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Rating: KATATONIA - The Black Sessions
Label: Peaceville
Year: 2005
Type: Compilation
Contents: 2 CDs + 1 DVD
Genre: Dark Rock/Metal
“Who could see beyond this my darkness?”
I have always detested Greatest Hits, anthologies, and all varieties of compilations.
They almost always represent a deceitful form of record label monetization whose mendacious promotional intent often ignores, or even trivializes, the formative and artistic journey of a band or artist.
The compulsive need for effective marketability forces record labels to choose songs that are formally the most famous and popular, thus violating a repertoire where, alongside the classics, lie often small hidden gems, unfortunately ignored, of albums ideally conceived as cohesive and exclusive works.
The same artwork, which in theory should convey the aesthetic-conceptual imagery of a band, is often neglected and trivialized, effectively reducing the entire operation to a disheartening collection of insignificant photographic images, with the usual contextual information (the canonical notes of production and development).
Sometimes, however, there are bands, like Katatonia, that break this miserable habit, characterizing their compilations with great attention to detail, but above all with such a class that it invests every single aspect of the product, which only in these very rare cases manages to truly represent the necessary compendium to the primary knowledge of the band itself.
Katatonia is an extraordinary band that has been exploring the dark depths of the human soul for years, narrating with sounds and lyrics of extreme sensitivity the hidden paranoias of the mind (“Dance Of December Souls” - 1993), the anxieties of existence (“Brave Murder Day” - 1996), the despair of loneliness (“Discouraged Ones” - 1998), the desolation of defeat (“Tonight’s Decision” - 1999), the awareness of an indissoluble insecurity (“Last Fair Deal Gone Down” - 2001), the fleeting fragility of life (“Viva Emptiness” - 2003), the alienation from an increasingly cold and distant world (“The Great Cold Distance” - 2006).
This compilation follows one year after the release of the previous collection, “Brave Yester Days” (2004), dedicated to the so-called "classic" period of the band, where the language used to narrate darkness was a very personal interpretation of the then-prevailing Gothic-Doom-Death Metal (complete with growling vocals), in a timeframe that went from the demo “Jhva Elohim Meth” (1992) up to the last EP before “Discouraged Ones” (“Saw You Drown” - 1997), obviously passing through the first two albums (“Dance…” and “Brave…”) and other mini releases produced in the meantime (“For Funerals To Come” - 1995, and “Sounds Of Decay” - 1997).
This necessary premise allows us to better understand the nature of this second collection of ours, devoted instead to representing the “modern” period of Katatonia (with clean vocals), from “Discouraged Ones” (1998) up to “Viva Emptiness” (2003), where the sounds are imbued with a Dark Rock/Metal that is sometimes minimalist and hermetic (“Discouraged Ones”), nocturnal and passionate (“Tonight’s Decision”), poetic and intimate (“Last Fair Deal Gone Down”), visceral and deep (“Viva Emptiness”).
Two CDs wisely and sensitively contemplate a journey of unforgettable and sincere sounds and songs, among many important classics, less-known but equally splendid tracks, and numerous hidden gems (all bonus tracks and b-sides released in this period, of which I would highlight the incredible “Sulfur” and the wonderful “Wait Outside”), accompanied by a DVD of a concert held the previous year in Poland, exceedingly significant and moving.
Talking about the individual songs is, in my opinion, impossible (given the quantity, 30 songs + 15 live tracks) as well as unnecessary, but I instead feel compelled to praise the immense splendor of an artwork (by the brilliant artist Travis Smith) and of a simply wonderful and exhaustive booklet, the ideal synthesis of the cultured and refined poetry of the dark "Katatonian" universe.
The only regret clearly remains the absence of the last beautiful album, “The Great Cold Distance” (2006), unfortunately released after the publication of this compilation, but for those who have had the misfortune of discovering Katatonia only with this last record, or worse still for those who do not know them at all, I absolutely recommend turning to this indispensable collection (and then perhaps buying all the other albums as well), to begin a personal journey towards a music that, for once, is not ashamed to present itself as “art.”
