Metal Reviews

call it dark metal or gothic or anything you wish... this remains a damn good album !

what do you guys think ?

is it selling out or just a damn good evolution ??? :roll:

Hit. Awesome disc.

Last Fair Deal Gone Down is still my favorite though. That album is without a doubt in my all-time top ten albums of any genre.

HIT...like a muthafucka!!

I reserve judgement. Wasn't this one full of swearing, or am I thinking of something else?

Is this the band that keeps getting references to Opeth? Apparently it sounds similar, but the music is still original. If this is the case then LEMME at it!!!!!!!!!

Definite hit. When I heard the first single "Ghost of the Sun" I was like "wtf? they gone hardcore?" but then it grew on me and became a favourite. So did the whole album.

Katatonia > Opeth

Damn good evolution indeed. Maybe even the best I've ever seen. Viva Emptiness is a music masterpiece.
The only downside of VE is that now I hardly expect them to match or surpasse this album. I'm still immensely curious about their next one though.

Btw, I don't think Katatonia will ever sell out, they may have the occasional less than inspired album, but not sellouts.

The heaviness of this album sure did shock me. I didn't like it at first because, as many of you probably didn't, I didn't expect it. I expected them to go in the natural progression of Last Fair Deal Gone Down. The equivalent would be Amorphis' next album to be like Elegy!

Hit... I was shocked too... at first but when u get used to it, it just gets better and better

I have to say a miss....

Some of the tracks were good, but most i just couldnt get into. They are all over the place, song structure was weird....ahh, i guess their sound isnt what i am into. I heard good reviews, thus the reason i checked them out.
Not putting the album down, just that its not for me.

AMAZING ALBUM! One of my top 10 all time favorite albums.

Hmm i needed quite a lot to digest this album too... but the effort made the experience all the sweeter

Viva Emptiness is an awesome album. I didn't like it at first, and then didn't listen for a while, and when I tried it again, I loved it.

This is a great album! A definite HIT

Perhaps the best melancholic metal album I've ever heard. Perfect album, but not for all occasions.

Some news from their site:

In other news, the final artwork, confirmed album/ep titles, tracklisting, release dates and audio teasers will be presented right here in just a couple of weeks, so start counting the days and stay tuned.

An album and an EP? Hot diggity!

Miss! I love Katatonia but they struck out with this one. I didn't hear Blakkheim's original riffing at all on the album. What I did hear was some lame, generic, half-assed "heavy" riffs that all of the modern rock bands are using these days. I enjoyed about half of it, but the other half was pedestrian to say the least. Stop using profanity at random places just to sound "edgy" for the kids. Most of the lyrics were dull, and worse of all, sounded forced and contrived, something I thought I would never hear from Jonas. The album neede more "Evidence" type stuff and less "Ghost of the Sun" cheese.

Thanks for saying that. I totally agree.

HIT it, but not as good as Dance of December Souls - I just love that album for some odd reason....

I really love it, needed more of the background death vocals that were in the first song... for some reason that scream always gives me chills down my spine