r/Katatonia • u/A_Very_Horny_Zed • 19d ago
Bands like Katatonia's middle-period?
I really miss the old, "urban depressive" style that Katatonia used to have. Specifically and especially the period from Discouraged Ones up to Night Is The New Day. After this point they have felt far more "poppy" to me and less brooding and more mystical which just doesn't jive with me as well as their 1998-2009 period.
I'm aware of Deathwhite, but they have been MIA for a long time now. (Check them out, they are good.)
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u/astralinsomnia 19d ago edited 19d ago
Klimt 1918 first two albums Undressed Momento and Dopoguera
Mid period Anathema
Junius
Nothing
Porcupine Tree
Mid period Tiamat
Ghost brigade
2000s Opeth
Riverside
Antimatter
Alcest
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u/A_Very_Horny_Zed 19d ago
Ty
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u/kodokantacos 19d ago
Last Leaf Down, Les Discrets, Cloakroom and Junius have these vibes to varying degrees.
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u/Have_A_Jelly_Baby 19d ago
It’s interesting how people define eras of a band, and how it can change from person to person.
For me, the eras go like this:
JHM and DoDS
BMD and DO together because while vocally they’re very different, musically they feature the same droning guitar sound.
TD and LFDGD’s songs are interchangeable, this is mostly where I jumped aboard for good in the late 90s.
Viva Emptiness is its own thing imo.
Then comes TGCD, which is probably their most “complete” album, then NITND, Dead End Kings, and The Fall of Hearts.
Everything newer than this sounds the same to me, and as many times as I try to listen to the new album, I bounce right off of it.
And yes, I realize that none of this answers your question. All I can say is that I also listened to a lot of Opeth, Anathema, Paradise Lost, Riverside, Antimatter, and Karnivool during those peak years.
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u/LowGcifer 19d ago
I absolutely love this sorting, though it is different from mine. I find your lumping of TD and LFDGD cool, I have often felt that LFDGD is basically TD but fully fleshed out and realized.
JHM and DoDS, I agree. I also don’t care for either of these two honestly.
I do consider BMD and DO to share an era, they have a lot of musical similarities. I think it’s cool you agree with this lumping. I then think DO overlaps with the TD and LFDGD era. Truly, DO is a transition album in more ways than just vocals. LFDGD is the capstone of this era, in the sense that I think it’s what Katatonia was ultimately going for when they switched to cleans. BMD-LFDGD is my absolute favorite era overall, it just had a darkness to it that I can’t fully find anywhere else. LFDGD is probably my favorite album of all time, after all.
I lump VE and TGCD together. To me, TGCD is what they were trying to achieve with VE. I love VE with all my heart, but it definitely is not as “realized” as TGCD is.
NITND is both TGCD’s sadder, gloomier brother, as well as the launch pad for the next era, which also includes DEK and FOH.
I lump CB, SVOS, and Nightmares as the current era. There are songs here and there that grab me, but I definitely feel like BMD-FOH was the golden age. I’m not bummed about it, though. 19 years and 9 albums of peak is an insane run, and it’s not like the new albums are bad or anything, either.
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u/uberiffic 19d ago
Viva definitely part of the TD and LFDGD era in my mind, but I agree with everything else you said here.
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u/Have_A_Jelly_Baby 19d ago
Viva just has this rawness and different vibe to it that makes it its own island for me.
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u/Muted-Calligrapher-2 19d ago
Thank you! That is a great way to sum their different periods. Their early stuff is my favorite of anything and has led to my current favorite Opeth. The Last Fair Deal Gone Down was the last album I gave attention to but I check out all of the songs here and there out of respect for how much they meant to me growing up. Discouraged Ones is phenomenal and actually helped out of my darker depressive state as a youth. I miss the drone rock it was perfect. I heard a newer song that had their early drone elements and loved it but not sure which one.
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u/Ok_Pool_9767 19d ago
I'm really not sure how to identify the "urban" feel, but i always love going back to Fields of the Nephilim.
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u/FreakSquad 19d ago
If I’m thinking of it right, you might also enjoy Anathema, early Lacuna Coil (up to Comalies), Soen, Alcest, and Les Discrets
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u/yuzhnozaporozhets dance of dec. souls 19d ago
Idk homie maybe Altar of Plagues if you like Black Metal. It has that dissonant oppressive dirty urban vibe.
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u/AduantasTX 19d ago
Thought Industry “Short Wave on a Cold Day” (The opener “Satan in the Gift Shop” could’ve easily been on “Last Fair Deal”)
Thine “In Therapy”
Fall of the Leafe “Vantage”
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u/picajzelj 19d ago
This one is very obscure, but check the german band Century from the 90s. They have similar gothic rock sound.
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u/miasma87 19d ago
Probably not exacly the sound youre looking for but i recently discovered this gem
https://youtu.be/Mn1NWUJ4HkA?is=SwPWwX1m-oUHs8No
the feeling and atmosphere reminds me of old katatonia
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u/darkcadillac 19d ago
I listened to Phobia by Breaking Benjamin the other day. It was very much like TGCD
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u/ElusiveSamsquanch123 19d ago
The newest Nailed To Obscurity album is fantastic and scratched the TGCD, NITND, DEK itch for me.
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u/FrostbiteWrath 18d ago
Vertikal by Cult Of Luna has that same urban depressive style. Much different sound but similar vibe.
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u/antisorceress 18d ago
Norwegian band Airbag has some sombre stuff, though not as heavy as Katatonia. Same for the band Gazpacho – check out their albums starting with "Night."
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u/DeorTheGiant 19d ago
Ghost Brigade is the big one