CD 1:
01. Teargas
02. Right Into The Bliss
03. Criminals
04. Help Me Disappear
05. Nerve
06. The Future Of Speech
07. Ghost Of The Sun
08. I Am Nothing
09. Deadhouse
10. Passing Bird
11. Sleeper
12. Sulfur
13. No Devotion
14. Chrome
15. A Premonition
CD 2:
01. Dispossession
02. Cold Ways
03. Nightmares By The Sea
04. O How I Enjoy The Light
05. Evidence
06. March 4
07. I Break
08. For My Demons
09. Omerta
10. Tonight’s Music
11. Stalemate
12. Wait Outside
13. Fractured
14. Sweet Nurse
15. Black Session
DVD (Live in Poland):
01. Ghost Of The Sun
02. Criminals
03. Teargas
04. I Break
05. I Am Nothing
06. Sweet Nurse
07. Tonight's Music
08. For My Demons
09. Chrome
10. Future Of Speech
11. Complicity
12. Burn The Remembrance
13. Evidence
14. Deadhouse
15. Murder
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Teargas (03:22)
Why have you put so many things into my eyes
That I can't see clear
Who's paid you for telling me what I'm worth
And run in fear
It has been for me a strain to see already
What have you done
The rising noise
The sharpened smells
The deadened sight
What is it in my eyes
A piece of broken glass
Is this the time I should be on my knees for you
Is this your way of telling
Another has been found
Now I know,
It's teargas in my eyes
What is it in my eyes
A piece of broken glass
Is this the time I should be on my knees for you
Is this your way of telling
Another has been found
Now I know,
It's teargas in my eyes
02 Right Into the Bliss (05:04)
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
03 Criminals (03:47)
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
04 Help Me Disappear (05:13)
To completely dissolve
What method is used
I cannot sleep
My hands are bruised
There's a hole in the wall
Torn up anew
One dead eye
The colour of you
To vanish for life
And promise to stay
Away from the knowing
Bird in a cage
I'd give so much
For the courage to go
If I ask for your help
Then you will know
So help me disappear
Or to believe in a change
No way out of here
That I can see
Or the nightmares that burn
Into my head at night
Make them disappear
So I can breathe
Looked out the window twice
Just to be sure
That no one was standing
Outside the door
But it's just as calm
As it was before
They're all gone now
Not there anymore
Isolated myself
For the sake of freedom
I clenched my fist
For the sake of kindness
I read a book full of strange words
Loneliness is a disease
So help me disappear
Or to believe in a change
No way out of here
That I can see
Or the nightmares that burn
Into my head at night
Make them disappear
So I can breathe
05 Nerve (04:30)
High white ways
Shattered by rain
Pale dead walls
Nerves pushed in pain
Red light faced
Mirrors of the dead
People in the archways
Eyes full of lead
Always closing down myself
Lower sights and never see
Worlds of noise and worlds of light
Expecting not to be
High white ways
Shattered by rain
Pale dead walls
Nerves pushed in pain
Red light faced
Mirrors of the dead
People in the archways
Eyes full of lead
Always closing down myself
Lower sights and never see
Worlds of noise and worlds of light
Expecting not to be
Not close enough for you
To hear a breath or steal a sigh
But just close enough for me
To take a step and pass you by
Always closing down myself
Lower sights and never see
Worlds of noise and worlds of light
Expecting not to be
Not close enough for you
To hear a breath or steal a sigh
But just close enough for me
To take a step and pass you by
06 The Future of Speech (05:39)
My prospects have become less promising
I find it hard to believe in anything
Seems I lost my world and so I lost my faith
And I can't go back to where I've been
Brand new day
Can't get worse
I have no lies or truth in what I say
(There) is no meaning
The words are numb but I'm so afraid
(There) Is no meaning
This is another chance or so I'm told
By these who can push themselves at any cost
They bless me with their fingers crossed
My youth is stolen, transformed and sold
Myself say
Can't get worse
I have no lies or truth in what I say
(There) is no meaning
The words are numb but I am so afraid
(There) is no meaning
I have no lies or truth in what I say
(There) is no meaning
The words are numb but I am so afraid
(There) is no meaning
A brand new day
It can't get worse
Hear myself say
It can't get worse
A brand new day
It can't get worse
Hear myself say
It can't get worse
I have no lies or truth in what I say
(There) is no meaning
The words are numb but I am so afraid
(There) is no meaning
I have no lies or truth in what I say
(There) is no meaning
The words are numb but I am so afraid
(There) is no meaning
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 I Am Nothing (04:37)
Tonight I'm nothing
It doesn't matter where I've been
Delay of reaction is
