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Events, Reviews

Katatonia @ Gramercy Theatre (9/10/2010)

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Logo - Katatonia

Artist: Katatonia
Venue: Gramercy Theatre (New York, NY)
Opener: Swallow The Sun, Orphaned Land, Gwynbleidd
Date: 9/10/2010
Label: Peaceville Records

I started my September concert adventuring with the crushing Melodic Death Metal of Order Of Ennead who played over at Santo’s Party House last week and it was good warm up to the festivities happening over at the Gramercy Theatre this evening. Tonight was the Atmospheric Melodic Doom of Katatonia from Sweden who would be joined by Swallow The Sun care of Finland and this alone would make for an amazing show without any additions. We would of course be getting a lot more for it would be complimented by Orphaned Land and local talent Gwynbleidd. I had to say that I was really looking forward to this show because it had been a long time since half of the players had been enjoyed in concert while the other half were only recently seen by this music scribe and left me totally impressed. The show would be held at the Gramercy Theatre and be sold out for many days by the time it actually would be taking place. I made sure I was inside nice and early because I didn’t want to miss a second of what was going to happen. Here is how it went down.
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Music, Reviews

“The Wacken Carnage” by Bloodbath

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Artist: Bloodbath
Title: “The Wacken Carnage”
Label: Peaceville UK
Release Date: 6/2/2008
Genre: Death Metal
Rating: 4/5

It’s not too often that you find the term “super group” applied to the likes of a Death Metal band, but when it comes to this particular lineup for the band Bloodbath is most certainly makes sense. The Swedish Death Metal group delivers the no-holds barred approach to the genre and this rare concert appearance from 2005 is not something we can easily expect to see again based on the daytime gigs of its roster. The supposed “one time only gig” finds Michael Akerfeldt and Martin Axenrot (members of Opeth) handling the vocal and drumming duties, while Anders Nystrom and Jonas Renske (guitar and bass respectively) hail from the Doom Metal band Katatonia. Rounding out the project is Dan Swano (Nightingale/Edge Of Sanity) who not only provides crushing guitar riffs but also additional and very necessary growling. According to research this was the band first ever live performance and supposed to be the only one as well for the band was formed as a studio only side project based on the very busy schedules that its members are involved in on a daily basis and while the future might find this to be a different case altogether I am glad that the cameras were on hand to capture this one. The film finds the guys dressed in bloody tatters as the pummel the audience with a very traditional brand of Swedish Death Metal. The sound while different from the USA brand of the stuff is no less heavier or intense and what made this most interesting for me was that it offered the viewer the chance to see these musicians performing outside of the roles that we know them most from. Seeing Akerfeldt with no guitar for example is one thing, and to find him doing nothing but the gut-wrenching soul tortured growls as opposed to any level of melodic singing is the other. It’s true that while Opeth offers many levels of heaviness across the board there is much more brutal intensity being brought to the table during “Cancer Of The Soul” and “Eaten”. Clearly the bands subject matter is very along the lines of their equally brutal name.
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Music, Reviews

“Live Consternation” by Katatonia

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Artist: Katatonia
Title: “Live Consternation”
Label: Peaceville Records
Release Date: 6/5/2007
Genre: Dark Metal
Rating: 4/5

I had only been on board as a listener since their last studio effort “The Great Cold Distance” when it came to the band Katatonia but after that album convinced me of the special nature of the group I did what I could to convince those around me to buy this album and catch them in concert should they ever return. It was only a few months prior to their co-headlining tour with Portugal’s Moonspell that the album had snared me and since I caught that show in 2006 I now was able to better understand what many fans of the bands Dark Metal style had known for a long time. The CD/DVD combination release of “Live Consternation” captures Katatonia in the element that is best suited for them and that is the concert stage in front of their loyal fans. The performance on “Liver Consternation” comes to us from the Summerbreeze Festival, Germany – August 17th 2006 and finds the band celebrating a very prosperous year for their music. The tour was in support of “The Great Cold Distance” but unlike most bands they would not overload the time with the new material and instead deliver a healthy set of their own classic standards from a across span of releases. This was a wise move as this particular tour for the band found them reaching new territories for their music that they had never been able to adventure to before.
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Events, Reviews

Katatonia @ B.B. King Blues Club (9/6/2007)

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Katatonia are an incredible Dark Metal band and their dramatic style of music would be the entertainment at B.B. King’s this evening. The tour also featured Scar Symmetry, Insomnium and Swallow The Sun so there was a very interesting mix of styles going on. We were there for everyone on the bill and if you want to see more just keep scrolling past the logo below. We reviewed and photographed everyone for all to enjoy.

Logo - Katatonia

Artist: Katatonia
Venue: B.B. King Blues Club (New York, NY)
Opener: Scar Symmetry, Swallow The Sun, Insomnium
Date: 9/6/2007
Label: Peaceville Records

It was great to find Katatonia performing a headlining set of music for the Metal heads of New York City when they came around for the second time with a tour of their own. When we first caught them they had been the direct support for Portugal’s Moonspell and while this was a terrific show on its own there was quite a different dynamic happening between the Doom-laden Atmospherics that they possessed and the crushing Gothic Metal of the headliner. The show very clearly proved to the audience that Katatonia was a headlining band without question and immediately after they finished there was requests of them to return as soon as possible. The touring bill would find three opening slots which allowed Swallow The Sun, Insomnium and Scar Symmetry to join in and bring their own brands of Metal to hopefully quite a few new Metal hungry fans. Those who have been following the newer arrivals to the Metal scene would agree that this particular show would lean a little much to the Doom side and have a lot of similarity in the overall sound but with each band being interesting in their own right I don’t think anyone in the club would mind. As expected, B.B. King Blues Club would be the scene of this “Doomfest” and with the crowd building rather early tonight it seemed that the trudging and solemn vibe of this kind of Metal was set to begin. Here is what the night held for those who made it down.
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Events, Reviews

Moonspell @ B.B. King Blues Club (10/22/2006)

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Artist: Moonspell
Venue: B.B. King Blues Club (New York, NY)
Opener: Katatonia, Daylight Dies
Date: 10/22/2006
Label: SPV Records

The flyers and announcements listed this event as “The Nocturnal Mourning Tour”, and I could think of no better title for a tour that brought Gothic Metal masters Moonspell to the stage. Daylight Dies and Katatonia, the latter a band who had never made it over to the states before, would join the band. The event would take place at B.B. King Blues Club and according to comments by the band, they were happy to be at a venue that was run with a level of professionalism they had not seen since the beginning of the tour. Here is how some of the night went down along with details on the opening bands sets.

Daylight Dies: I caught this Candlelight Records act as the opener for Emperor when they performed at this very same spot and I have to admit that I feel this is a band that will not be relegated to the third slot on a bill for very much longer. The Emperor shows were jam-packed but there were only a couple of them, which made this a better night for the band as a whole since this would find them on a full US tour. Their set would be shorter than people who were getting into them would care to have happen, but a good amount of the material would come from their release “Dismantling Devotion”, its an album that fans of the Gothic meets Stoner Doom will definitely appreciate. I look forward to seeing them once again and can only say that they will impress many more fans in the future. Of this, I am very confident. The audience also found the members of this group wandering about the club to meet with them and to shake hands, always a nice idea at this stuff.
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