Brave Murder Day

Amazing album! Also, check out October Tide's Rain Without End.

My favorite Katatonia and not because of the singer we all know and love. Just a consistently good piece of Doom Metal and by far the highlight of Katatonia's career. Too bad they went in such a different direction later.

One of the best metal albums I have ever herd, the guitars on this are so mournfuly beautiful(hails to "Blackhiem") especialy on the song "Endtime" the production is clear and everything here is just so freaking errie. Its a damn shame that they lost their harshness and opted for a more subtle approach like their newer albums suggest, oh well can still enjoy the older material.

First off, this album is actually BMD plus the sounds of decay EP....the albums with major contributions from Mikael Akerfeldt from, well if you don't know by now shame shame, but the phenomenal lead singer/guitarist from Opeth. So that should give you an idea of what to expect. This was when Jonas lost his voice and was forced out of the Black Metal style....hence the need for Akerfeldt. Jonas still contributes his sung vocals (most notedly on "day"). They are before he found his vocal confidence and aren't quite as polished as on LFDGD or The Great Cold Distance, but are a very good start, to say the least. And Akerfeldt's vox....wow! Some argue they are his best (black vox, he doesn't really sing here) yet. That is quite a statement considering it competes with still life, morningrise, MAYH, deliverance, and the like. I won't go that far, but he is in top form. As for the theme of the music, it sort of revolves around a a single, slow, drone of a guitar riff that they approach in different ways on different tracks. This album is closer to an Opeth album than a Katatonia album since Mikael also contributes to the guitar, but much of it is trademark Nystrom. If you are familiar with the two, you should be able to differentiate which parts each plays. The other thing that separates it from other Katatonia albums is the format, whereas their latter work is verse/chorus/verse song based, Brave Murder Day is a theme album. Again, the last 3 tracks are from the Sounds of Decay EP. If you like Opeth, get this fur sure. If you want to taste early Katatonia, get this for sure. If you haven't ever heard of either....get this for sure. I recommend the whole album since there really isn't a weak track here, but if you just want a song or two, try "Murder" (the title doesn't include "day", that is the next track itunes) or "Rainroom" (which I like better) or any of the 3 excellent bonus tracks to catch Akerfeldt's vocals. To hear Jonas, get "Day" or "endtime", though the latter is sort of an epilogue to the album. Still a great track though. This is one of my favorite albums. The other Katatonia outings I'd suggest are Last Fair Deal Gone Down or The Great Cold Distance. They're all good, but those are the best. If you haven't gotten into Opeth yet, get all of their stuff. Members of the 2 bands have this fun side band called Bloodbath that is sort of a way for these guys in seasoned, refined bands to get out their raw Black Metal urges. Not all of them are still in Bloodbath, but I think Akerfeldt, Renkse, Nystrom, and Dan Swano at one time took part. Enjoy!