The unseen movie of this life
I remember one of my friends
Telling me to go ahead
Water on every side
There's a dead spot in my eye
If I listen close at night
There's something coming my way
Like someone called my name
But I didn't care to look that way
I just fixed my eyes into the crowd
It would have been strange to turn around
If you would tell me that I was someone
Then for a second I would think
Just like I would try to consider
How it would feel to know
I have to get on with this
It's a decision for tonight
Out to look for chances
It is murder of my mind
Once I was someone new
I was chosen for a while
Then with time I am changing
At least that is what they say
If you would tell me that I was someone
Then for a second I would think
Just like I would try to consider
How it would feel to know
What is worth with being here
I pray so often for a change
If you would tell me that I was someone
Then for a second I would think
Just like I would try to consider
How it would feel to know
09 Deadhouse (04:35)
Somehow better without this
Headlights fuck the city to hell
Somewhere I'm bloody broken
No sensations nevermore
What do you say when you speak
I sense no time
Discouraged television sleep
Not awake until it's fucking dark
Somehow I never leave
This deadhouse
Somehow I don't mind being gone
And if you really think you've seen me
I have to prove you
That you're wrong
10 Passing Bird (03:38)
She's got black hair
And she has got a black dress
She's pretending
That her life is a mess
But I cannot rest
With so many worries
I can't lie down
And say I am done
I live because I need more light
I hope I can change today
She would never think of changing
Too much fucking emo, its false (I know)
She's got black hair
And she has got a black dress
She's pretending
That her life is a mess
She stops me in the street
And asks me to follow
I would if I could
If I wouldn't mind breaking her
And I cannot rest
With so many worries
I can't lie down
And say I am done
I live because I need more light
I hope I can change today
She would never think of changing
Too much fucking emo, its false (I know)
11 Sleeper (04:08)
O my your fever's high
I lay my hands upon you
O my haven't you heard
The truth is untrue
Now I'm breathing
I could not breathe until you did
I'm one second after you
Just a second after you
Someone inside your room
Who is it there behind you
What does he want from you
Sleeper, what did you see
I close the window to the street
Parents died and left their child
Unattented for a while
Now I'm breathing
I could not breathe until you did
I'm one second after you
Just a second after you
Someone inside your room
Who is it there behind you
What does he want from you
Sleeper's song will you listen to me sing
The bird is here I can see the edge of his wing
If you die now how can I then live on
Don't give up you must live on
13 No Devotion (04:48)
i've turned down all devotion
i'm so far from being here
can't bring forth more power
than i have already done
tonight i'm trying
and i see all dread in me
but then i lose again
all hope of being someone
this lack of devotion
will put me to an end
so if you want to save me
and stop me when i run
just tell me that i'll have now
a day less to live when i'm done
14 Chrome (05:14)
The walls are painted
Different every second
My eyes are of chrome
It is television
Can't let go of my leg
It's itching so and bleeding
Layer by layer
I'm peeling away
Burn down my house
And make something happen
Stab me in the heart
And make something stop
'Cause I am so distracted
I am slightly shocked
By how things can keep going
Like a dead man's clock
A mirror is hanging
Kinda loose on my wall
I'm passing it sideways
I'm saying hello
My brother is halfways
Through a book I've left him
Called me today
To see what I'd say
Burn down my house
And make something happen
Stab me in the heart
And make something stop
'Cause I am so distracted
I am slightly shocked
By how things can keep going
Like a dead man's clock
15 A Premonition (03:33)
Stand aside now no one will survice can't tell you how I know
In some time I will change my name and lay low
In the light you can see me walk down by the way
The one who did this to us well he got away
Keep it quiet here I will not tolerate your noise
This is where I listen for
Keep it quiet here I will not tolerate your noise
This is where I listen for the forgiving voice
Keep it quiet here I will not tolerate your noise
This is where I listen for the forgiving voice
It haunts my dreams
It haunts my dreams
It haunts my dreams
It haunts my dreams
Keep it quiet here I will not tolerate your noise
This is where I listen for the forgiving voice
It haunts my dreams
It haunts my dreams
Haunts my dreams
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