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General => General Music Discussion => Topic started by: ? on June 25, 2015, 12:05:45 PM
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Alright, here it is: the long-awaited Anathema discography thread! Anathema's style has changed a lot over its 25-year career, from death/doom to atmospheric and progressive rock with orchestrations and electronics, and we'll cover every step of that evolution.
Anathema was founded in 1990 under the name Pagan Angel by the Cavanagh brothers Danny (guitar), Vincent (guitar) and Jamie (bass), as well as their friends John Douglas (drums) and Darren White (vocals). (As you may have read in interviews, Vincent went to school with his twin Jamie instead of Danny, and on the first day he met John and they became friends - the rest is history.) The band quickly changed its name to Anathema and recorded a couple of demos before Jamie quit to pursue music engineering and was replaced by Duncan Patterson (according to Dunc, Danny played him their All Faith Is Lost demo cassette at a guitar store, convincing him to join the band) just before the band got signed to Peaceville Records.
Anathema is known as one of the pioneers of death/doom, a subgenre combining the growls and heaviness of death metal with the slow tempos of doom metal. The band was part of the "Peaceville Three" along with fellow death/doom pioneers Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride, although PL had left for Music for Nations (which would sign Anathema in 1999) by the time Anathema got its first official release out.
Without further ado, let's start with that release, The Crestfallen EP from 1992:
(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l4H-N2ISfqQ/VYwelCsL7jI/AAAAAAAAAEY/Rj0-GieToMA/s320/crestfallen.jpg)
1. ...and I Lust
2. The Sweet Suffering
3. Everwake
4. Crestfallen
5. They Die
Line-up:
Daniel Cavanagh — guitar
Vincent Cavanagh — guitar
John Douglas — drums
Duncan Patterson — bass guitar
Darren White — vocals
Ruth Wilson — vocals on "Everwake"
This EP has its moments: "...and I Lust" is alright, and "Everwake" and "They Die" are great. However, that's not enough to make this a must-have IMO, especially when you can find "Everwake" on Falling Deeper and "They Die" on Serenades, and those versions aren't drastically different from those you hear on the EP. It's clear that the band was holding back and saving the best ideas for Serenades - maybe they knew that EPs get forgotten pretty easily? :lol I guess my opinion would be rather controversial among die-hard death/doom fans, as I know the title-track is considered a classic of the genre (possibly the whole EP too).
Those who want to read a more detailed review with some tidbits of trivia can find one on my blog: https://echotester.blogspot.com/2015/06/anathema-discography-1-crestfallen-ep.html (sorry about the shameless plug, but I don't want to make my posts in this thread massive walls of text, and it's just one click away for those who are interested!)
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Awesome to see this started finally.
It's been a couple weeks since I've listened to this EP, so I'm going to give it a relished before posting my thoughts.
As you mentioned, pretty cool how John Douglas and Vincent met, being seated alphabetically in school. The rest is history!
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Following.
I literally know nothing about this band other than many folks on this forum seem to like them. I'm listening to the EP now and enjoying it.
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... And I Lust is not a very memorable opener for me and it never has been. Not quite sure why, but maybe it just takes me a little while to ease into things. Sweet Suffering is, however, a bit of a step up. Particularly the second half, when the tempo starts to pick up a bit more and it moves towards the climax. Everwake makes for a nice breather/interlude, but not much more imo. Pleasant, but nothing that gets me too excited. As for the title track, I have to agree with you. A bit overrated, I think. Unfortunately, despite liking a couple parts of the song, as a whole I find it to be long winded and predictable. Not sure what else to say about it... I do really like the piano melody, but that's a topic of conversation for another week.
They Die would have to be my favorite. Overall a really solid closer- awesome main riff and I love the way it gradually slows down before suddenly picking things up for the final push and (they die) whisper.
Echoing what was already said, I get the sense that these tracks are a sort of 'Serenades-lite' collection. Overall pretty good, but not nearly as good as what would come later. Sweet Suffering, despite being my second favorite track on the EP, sounds to me like its on par with some of the weak-to-middling tracks on Serenades. Nothing bad, per se, just a teaser of the greatness that's to follow.
