Viva Emptiness

Viva Emptiness is the sixth studio album by Swedish heavy metal band Katatonia, released in 2003 by Peaceville Records. On the album's tenth anniversary in 2013, it was re-released, featuring a new mix, mastering and additional keyboard arrangements.

Viva Emptiness
Studio album by
Katatonia
Released29 April 2003 (2003-04-29)
RecordedOctober–November 2002
StudioStockholm (initially)
Genre
Length52:45
LabelPeaceville
ProducerAnders Nyström, Jonas Renkse
Katatonia chronology
Last Fair Deal Gone Down
(2001)		 Viva Emptiness
(2003)		 The Great Cold Distance
(2006)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]

Background

The album marked the first time that the band chose to self-produce their next record, which Jonas Renkse later described as a "weird decision" and said that the experience was "a little bit difficult."[3]

Musical style

Its main subjects are loneliness, social relations, crime, lying and depression. According to AllMusic, Viva Emptiness incorporates a mix of "dark gothic pop, crushing heavy rock, textured keyboards, lithe pop melodies, beautifully crafted songs with unique dynamics and sculpted sonic environments to surround them, and bleak, even morose subject matter."

Release

Viva Emptiness was released on 29 April 2003. The album was re-released in 2013. The re-release features new keyboard arrangements and was completely remixed and remastered by David Castillo, as the band wasn't satisfied with the overall sound and production of the original release. In an interview concerning the album's 10th anniversary re-release, Renkse also said that the drum mix "wasn’t good at all," citing the snare sound in particular as being "just horrible," and thus the drum mix was modified in the re-release.[3] The track "Inside the City of Glass" features vocals and lyrics on this edition, compared to the instrumental version included in the original release. The song "Wait Outside" was also included as a bonus track, originally recorded during the album sessions, but was not released until 2005 on The Black Sessions.

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Jonas Renkse; all music is composed by Renkse and Anders Nyström, except where noted

No.TitleLength
1."Ghost of the Sun"4:07
2."Sleeper"4:08
3."Criminals"3:47
4."A Premonition" (F. Norrman, Nyström, Renkse)3:33
5."Will I Arrive"4:09
6."Burn the Remembrance"5:22
7."Wealth"4:22
8."One Year from Now"4:02
9."Walking by a Wire"3:32
10."Complicity"4:01
11."Evidence"4:36
12."Omerta" (Renkse)2:58
13."Inside the City of Glass" (instrumental)4:08
Total length:52:45
10th anniversary edition
No.TitleLength
1."Ghost of the Sun"4:07
2."Sleeper"4:10
3."Criminals"3:50
4."A Premonition"3:34
5."Will I Arrive"4:07
6."Burn the Remembrance"5:25
7."Wealth"4:24
8."One Year from Now"4:04
9."Walking by a Wire"3:35
10."Complicity"4:05
11."Evidence"4:36
12."Omerta"3:00
13."Wait Outside"3:39
14."Inside the City of Glass"5:35
Total length:58:11

Personnel
Band
  • Jonas Renkse – vocals, guitar, programming
  • Anders Nyström – guitar, keyboards, programming
  • Fredrik Norrman – guitar
  • Mattias Norrman – bass, slide guitar on "One Year from Now"
  • Daniel Liljekvist – drums, percussion, backing vocals on "Ghost of the Sun"
Production

Charts
Chart (2003) Peak
position
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[4] 17

References
  1. Begrand, Adrien. "The Best Metal Albums of 2006 – PopMatters". Popmatters.com. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  2. Jurek, Thom. Viva Emptiness at AllMusic
  3. Holmes, Mark (2013). "Metal Discovery: Interview with Jonas Renkse and Niklas Sandin of Katatonia - 1st November 2013".
  4. "Katatonia: Viva Emptiness" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
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