Search - Katatonia :: Brave Yester Days

A peek into Katatonia's closet

J. Holmes | yokohama, japan | 10/27/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Katatonia meld their own atmospheric style of moody heavy metal with morose funeral doom and the results are outstanding. these 2cd set compiles their early mini albums into one handy package for those who missed it the first time around... people like me. so count yourself lucky to get your hands on Brave Yester Days.

musically, this band seems to share alot in common with those seminal UK alternative rock bands like Joy Division or The Cure. very slow passages built up with emotional tension and bleak atmosphere, rather than anger or aggression. but Katatonia approach it from a black metal standpoint. on later albums, this band would transform into a much more mainstream sound, and to brilliant effect, i might add. but it's nice to peek into Katatonia's dusty cobweb encrusted closet and discover these gloomy bleak gems."

Best (Murder) Days

A. Coulson | Columbia SC USA | 05/29/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For fans of early Katatonia (before they watered down their sound following the great 'discouraged ones' album), this is a nice collection of harder-to-find tracks. Details on the tracklist are below:



(from The Encyclopedia Metallium's online entry):



This is a best of album featuring their doom/death metal material (the early era.)



Tracks 1-5 from "Jhva Elohim Meth"

6-7 from "Dance of December Souls"

8-9 from "War Compilation Volume One"

10-13 from "For Funerals To Come"

Disc 2

1-2 from "Brave Murder Day"

3-6 from "Sounds of Decay"

(track 6 - "Untrue" is previously unreleased)

7-10 from "Saw You Drown"



First edition came in a limited DIGIPAK format.



The song "Black Erotica" is an earlier version of the song "12" from the Brave

Murder Day album."

A great chronological journey filled with rare and unrelease

Ben Stubbs | Australia | 11/23/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Brave Yester Days" is the first of two Katatonia compilations (the other being "The Black Sessions") to be released in consecutive years. But the two releases do not cover the same ground at all. "Brave Yester Days" covers the earlier period of the band between 1992 and 1998, whereas "The Black Sessions" covers everything from 1998 through to 2003. Both compilations are spread across two compact discs and include rare and unreleased material making them worthy of attention for any fan of this melancholic Swedish band.



This first compilation is of value for fans of the band during their death / doom period. It includes some of the classic tracks off "Dance of December Souls" and "Brave Murder Day". Since those tracks are readily available and most fans will already have them, the interest really lies in the rare and unreleased material of which there is plenty. Firstly, there are 4 EPs included in their entirety, all of which are extremely difficult to get your hands on these days due to their limited release. The EPs are "Jhva Elohim Meth" from 1992, "For Funerals to Come" from 1995, "Sounds of Decay" from 1997 and "Saw You Drown" from 1998. All of these EPs are well worth listening to for various reasons. "For Funerals to Come" and "Sounds of Decay" are of particular interest as all the tracks on each were not released on full length albums, whereas "Saw You Drown" is worthwhile due to the original album being limited to only 1500 copies (it sells for hundreds of dollars on Ebay!). On top of all the above you get 2 tracks that were on the War Compilation in the very early 90s as well as a previously unreleased track called "Untrue" that was originally intended for the "Sounds of Decay" EP. This track is fantastic and I'm not sure why it was left off in the first place.



Is "Brave Yester Days" worth your hard earned cash? Well, it depends on whether you own any or all of the above EPs. If you don't own them and you like the bands earlier, heavier sound, then this is fairly essential. But even if you do, there's over 2 hours of great Katatonia music on here for the price of a single album and it flows fairly well due to the tracks being set in chronological order. It's a great snapshot of a band evolving from a raw, aggressive, yet melodic band into the suicide rock that they play today."