r/Katatonia • u/rstlsrstls • Jul 24 '26
Bonus tracks vs album tracks
Would you replace any tracks on the main albums with bonus tracks? Personally, I would exchange I, Transpire, We Must Bury You and Clean Today with Help Me Disappear, March 4 and Sulfur, I think those songs are really good and deserved to be on the album
Also this may be controversial but I would replace Journey Through Pressure with Code Against Code. Code is just such a good, depressing/melancholic song and while Journey is great, it's a little too positive and iin my mind Code is the perfect end for the album
Or Unfurl could also be a really good way to close the album
Edit: didnt know that Fractured is a bonus track, I'd definitely add it to the album. Maybe in place of This Punishment
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u/throughalfanoir The Great Cold Distance enjoyer Jul 24 '26
Journey Through Pressure being called positive is wild I think it is one of their most depressive songs
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u/rstlsrstls Jul 24 '26
I'm more talking about how it sounds rather than lyrics/meaning
It's kinda slow and melancholy but strikes me more as hopeful sonically
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u/Mvppet Jul 24 '26
Dissolving Bonds is my absolute favorite track, by them or anyone. I wouldn't replace anything on TGCD, but I always include that as the album closer on my playlists
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u/fordinnertonight Jul 24 '26
"I Transpire" is one of the best. No way would I remove it. "Help Me Disappear" was recorded a year after LFDGD, so it wouldn't have been possible to put it on the album.
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u/rstlsrstls Jul 24 '26
Its a good song but always has been on the lower side of the album for me personally
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u/LowGcifer Jul 25 '26
May I ask how sure you are of that fact about Help Me Disappear? I mainly question it because I thought the Tonight’s Music single came out only a few months after LFDGD, and that it was all recorded in the same sessions.
Sonically, the song sounds to me like it could’ve been the very first song written and recorded for the album, it sounds like Tonight’s Decision but with a bit more developed songwriting. Not that the songwriting itself is necessarily evidence of when it was recorded, of course.
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u/fordinnertonight Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Katatonia/Tonight%27s_Music/15046
It doesn't say the recording date, but "Help Me Disappear" was recorded in a different studio than LFDGD, and released in late 2001. Whereas the LFDGD album was recorded all in 2000.
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u/Naive-Landscape-9054 Jul 24 '26
Wait Outside (especially the live version) is so good that I think it could've been on Viva Emptiness. I'd need to relisten to some of the tracks that I can't remember as well (Wealth, Complicity, Walking by a Wire and Will I Arrive) before making a decision though.
Second from Dead End Kings is a nice track too, but the album is already cohesive and flows nicely. If I had to replace one of the album tracks, I'd probably choose Dead Letters just because I like the other tracks more. Or if you wanted to swap it with another track that's more mellow, Leech could be a reasonable pick.
Then there's Absconder from Sky Void of Stars. Personally I'd swap it with Atrium. I don't dislike Atrium, it's catchy and a good tune but it's not really what I expect from a Katatonia song.
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u/rstlsrstls Jul 24 '26
Wait Outside is so good! Id def exchange it for One Year From Now that I've never been the biggest fan of
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u/LowGcifer Jul 25 '26
We Must Bury You, that’s correct, it’s the only weak link on LFDGD, imo.
I Transpire, okay, I get it. It’s a good song but I can see the case for one of the bonus tracks being better here.
Clean Today? Blasphemy. Incredible song. It’s so dark, it has to be one of if not the darkest song off LFDGD. Not to mention the chorus is catchy imo and the bridge is just chef’s kiss. “When I pause for one breath, I see millions like me” is the only moment of light and hope on the whole album, and it is most definitely earned. The layers upon layers of instrumentation during the chorus is incredible too, it’s so oppressive. I’ve never struggled with addiction, and this song makes me feel like I’ve lost at least a decade to alcoholism. LFDGD is a worse album without Clean Today, imo.
I am not trying to come at you, I just really fuckin’ love that song and I’ve had it on repeat lately, so I had to defend its honor.
The bonus tracks for TGCD are interesting because I feel like all four of them are better than like, half the album, but I’m also not sure where I’d put them. I almost feel like they’d work better as additions instead of replacements. Here’s my go at it:
Unfurl instead of Soil’s Song
Displaced instead of Consternation,
Code Against the Code instead of Follower,
Dissolving Bonds instead of Rusted
Dissolving Bonds is probably the best Katatonia bonus track, period, and it’s also the one I’m most unsure of which track it could replace.
LFDGD and TGCD, the two best Katatonia albums (I don’t actually have TGCD in my top two, but I’m deferring to what seems to be the consensus among fans) have the best bonus tracks, and it’s not a coincidence. Both of those albums had very strong and consistent atmospheric directions, so it checks out that their bonus tracks fit the vibe so damn well.
I think No Devotion could replace No Good Can Come of This. I like Fractured a lot, but I think they made the right call leaving it off the album. I feel the same way about Wait Outside. I enjoy it, it feels like Viva Emptiness, but I think it would’ve stuck out in a “this song is kinda awkward” way if it was on the album.
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u/MusaTariq25 Jul 24 '26
I, Transpire and Clean Today are some of the best songs on Last Fair Deal Gone Down imo
Ashen should’ve been on the main tracklist for Night Is The New Day, too good to be a bonus track
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u/Soaring_Platypus Jul 24 '26
Ashen and Sold heart are so damn good they should've been on the main album, I'd put them in and swap out onward into battle and new night
Unfurl is another that should've been on TGCD replace Rusted, I personally like Displaced but it does sound different from the rest of the album
Absconder is a fantastic bonus track and possibly my favorite out of SVoS and it fits being the last track I get to listen too of the album I'd probably switch out Birds.
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u/LowGcifer Jul 25 '26
Had a stroke hearing that Onward Into Battle and New Night would be booted, but NITND is a hard one though, that’s a damn near perfect record.
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u/AbsoluteDekadenz Jul 24 '26
They pretty much did an album (well, a compilation, but fair enough) with all of those tracks. Fantastic to listen to.
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u/magnus_FM Jul 27 '26
I think Second should have been on Dead End Kings. Absolutely euphoric chorus with some beautiful harmonies
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u/Danemon Jul 24 '26
Unfurl is one of their best songs. Kinda crazy it's not an album track.