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Finally! Definitely following.
I'm not really a fan of doom in general, and sadly I find this EP quite unmemorable :P .
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I'll bite. What limited Anathema I've heard I enjoyed. And they were pretty good on the ProgNation at Sea festival. Will listen to this tomorrow.
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Yeah, I'll join too. I was never big on Anathema, but I've bought and listened to Weather System a few months ago, and I really liked what I've heard there, so let's see what's this all about.
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Yeah, I'll join too. I was never big on Anathema, but I've bought and listened to Weather System a few months ago, and I really liked what I've heard there, so let's see what's this all about.
Knowing your take on growls/harsh vocals, I'd wait until we reach Alternative 4, or Eternity at least, when they get clean ;) .
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As for the title track, I have to agree with you. A bit overrated, I think. Unfortunately, despite liking a couple parts of the song, as a whole I find it to be long winded and predictable. Not sure what else to say about it... I do really like the piano melody, but that's a topic of conversation for another week.
Yeah, I think the intro (up until the vocals come in) is the best part of the song. That riff during "Lord, in your mercy, hear my prayer" sounds kind of awkward in such a slow tempo - as the 7" version shows, the song was a lot faster originally.
BTW, the My Dying Bride song Danny referred to as a "rip-off" was Sear Me (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipEDSD4ASdY). I think the tempo and the vibe are similar to Crestfallen, but I don't consider this a case of plagiarism because the actual melodies aren't that similar. A lot of doom sounds pretty samey anyway. :lol On the other hand, Danny said one of the guitarists in MDB had admitted the inspiration when they were touring together, so... :dunno:
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Yes- both jingle and Evermind... It's good to hear that you'll be giving it a try, just try to keep in mind that not liking Crestfallen has almost no bearing at all on most of the albums to come (particularly Weather Systems or what they played on the cruise). And if you really hate it, in the interest of not turning you off to the entire discography, you might even want to skip the next couple entries.
But if you don't, that's great too. I'll be curious to see both of your thoughts.
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As for the title track, I have to agree with you. A bit overrated, I think. Unfortunately, despite liking a couple parts of the song, as a whole I find it to be long winded and predictable. Not sure what else to say about it... I do really like the piano melody, but that's a topic of conversation for another week.
Yeah, I think the intro (up until the vocals come in) is the best part of the song. That riff during "Lord, in your mercy, hear my prayer" sounds kind of awkward in such a slow tempo - as the 7" version shows, the song was a lot faster originally.
BTW, the My Dying Bride song Danny referred to as a "rip-off" was Sear Me (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipEDSD4ASdY). I think the tempo and the vibe are similar to Crestfallen, but I don't consider this a case of plagiarism because the actual melodies aren't that similar. A lot of doom sounds pretty samey anyway. :lol On the other hand, Danny said one of the guitarists in MDB had admitted the inspiration when they were touring together, so... :dunno:
I've not heard MDB before, but in my limited experience with Doom metal, I'd have to say that I agree with your assessment on how it's rather samey/redundant after a while. I'm sure someone more knowledgable may disagree. Thankfully I can still enjoy it quite a bit in smaller doses, so I appreciate that Anathema has a few bite-sized offerings for me to nibble on when I'm in the mood.
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Yes- both jingle and Evermind... It's good to hear that you'll be giving it a try, just try to keep in mind that not liking Crestfallen has almost no bearing at all on most of the albums to come (particularly Weather Systems or what they played on the cruise). And if you really hate it, in the interest of not turning you off to the entire discography, you might even want to skip the next couple entries.
But if you don't, that's great too. I'll be curious to see both of your thoughts.
I'll listen for the sake of being a completionist. I might shit all over it, but I'll listen. :biggrin:
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I'll listen for the sake of being a completionist. I might shit all over it, but I'll listen. :biggrin:
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Not a doom dude, but Illcheck it out too. I listened to 30 mins of Judgment... Wasn't really feeling it like their later stuff. I'll check out this EP now.
