Katatonia 'Discouraged Ones' Avantgarde Adequately capturing the profound impact that 'Discouraged Ones' made on me is flawed with pitfalls. So twinned was this record to my own personal circumstances that it became almost the soundtrack to everything that happened through a certain period of time, and as a result just listening to the record now unearths a batch of memories laden with such intensely personal bite that it almost feels like an unwelcome counseling session. Under no circumstances was this a cathartic experience, instead it seemed to me to just about sum up the sickness of the situation without offering a way out. This is what being asking to identify a corpse as your relative must be like, the apprehension, the moment of awful truth and the outpouring of realisation that no, this isn't a dream, this is actually how it is. The signs had been there of course on the maudlin 'Brave Murder Day', enriched by Paradise Lost riffs dumbed even further down and enhanced by the galactic roar of Mr. Opeth Akerfeldt. In particular the sparse track 'Day' from that album hinted at the complete progression to come. At that point though, Katatonia were themselves coming to terms with the possibilities of a sound away from the clichéd and well-worn. That was just toe-in-the-water time, whereas 'Discouraged Ones' was a full-on backlip from the top board. Nothing prepared you for the chill that crept indelicately down your spine when Jonas Renske pitifully lamented the state of mindmess he found himself in, scarcely confident, like an nervous Robert Smith impersonator loosing his karaoke virginity. Opening with the pacey (for Katatonia) 'I Break' the scene was set for serious self examination. You either empathised or dismissed it as self obsession, but in truth if you had a soulful bone in your body, there's no way the staggering 'hit the nail on the head' heartbreak of 'Deadhouse' didn't get the throat all lumped and taut. At that point I had no idea a record could genuinely talk to you in this way, and copious amounts of alcohol (with extras on the side) consumed whilst pouring over repeated listenings of 'Cold Ways' and the complete abandon of 'Saw You Drown' did nothing to make this any easier. This was a record that told you things you really didn't want to hear, but somehow made you confront the demons by using each track as crutch with which to keep yourself upright in uncertain times. Simplicity is the key to 'Discouraged Ones'. A simple, understated production, basic rock beats underpinning the icy sparsity, and frostily shrouded guitars played in craftily understated fashion by Anders Nystrom, that described world-weariness every bit as eloquently as the timid vocals. And the fact that the clean vocals were so obviously still being tested, and were therefore subject to plenty of uncertainty from the singer himself, only added to the fragility of the record as the whole. It must be remembered that the band was risking everything on a virtually wholesale change in direction, no longer the cod Black Metal outfit of old but now a goth rock act resting all their hopes on honest self-abasement and a firm grasp of melancholic dynamics. 'Nerve' was the first track I heard that showcasing the 'new' Katatonia, as the band submitted it to the Wicked World compilation 'Statements of Intent.' Atmospherically enthralling, the track became a centrepiece of invention for the album, exemplifying best the heavy-hearted drudgery of a necessary confession. It sounded so drastically different from anything else, not only on that comp, but anything else within the Metal scene as well. Even to this day, when Katatonia have refined their trademarks through the compelling but not-quite-as revelatory 'Last Fair Deal Gone Down' and 'Tonights Decision' albums, you'd be hard pushed to find a Katatonia copyist that comes even remotely close to matching the spiritual sagging that pervades 'Discouraged Ones'. Even the band, as originators themselves, have tended to simply replicate the material from this album on later more commercially successful outings, just fine-tuning and honing the themes from 'Discouraged...' into a more contrived, sometimes predictable, fanbase-pleasing set of songs. At its cold heart, naivety and an utterly non-self conscious approach makes 'Discouraged Ones' the psychological and emotional masterpiece it is. Uncertainty and edginess echo from every single song, confidence is always counterbalanced with apparent doubts, and despite the fact that its subject matter speaks of complete openness and 'cards on the table' honesty, you still feel that there is something being held back. This ain't bleeding hearts looking for your pity, this is cruel desperation looking for a safe place to lay down and just ignore its cares away. Unnervingly for some, the cocktail mixture of despondency and desolation resonated a little to close to home, and made 'Discouraged Ones' one of the the most deeply mind-fucking releases of recent times. Released 1998 Dan Tobin