This album is one of my favorites of all time... The song writing and shifts between heavy gloom and soaring melody are just superb and the underlying rythmic elements lend some tracks an almost tribal feel. I think it's perfect for 5.1 and am sooo psyched that a top-tier metal disc is FINALLY being converted to 5.1. Let's just pray the mix is better than the Mastadon and Lamb of God discs. If it's even close to the quality of the Porcupine Tree discs I will be in heaven!

I really wish more great metal discs would be converted to actual DVD-A or SACD high-res releases. I swear that I'd pay $1000 for Tool's Lateralus as a high-res DVD-Audio disc and I guarantee I'm not the only one who'd give just about anything to hear that masterwork in surround-sound glory.

Anyway, this Katatonia release should be great news for anyone into metal or dark heavy rock. Let's hope Viva Emptiness and Last Fear Deal Gone Down also get a 5.1 treatment.

Great band, great album. I hope they do Viva Emptiness in hi-rez some day too

I love this band! This is really good news for all of us that like the heavy dark side of metal without the screaming. Is this going to be DVD Audio or SACD?

scooter

The format wasn't clarified on their site. My gut would have said DualDisc with a DVD-A side but they have said that it's actually going to be two seperate discs in the package, the original CD with 2 bonus tracks and the 5.1 version (which I assume will be on DVD in either DVD-A or some sort of DTS mix).

Here's the official posting: http://katatonia.com/knews/?p=84

As much as I love Jens Bogren's production (holy crap - he deserves a medal just for the guitar sound alone on The Great Cold Distance), his 5.1 mix for Opeth's Ghost Reveries was pretty flat - especially next to what Steve Wilson has done with the format. Hopefully he'll go for a more adventurous surround mix this time around.

It's looking good for hi-res ... from the pre-order page:

Rightly regarded as a new Katatonia masterpiece, their seventh and latest album, last year’s The Great Cold Distance, is now released in a special package including the original album, which also includes 2 bonus tracks (‘Displaced’ & ‘Dissolving Bonds’), and a second DVDA disc containing a 5.1 channel mix of the album, for the optimal audio experience.

I'll have a freaking BOWL of that, thankyou very much.

The Great Cold Sibilance. Seriously, what went wrong with this disc? Is it my setup? Is anyone else getting massive sibilance and really soupy, indistinct separation?

Also, for those asking about formats - it's 48/24 DVD-A only (there's oddly no DVD-V compatible DD or DTS down-mix). edit - see below

Wow. how did you manage to snag one of these already? I thought they wouldn't be out until the end of the month.

Have you had problems with other DVD-A discs? I can't believe that this disc would just be totally FUBAR unless you got a lemon.

I don't mind at all that there's no DVD-V version, as long as the DVD-A sounds good and is in 5.1. I'm actually happy to hear that they went with a true DVD-A disc instead of these DVD-V discs that still have a lot of compression but tout themselves as high-res. Then again, I have never had problems playing DVD-A discs... If I didn't have a DVD-A player, I'd probably be pissed.

Keep us updated about the playback issues and good luck. I really hope this is just an isolated incident.

Yep, was surprised my local JB hifi in australia had this on the shelf already.

I've never really had a problem with any DVD-A discs with my setup -- which is pretty modest: Pioneer DV-676A player into a Pioneer VSX-415 receiver out to a Dali Trio sub and 5 identical design kit speakers. All the usual suspects (Deadwing, In Absentia etc) sound absolutely fine to me, and I've never been troubled by sibilance in the past, even on discs that others have noted for it (Stupid Dream? sounds fine to me). I even don't mind massively compressed "4x2" masters when it suits the material (The Downward Spiral? not compressed enough).

I hope it's the authoring or something too with The Great Cold Distance DVD-A. There seems to be an overall top-end boost that makes Jonas' vocals very prominently sibilant. Some tracks moreso than others (The Itch sounds great; Ssssoil'ssss Sssssong is almost painful). It could be that's just how it is, and it was one of the tricks used to get the clean vocals through all that guitar .. in any case there is a lot more detail revealed in this DVD-A (the "background" soundscapes on Leaders sound bloody vast). Given the quality of the CD, I can't help thinking something went wrong in the final mastering or authoring of the DVD-A. It doesn't seem to be over-compression since the disc isn't that loud compared to loud discs like The Downward Spiral or Metallica's black album.

Maybe I'm just going nuts in my old age, or my gear and speakers have conspired to boost the exact frequency range of Jonas' esses. But it's the only time I've ever been so distracted by sibilance to actually look up how its spelt.

Your mileage will no doubt vary.

Hopefully it will reach US shores soon so I can test it out. It would be an absolute travesty if such a masterwork was mired by poor mastering in the 5.1 version. I have never been as excited about a 5.1 release as I was about this one. The only thing that could top it would be a remastering of the entire Tool catalogue in 5.1. I'd pay over $1,000 for that and I'm a long way from wealthy. Can anyone imagine Schism or The Grudge in 5.1? What about Wings for Marie (pts 1 and 2) in full-range 5.1? I'm sure sooo much subtle detail would be revealed.