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Yeah... That's a different band. Wow! I couldn't make it through a whole song except Everwake... Definitely a stand alone among the growls. It was nice. 😉
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Okay, after three songs I kinda zoned out and thought I'd better re-listen...but I just can't wind up any enthusiasm to do it.
Next! :lol
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Following. I'm definitely not a big fan of their first few albums but I might just try another few listens.
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Crestfallen is a really cool EP. Haven't listened to it in a while, but it's definitely great.
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Boy I'm glad that is over with. Not the worst thing I've ever listened to, and I won't shit on it just for being in a genre that simply ain't my cuppa tea.
Let's get thru these early releases, and on to the releases that get proggy and symphonic. Heck, I'll even take electronica over doom/thrash.
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I will keep an eye on this thread. I can't say that I have heard anything from them that I liked - just from limited sampling here and there. It bugs me a bit when friends who have similar taste love a band that I can't fathom ,so I'll always give it a go - to be sure, to be sure .
My initial impressions are usually a good indicator though :angel:
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Boy I'm glad that is over with. Not the worst thing I've ever listened to, and I won't shit on it just for being in a genre that simply ain't my cuppa tea.
Let's get thru these early releases, and on to the releases that get proggy and symphonic. Heck, I'll even take electronica over doom/thrash.
:lol I would have been surprised to see you say anything else
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I will keep an eye on this thread. I can't say that I have heard anything from them that I liked - just from limited sampling here and there. It bugs me a bit when friends who have similar taste love a band that I can't fathom ,so I'll always give it a go - to be sure, to be sure .
My initial impressions are usually a good indicator though :angel:
I can't imagine you would find too much you like from them, even from their later material (We're Here and Weather Systems are two of my top albums from the past 5 years), but you never know . . .
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I gave Crestfallen another listen this evening. I'm not enjoying it quite as much as I have in the past, but I'm still happy enough with it. The decreased enjoyment is likely just a result of being in a slightly different place now, emotionally. This past winter, going through a bit of a rough patch, I listened to Serenades around 5 times a week. It (and Crestfallen) was great then, but now I'm craving something a little different (i.e. The brighter side of things)
Even still... They Die :metal
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Yeah, well, I listened to it. I liked Everwake, that's a nice song, and some instrumental parts on other songs were quite good and kick-ass, but I don't think I will ever spin this one again. Out of four other tracks, I think I liked They Die most. Crestfallen I think has some ridiculous vocals, and I really don't remember anything about the first two songs.
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Yeah, well, I listened to it. I liked Everwake, that's a nice song, and some instrumental parts on other songs were quite good and kick-ass, but I don't think I will ever spin this one again. Out of four other tracks, I think I liked They Die most. Crestfallen I think has some ridiculous vocals, and I really don't remember anything about the first two songs.
I remembered there were lots of growls.
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Really glad this thread has started!
I haven't listened to their early stuff in a long, long time. Mostly because I wasn't crazy about it. But in the spirit of the thread, I am now listening to The Crestfallen again.
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Well, that was...interesting :lol
Upward and onward!
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Yeah, well, I listened to it. I liked Everwake, that's a nice song, and some instrumental parts on other songs were quite good and kick-ass, but I don't think I will ever spin this one again. Out of four other tracks, I think I liked They Die most. Crestfallen I think has some ridiculous vocals, and I really don't remember anything about the first two songs.
I remembered there were lots of growls.
Yeah, growls were there. :lol That's not the most eloquent and detailed description though, I can't even tell what were the melodies or the chorus like.
Looking forward for the next one!
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Yeah, well, I listened to it. I liked Everwake, that's a nice song, and some instrumental parts on other songs were quite good and kick-ass, but I don't think I will ever spin this one again. Out of four other tracks, I think I liked They Die most. Crestfallen I think has some ridiculous vocals, and I really don't remember anything about the first two songs.
I remembered there were lots of growls.
Yeah, growls were there. :lol That's not the most eloquent and detailed description though, I can't even tell what were the melodies or the chorus like.
Looking forward for the next one!
