open up
Time to go
Release the glow
Evacuate
Assemble here
Soil's song
In your throat
Future death
In your reach
Who's first
Ok
False
The dream is so far
Evacuate
Assemble here
Soil's song
In your throat
Future death
In your reach
Who's first
Ok
04 Had To (Leave) (04:53)
So you were with us until the last minute
And then you were gone from here
And I watched and I just figured out
That I will never see you again
I had a choice
You had to leave
Into the night
This was my choice
It's so hard to explain what I meant
When I said that I wanted you dead
But I saw you fuck up and I just can't get back
The feeling I had for you
I had a choice
You had to leave
Into the night
This was my choice
So I put all my strength into my only will
It was the only thing to do
And now I only regret that I cried
'Cause you would never do that for me
I had a choice
You had to leave
Into the night
This was my choice
05 Cold Ways (05:23)
I can't do what you do
I'm just able to tear it down
Yeah
Stay in a cold minute of sleep
See the world
Right through the ether
Twisting names inside of me
Electric atmosphere to be
Must carry on one last time
Cannot end what has begun
In your eyes
You're alive
But in my eyes
You'r a lie
You can't do what I do
I'm just able to ruin you yeah
Stay in the cold ways of winter
See myself right through the ether
In my eyes
You're the lie
06 Right Into the Bliss (05:20)
by a black road
giving a brief smile
something's on the way
forgotten for a while
and you try to speak this
without a voice down by a black road
we try to forget and try to make it through
someday we'll go
further from this right into the bliss
some night we'll try
to leave this place for another
they keep pushing me
so far from every chance
makes it so much harder
for me to carry on
so I try to speak this
without a thought down by a black road
we try to forget and try to make it through
07 Ghost of the Sun (04:07)
The thin darkness here
Not strong enough to make you appear
(Strong enough to make you appear)
I once changed my style
They said hello I said goodbye
(They said hello I said goodbye)
I once played a role
I was out there marketing my soul
City of glass that I live in
Coldness from my brothers skin
I trusted you, you lied
It's all I hear a fucking lie
Don't give a shit it's over now
It's all I know you broke the vow
I trusted you, you lied
It's all I hear a fucking lie
Don't give a shit it's over now
It's all I know you broke the vow
The thin darkness here
Not strong enough to make you appear
(Strong enough to make you appear)
I once changed my style
They said hello I said goodbye
(They said hello I said goodbye)
Truth is I have seen it come
Seen the ghost of the sun
Can't have it undone
Truth is I have seen it come
Seen the ghost of the sun
Can't have it undone
In time we all call out for relief
See two lovers meet
Pass you on the street
I trusted you, you lied
It's all I hear a fucking lie
Don't give a shit it's over now
It's all I know you broke the vow
I trusted you, you lied
It's all I hear a fucking lie
Don't give a shit it's over now
It's all I know you broke the vow
The City of glass that I live in
Coldness from my brothers skin
The City of glass that I live in
Coldness from my brothers skin
08 Criminals (04:02)
The way the light hits the road
The way I am unable to protect you
Oh I'm running away
I will never forgive myself
For running away from you
He came back to your house
I didn't take it as a promise
Always thought it was a lie
He went too far the fucker
It's not like I owe him money
This is different
So gather your strength and break free
Or you will surely die
Gather your strength don't follow me
'Cause I will surely die
The way my eyes cannot move
The way I hope to be protected
And for one moment I thought
That I was lost among the lights of houses
He came back to your house
I didn't take it as a promise
Always thought it was a lie
He went too far the fucker
It's not like I owe him money
This is different
So gather your strength and break free
Or you will surely die
Gather your strength don't follow me
'Cause I will surely die
My dreams of violence
See them coming true
He came back to your house
I didn't take it as a promise
Always thought it was a lie
He went too far the fucker
It's not like I owe him money
This is different
So gather your strength and break free
Or you will surely die
Gather your strength don't follow me
'Cause I will surely die
09 Deliberation (04:05)
Visions come, visions come, in a sick room bed
There's something left to learn
Pass them on, let it show
Let the rich meet death
Confront our own concern
See us sleep behind the glass unaware of crime
Will you wake us up before it is time
Dueling circles, holds the only light
Break down my perspective
Notify everyone when the time is right
My mouth remains inactive
So when you let me in
Let me justify
My own rewards
You put your hands on me
Now I learn the words
I didnt know before
I am ice, I am clear
Let the world be cold
Our deliberation
Pass them on, let it show
Let the words come slow
Your constant incantation
Repeating cycle
Of light, no light
There's nothing in the air space
There's no one in the air space
Repeating cycle
Of love, no love
10 July (04:42)
You come clean
Waves collide now
Defenseless numb arms
And no voice of reason
So how come you invited me too
You knew I wanted you
You glide above
So this night belongs to you
I know this isn't through
Are you dead to love
I see the bright lights
It's the month of july
It's violent here
Why have you left me
If only you could stay
And keep me in
It's violent here
Why did you run from me
Heat
Night devour me
Repeat
Repetition
I see the bright lights
It's the month of july
It's violent here
Why have you left me
If only you could stay
And keep me in
It's violent here
Why did you run from me
11 Evidence (05:01)
I hold my breath and check the time
One minute no collapse
If you only knew what I would do for you
One thirty breathing lapse
We're going in my voice is thin
When I tell you to remember
That no one will find you
My promise from the heart
If we part my pulse will guide you through
Be still for a moment
Everything depends upon you
If you die I will die too
Once we were heroes
But everything has changed since then
Now they recognize you too
I stay too long something's wrong
You walk out of the picture
I hold my breath and check the time
One thirty i collapse
We went in my voice was thin
When I told you to remember
That no one will find you
My promise from the heart
If we part my pulse will guide you through
Be still for a moment
Everything depends upon you
If you die I will die too
Once we were heroes
But everything has changed since then
Now they recognize you too
I'm the evidence
You passed the test and that's so good for you
Oh love will you read the letters I will send to you
Will I come along
Will they let me out to take the test
Oh love is the score enough for me to pass the test
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Other reviews
By Hardrock92
Music without frills, dark lyrics, and a voice that moves me to death.
This album gives the strength to face everything and in my opinion, it’s a very important type of emotion.