Metal Reviews

Neither of which explicitly apply to Katatonia. Especially the vocals.

And I never said they were "heavy as fuck". I never said they were Metal either, and their past few albums are not. They're Rock.

The vocals sound pretty whiny to me, and there certainly are a ton of power chords. It doesn't sound original to me either: sounds like poppy/simple Tool thrown together with Staind. Of course this argument is going nowhere and comes down to a matter of preference. If you loved this album, by all means enjoy the heck out of it.

They're just as good imo. The old ones were just 1000000000 times more metal.



+1


Worst of 2006? Hard to say... I for one totally dislike the new Dream Evil.

Fair enough if you don't like The Great Cold Distance, but as for the worst album of 2006!? The concept of someone saying that when there's some far more *cough* deserving candidates about I find truly shocking.

Hmmm, Katatonia or Countime? Nah Katatonia was definately worse.

Biggest disappointment is one thing, but flat out worst...? Come on.

I'm surprised nobody brought forth the "ZOMG DARKHTRONE SOLD OUT!!!!11" diarrhoea. Pleasantly surprised, in fact.

I know, I'm sure there are thousands more deserving candidates but I recall when this Katatonia album was reviewed and almost everyone on the site praised it to hell and back, so I made a big stink about it on the review thread. This album immeadiately came to my mind because I'm a spiteful prick. Anyhow, I should stop posting in this thread, and I will.

It's like I would say A Twist In The Myth or Monday Morning Apocalypse is the worst albums of the year, just because they suck compared to past albums

As far as remotely close to metal goes, Deathstar's Termination Bliss was quite bad. Not a surprise though I guess.

What is so bad about Blind Guardian's album?! Not trying to change your opinion, but I completely disagree with you.

Simple question, over complicated answer then!

Tool - 10,000 days should have been one of the best albums, but was by far the biggest disappointment for me, which kinda equals the worst album. Sure, there are some decent tunes on there and it's not all bad but if an album I'm looking forward to lets me down big style (WHite Pony, it automatically becomes a poor album in my eyes.

But bad album wise, as in really puke inducing, steaming pile of horse crap, what the hell were they thinking? Skid Row's latest effort is piss poor.

It's not that bad, that's actually the point of my post. I kinda like it, but compared to brilliant albums like Nightfall In Middle Earth and Imaginations From The Other Side it's not that good. What I meant was that just because The Great Cold Distance isn't as good as earlier Katatonia releases, people are acting like it's the worst album of the year, which it certainly isn't. Same thing for me with A Twist In The Myth, it's nothing special compared to earlier albums, but it certainly isn't even close to being the worst album of the year.

To actually answer your question I think it's not that special because I just don't think there's many standout songs, I even dislike some of them. Simple as that.

Out of the 40+ albums i went through for 2006, the one which still sits at the bottom of the list is...

Rhapsody Of Fire - Triumph Or Agony

10,000 Days is Tool's best album yet.

FACT.

Joking right? The title track of Lateralus alone is better than the whole of 10,000 days.

I find 10,000 Days a lot easier to get all the way through than Lateralus because of how the songs are layed out. With Lateralus, once the title track finishes, I generally don't feel like sitting through Reflection, Disposition and Triad (even though those are good songs). I just love how 10,000 Days jumps all over the dynamics of how Tool can write songs, the contrast that comes from the title track going right into The Pot, or Rosetta Stoned and Intension really makes the album gripping all the way through. Lateralus and Aenima both start with more standard songs and then finish with weirder stuff, and I don't really think that's as effective.

I guess it comes down to a similar thing as Converge's No Heroes vs Jane Doe where one has better songs but the other works better as a full album :\

I'm with Ogami on this one. I don't think 10,000 Days is Tool's worst,(that goes to Undertow) but Lateralus is clearly Tool's zenith in my view. I feel it has both the most great Tool tracks of any album (The Grudge, The Patient, Schism, Triad) and the single greatest thing they ever wrote: Lateralus's title track(HM 10,000 days title track and 46+2).

I see that you essentially agree with this point about Lateralus having better songs, but I don't agree with your view about 10,000 days being constructed better. I find the contrast between various tracks simply too jaring, and much of the 2nd half of the album is a stuggle for me to get through.

I think all Tool tracks are great ;]

I think to reiteraterate what I was trying to say about 10,000 days is that I admit there are a few good tunes on there and it isn't the worst album I've ever heard, but I was really disappointed with it. I personally find it hard to enjoy as, in my opinion, it starts off with Schism part II (where's the originality in that?), and almost comes to a halt with the Wings for Marie/'yawn' thing which, admitted is a brave move, but I reckon is a sham and any momentum gained is lost. 'The Pot' is annoying and although the latter half of the album is classic Tool, it's hardly more than Lateratus Pt2.

I may be exaggerating a bit with some of my views above, but it's purposely done to make my point. I actually love the band, they're one of my all time favourites, but don't have as much faith in Tool's future work (if ever they do anything more after this), which is a shame.

Oh, and I disagree with Undertow being the worst Tool album because as a full length debut, it's a fine start for any band. Sure it emerged through the embers of grunge era, hence a bit of downtuning in part and the songs do have a more 'poptastic' feel to them, but 'Sober' is arguably the best Tool song ever and 'Flood', 'Prison Sex' and 'Swamp Song' stand taller than anything on 10,000 days, plus there's some Henry Rollins in there too!

Sure, the last ten minutes of the album is bloody annoying, but this is Tool, remember, and they do like to add a bit of the strange stuff somewhere on their discs.

By the way, good band! I've only just got into these guys in recent months, but I love the start to No Heroes - the thrashy, manic 60 second each first 6 songs. First time I heard it I was like, 'Crikey, this is gonna be the shortest 'album' ever!'

Quality!

You're smart.

You are much too kind.