To be fair, there aren't proper choruses in any of the songs. :P
BTW, did you guys listen to Crestfallen and They Die from the Spotify player or did you look for the actual EP versions? As I said in the blog post, the 7" single versions on the Pentecost III/Crestfallen reissue are pretty much unlistenable even to me! :lol
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The album isn't on North American Spotify (or more specifically, Canadian). Had to listen via someone's YT playlist.
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Spotify isn't available in my country, so, well
Had to listen via someone's YT playlist.
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Alright, there doesn't seem to be a lot of love for the EP, so let's move on to the proper debut album:
Serenades (1993)
(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NDq84qSn40k/VZF9761jpII/AAAAAAAAAFE/FfPuZWxar9c/s320/serenades.jpg)
1. Lovelorn Rhapsody
2. Sweet Tears
3. J'ai fait une promesse
4. They (Will Always) Die
5. Sleepless
6. Sleep in Sanity
7. Scars of the Old Stream
8. Under a Veil (of Black Lace)
9. Where Shadows Dance
10. Dreaming: The Romance
Line-up:
Darren J. White - vocals
John Douglas - drums
Duncan Patterson - bass
Vincent Cavanagh - guitars
Danny Cavanagh - guitars
Ruth - vocals on "J'ai fait une promesse"
After the release of The Crestfallen EP Anathema toured the UK supporting Cannibal Corpse. Although both bands were metal back then, the tastes of the Anathema guys were already veering away from heavy music, as Vincent recalls talking about The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin to the CC guys.
Serenades was released in February 1993. A music video was made for "Sweet Tears" and it received a fair amount of airplay on Headbangers Ball. According to Duncan Patterson, that song and future fan-favorite "Sleepless" were the last ones written for the album, as Peaceville had asked them to write something more accessible, presumably with the promo video in mind. With the help of the video and touring in Europe with bands like At the Gates, Cradle of Filth (Darren played drums for COF in the early days and made a guest vocal appearance on their debut) and fellow doomsters My Dying Bride, the ball started rolling and Anathema began to build a fanbase. You can find professionally filmed footage from one of the shows in Romania in 1994 - this video of They Die (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04ulRWENs6U) includes an incident where the band apparently got mad at the violent security guys and Danny shouted obscenities at them (right before the 7-minute mark).
Serenades has gems like "Lovelorn Rhapsody" and "They (Will Always) Die". "Sleep in Sanity" is great as well, although it might've been better as an instrumental, and "Sleepless" has deserved its popularity, although it's not a top 3 song on the album and sounds a lot better with Vincent's vocals live. The biggest problem with the album is that there are way too many filler interludes - they prove that Anathema wasn't a standard metal band, and it may have been cool to experiment in the studio, but they make the record feel unfocused and fragmented, and only "J'ai fait une promesse" is worth listening to. Darren White's "clean" vocals are another weakness and it's no wonder he didn't stay in the band for too long when their music started to change. Despite these shortcomings, I think Serenades is the best classic death/doom debut from the early 90s I've heard, but it's clear that while Anathema were pretty good at what they were doing, they were still finding their feet and looking for ways to expand their sound.
(Full review: https://echotester.blogspot.com/2015/06/anathema-discography-2-serenades-1993.html)
Some extra listening for those who are familiar with the album already: the early demo song "All Faith Is Lost" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nENf6fEpIB4) was re-recorded for the American import version of Serenades. It's much more primitive compared to the songs on the actual album, even with the more polished production and is in (drop?) A tuning, which is the lowest ever used in an Anathema song. There's also an earlier recording of "Lovelorn Rhapsody" on the Resonance 2 compilation - it's a little faster than the album version, but not drastically different.
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I don't necessarily agree with a lot of what you've said- I think Serenades is vastly underrated and relatively free of any filler (outside of the final track, imo). Still, nice write-up. And thanks for sharing that video from Romania- I'd never seen it before.
I'll give the album a full listen before saying anything more, but just out of curiosity, how would you rank the songs? Curious to see Sleepless not one of your top 3, since it seems to be generally adored. I actually agree with you, but I'm curious to hear where it falls in your ranking
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Spotify isn't available in my country, so, well
Had to listen via someone's YT playlist.
Gives real meaning to the 'meanwhile in Russia' meme.