Anyway, I'll stop lusting after something that will likely never come to pass and will keep my fingers crossed that my setup responds favorable to the Katatonia 5.1 release.

Thanks for the update.

There's nothing wrong with the surround mix.

Also, there are Dolby Digital and DTS compatible streams inside VIDEO_TS. You just need to tell your DVD-A to play the video section of the disc.

First off, hi, I'm new, nice to meet you ^^
I'm a beginning surround-music enthusiast and I've come to learn~

I'm very interested in this edition of TGCD (it's probably my favorite album of last year) but since I don't have a DVDA/SACD player (nobody seems to sell those Oppo players anywhere), can anyone else confirm that DTS or DD streams are present on this edition? And how's the mix? Is it awesome like Porcupine Tree or flat like Opeth?

Well, how about I answer my own questions? :D

I just bought the 5.1 edition of TGCG, I just couldn't wait.
Yes, the disc is DVDA + DTS + AC3, even those of us who don't have a DVDA player will be able to enjoy it. Hurray!

The mix in itself, if I'm not mistaken, is done by the same guy who did Opeth's Ghost Reveries 5.1 mix, and as such, it is still nowhere near as aggressive as Porcupine Tree's releases. However, I don't know if it's because Katatonia's music lends itself better to 5.1 (IMHO, their music is more cleanly "layered" and has more little details, so it's easier to distribute the sound over different channels) or simply because Jens Bogren did a better job on this one, but I feel that the mix really does add something to the experience this time (In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not too enthusiastic about the Opeth mix).
Backing vocals and vocal "echoes" have been moved to the rear speakers, as well as some neat little effects that were previously hidden deep within the stereo mix. If you, like me, enjoyed TGCD because of all the little details you keep discovering, you'll like this mix even better.
I can't say much about the sound quality, my system is too basic to be able to tell much difference anyway, all I can say is that it sounds extremely decent.

The music, obviously, hasn't changed. It's still that wonderfully gloomy, melancholic, angry album that is The Great Cold Distance, which IMO was the best metal release of 2006.

If you like some intelligent metal once in a while and if you haven't heard The Great Cold Distance yet, I'd definitely recommend this release to you. Go get it. Now. Also pick up their album "Last Fair Deal Gone Down", while you're at it. Trust me, you won't regret it. If you already own the album and if you enjoyed it, this 5.1 mix is still worth the money, as it is an even more impressive experience than the stereo mix.

Also, no sibilant problems :P

...but since I don't have a DVDA/SACD player (nobody seems to sell those Oppo players anywhere)

FYI - there are links at the top of the forums to the Oppo players. They are only sold internet direct: Oppo Web Site (http://www.oppodigital.com/?partner=111)

I gave one to my parents for Xmas to use as a CD player & they've been happy with it so far...

Well, how about I answer my own questions? :D

I just bought the 5.1 edition of TGCG, I just couldn't wait.
Yes, the disc is DVDA + DTS + AC3, even those of us who don't have a DVDA player will be able to enjoy it. Hurray!

Have you been able to play the DTS tracks on a DVD player? I have the Denon DVD-2900 and while the DVD-A works fine, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to play the DTS encode that I KNOW exists on the DVD.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!!

I basically just ripped the files to my harddrive so I could listen without the disc, so I didn't even try it on a stand-alone player. I'll give it a try once I get home.

I had to change a setting in the player to 'Video' instead of 'Audio' and it played the DTS track. I've never had to do that before...

Well, for me it seems to work simply by hitting the audio selection button... I agree that they should have included an audio selection menu, at least. That and an explanation on how to get the real DVDA tracks so nubies don't think they're listening to DVDA quality when they're actually hearing DD...

My DVD A came today. Have not had a chance to listen to the MC mix yet but the cd sounds pretty good. I will give the 5.1 a good listen tomorrow and report back.

scooter

Is anyone getting any audio out of the centre channel? I am only get the front and rear pairs.

Yep, there doesn't seem to be any LFE use either. It's all quad.

Btw, I've had a bit more luck with this disc. Turns out it was my room - sticking some tall foam blocks in the corners behind my fronts really tightened things up. Looks ridiculous, though :P

Yeah. But it makes sense being quad. I used to be a music producer and I bought 6 identical speakers to see what it would be like to mix in surround (with the hope of doing MLP encoded 6 channel DVD-A). I had never heard a band mix in surround, so I was doing all sorts of stupid things - notably kick and snare in the centre with the overheads in the left and right. Doing that made me hate the whole thing so much that I didn't bother with it after that (as the drum sounds I am used to are always an electrical mix of kick, snare and overheads for a combined contempary sound). I was left thinking that stereo is the best way to represent music, but now I believe this album (which I have only just got in surround but owned and cherished for quite some time) is better experienced in surround. The only downfall is listening position. Surround mixes really pinpoint the sweet spot.

I'll throw my 2 cents in...

1) Love multi-channel surround and I think Porcupine Tree are the masters of multichannel mixing.

2) This disc is good in stereo.

3) This disc is good in multi channel.

4) This disc COULD have been GREAT in multi channel.