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I think that Serenades is an awesome debut full-length album, despite not being too fond of a couple things. The most obvious being the closing track. I find it unnecessarily long, out of place, and quite pointless. With that being said, it's not unpleasant. I quite enjoy the atmosphere and I rarely feel the need to turn off the album once I reach it. And in those rare instances when I am inclined to pass, it's very easy to do so.
Setting that odd duck aside, I'm happy to say that this is not my least favorite Anathema album. For the longest time I thought it was and didn't really give it a shot. More recently, particularly with the announcement for the Resonance tour, I took a more active look back through the entire discography and found myself very surprised by Serenades. Now, a few months later, I'd probably rate it as a middle of the pack Anathema album, though it all depends on my mood for the day.
Under a Veil (of Black Lace) and Lovelorn Rhapsody in particular stand out to me as incredibly strong early-Anathema songs, and that's not to mention some of the other great songs on here. All in all, I think Serenades is a really big step up from Crestfallen.
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Serenades is pretty good. Definitely the weakest Anathema album, but it still has great moments. Sleepless is one of Anathema's finest tracks, Dreaming: The Romance is an amazing headphone-listening experience, and tracks like Sleep in Sanity and Lovelorn Rhapsody are pretty rocking. It's definitely a different Anathema, but not really different-bad. I enjoy the album, and those songs I mentioned in particular. I'd say the album is maybe a 7 out of 10 or so. Great, but their other albums did different things better. Solid debut though.
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What is the story on "Dreaming: The Romance," anyway?
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I don't necessarily agree with a lot of what you've said- I think Serenades is vastly underrated and relatively free of any filler (outside of the final track, imo). Still, nice write-up. And thanks for sharing that video from Romania- I'd never seen it before.
I'll give the album a full listen before saying anything more, but just out of curiosity, how would you rank the songs? Curious to see Sleepless not one of your top 3, since it seems to be generally adored. I actually agree with you, but I'm curious to hear where it falls in your ranking
Sleepless falls just outside my top 3, at #4. I'd rank the songs like this:
1. They (Will Always) Die
2. Lovelorn Rhapsody
3. Sleep in Sanity
4. Sleepless
5. J'ai fait une promesse
6. Under a Veil (of Black Lace)
7. Sweet Tears
8. Where Shadows Dance
9. Scars of the Old Stream
(As I said in the review, D:TR doesn't exist for me :P It's not even on all editions of the album, so that's made my desire to give it a full listen even more minimal)
Now that I think about it, I may have rated the album a little too low when I gave a 3 instead of a 3.5 - after all, the filler tracks aren't a big portion of the album, and most of the actual songs are pretty solid. Serenades isn't my least favorite Anathema album, but definitely in the lesser half of their discography, and I think they perfected the doom sound on TSE.
What is the story on "Dreaming: The Romance," anyway?
They probably had a little too much time on their hands and thought it would be cool to mess around on a keyboard and record it. :lol
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Personally, if I was rating the album, I'd probably go with a 3.5/4.
I agree on Where Shadows Dance- definitely on the bottom end of things for me. On the other hand, Under a Veil and Sweet Tears are both in my top three- the former being my favorite pre-Eternity Anathema song. Rounding out the top three I'd have Lovelorn Rhapsody, followed by They (will always) Die, Sleepless and the rest.
Definitely the weakest Anathema album
:yeahright
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Hey I said it was a great one, but they definitely don't have another album I could rank lower. But it's no shame, a lot of bands have mediocre debuts, Anathema's is actually pretty great.
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I have never given it enough listens tbh, so I'll have to check it soon.
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I'll have a listen tomorrow, it's the only Anathema album that I haven't listened to yet, but I can't imagine it being as boring as Weather Systems, so... yeah.
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I can't imagine it being as boring as Weather Systems, so... yeah.
did u just
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Gonna check this out now.
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This one's definitely pretty monotonous. For all the good moments (end of "They (Will Always) Die," all of "Sleepless," atmospheric interludes, select bits from most other songs that were cherrypicked for Falling Deeper), there's a lot of other stuff to wade through patiently. I basically throw this in with the first My Dying Bride and the first few Katatonia records as decent attempts at something new by inexperienced youths. Anathema refined dramatically for the next EP and album, so I'm looking forward to revisiting them!
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Just finished up my first listen with "Serenades". Yeah, this was much more entertaining that the EP, "Sleepless" really jumped out at me as a departure for them. I like it!
I'll listen again and if anything jumps out as worth mentioning I'll report back.
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Finishing up now.
It was OK, not bad for a debut, and like several other people have noted, somewhat uneven.
However, I will break with what seems to be the general opinion and say the last track, Dreaming: The Romance, was my favorite on the album.
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I am currently listening to Serenades, and I have to say that I like it a lot indeed. The vocals are very different, but they fit the music perfectly.
Will report back once I have finished it, but Lovelorn Rhapsody and Sweet Tears have my approval already. :tup
Late report back: I liked it. Sleepless, Sleep in Sanity and Under a Veil (of Black Lace) were the highlights in addition to the two already mentioned, but it was a solid album. Not my favourite Anathema album, but I already prefer it to their last three albums by quite a margin.
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That makes me happy- I thought you would enjoy it Scorp :)
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Yeah. To be honest, I haven't heard an Anathema album from before WHBWH that I didn't like, so my hope is that by listening to all of those I'll get into the Anathema groove and finally understand what you guys in those albums, because I really want to like them as well.
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You'll probably enjoy The Silent Enigma as well, much better than the debut IMO and still a metal album. :)
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I gave it one spin, there were more memorable moments than on EP, but I have no desire to spin it again. I also don't get what's the deal with Dreaming: The Romance ending either. Out of growly badass metal songs, I think I liked Sleepless - Sleep in Sanity two songs punch the most.
Everwake is still my favourite song from those two.
Spotify isn't available in my country, so, well
Had to listen via someone's YT playlist.
Gives real meaning to the 'meanwhile in Russia' meme.
You don't say. :lol
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Moving on to another EP:
Pentecost III (1995)
(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u03YX_WS11s/VZqTKcFCmcI/AAAAAAAAAFk/FcL05yCNVHA/s320/pentecost.jpg)
1. Kingdom
2. Mine Is Yours to Drown in (Ours is the New Tribe)
3. We, the Gods
4. Pentecost III
5. Memento Mori
Line-up:
Daniel Cavanagh — guitar
Vincent Cavanagh — guitar
John Douglas — drums
Duncan Patterson — bass guitar
Darren White — vocals
Anathema entered The Academy studios again in May 1994 to record their next EP, Pentecost III. These sessions also spawned two improvised tracks, "Eternal Rise of the Sun" and "Nailed to the Cross", both of which can be found on the rare We Are the Bible 7" and the reissue of Serenades. The original edition of the EP also includes an acoustic piece called "Horses" along with "666" as hidden tracks. Interestingly enough, in a newsletter from 1994 (https://web.archive.org/web/19991012072554/https://www.dse.nl/inferno/issue2/anathema.html) the title-track was called "The War with Rome Still Rages On". It also says the video for "Mine Is Yours" was filmed on Anglesey Island.
Pentecost III is doomy and heavy like the earlier recordings, but Darren White mostly speaks or shouts instead of growling, and there are some melodic vocals too. "We, the Gods" is also the first Anathema song to include a (co-)writing credit for Duncan Patterson, who would become a prolific songwriter on subsequent releases. Due to record label politics (a merging between Peaceville and Music for Nations), the EP didn't get released until a year after it had been recorded, and by that point White had been fired from the band. Danny and Duncan talked about the circumstances that led to them parting ways with him:
https://web.archive.org/web/19991002125133/https://www.dse.nl/inferno/issue5/anathema.html
"It was all to do with a complete clash of ideas, in terms of lyrics, the vocals, and everything. Videos, basically his attitude towards the band was very different to ours, and we couldn't carry on with it anymore.
On the last album we gave him ten days to record some vocals, in the studio, and we didn't like any of the ones he'd done. In ten days he couldn't get any vocals down that we really liked, and we thought, this can not carry on. It's been a problem for about the last year, ever since 'Pentecost III', just before that was recorded, things started to change. All that I can say now is that Vincent [Cavanagh, ed] is an excellent singer, cos he really can sing notes as well, and he has better ideas for lyrics, his lyrics are less about... There are no 'mountains', 'valleys' or 'gods' anymore. It's more real..."
https://web.archive.org/web/20041216010435/https://www.rockbrigade.com.br/pages/artigos_english/anathema.htm
"Basically he just got carried away with his role in the band. He started to see himself as this Jim Morrison type of character with the rest of us being backing musicians. We tried to resolve certain situations that kept arising for instance he booked the studio for one of the albums and only told us a week before we were due to go into record. Anyway, we tried to actually do the album that way with him. When we got into the studio all Darren had was all these poems and half sentences he was intending on using and that's when we knew enough was enough. Fortunately Vinnie is, as in hindsight we all now realise, a much better singer so Vinnie at the last minute agreed to do all the albums vocals. That became the basis for our second full length album, The Silent Enigma."
However, a few years later the guys resolved their differences with Darren and have been on good terms ever since, as seen earlier this year on the Resonance tour. Danny even once said that if Darren had learned to sing properly, he'd still be in the band.
Pentecost III is a fine EP and an important step in Anathema's evolution, but listening to it also makes it clear that the band wouldn't have had a future with Darren White on the microphone, as his non-growled delivery is quite monotonous. However, the music is definitely good - if you cut the last two tracks and trimmed the fat in the two epics, you'd get a brilliant release. The band was clearly maturing musically and the next album would be the peak of their death/doom sound. (full review: https://echotester.blogspot.com/2015/07/anathema-discography-3-pentecost-iii.html)
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I quite like this EP and particularly enjoy Kingdom. Though, on the whole, I'm still more interested in Serenades. Unfortunately, Darren really isn't much of a singer (as they all said), and some of the lyrics aren't my cup of tea. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw Danny's quote about the mountain, valley, etc., lyrics... It instantly reminds me of what has to be my single least favorite line of lyrics in Anathemas entire discography.
Leave your pearls in the sea, you undeserved bitch.
I'll have to give it another listen before I post any more
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I can't imagine it being as boring as Weather Systems, so... yeah.
:iagree: kinda. Although WS isn't 'boring', it's way too revered for what it really is.
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I can't imagine it being as boring as Weather Systems, so... yeah.
:iagree: kinda. Although WS isn't 'boring', it's way too revered for what it really is.
And what'a that?
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A mediocre rehash of the stunningly brilliant We're Here Because We're Here.
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A mediocre rehash of the stunningly brilliant We're Here Because We're Here.
Amen. WS is good, but it's a lesser version of what WHBWH did much better before.
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I respect that opinion well enough and even largely agree on the point that it feels like WHBWH part 2.
With that being said, I think it's an improvement rather than a lesser version.
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We'll get to those two eventually!
Pentecost III is one of my favourite Anathema releases, and one of my favourite death/doom ones, too. It definitely gets a little monotonous, especially that first 3 minutes of "We, the Gods," but the rest have such a great payoff. It's an awesome accompaniment to The Silent Enigma, which their first video release conveys pretty well. Dunno if we're covering that in this topic. Also, the recent vinyl version has a pretty interesting tracklist change-up, though it's probably more difficult to listen to if you don't already like the EP.
It could use a good remaster, though, better than the ones currently out there (especially not the one coupled with Crestfallen, as it has a skip during WTG!). It's way, way too dark and muddy, and I think that stops a lot of people from liking it as much as TSE, which is relatively cleaner mixwise.
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I respect that opinion well enough and even largely agree on the point that it feels like WHBWH part 2.
With that being said, I think it's an improvement rather than a lesser version.
Definitely this. It doesn't even have the awkward Get Off Get Out.
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Couldn't get into Seeenades either. On to P3!
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Pentecost III is a really great EP. Haven't spun it in a while, but definitely a good one. :metal
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I quite like this EP and particularly enjoy Kingdom. Though, on the whole, I'm still more interested in Serenades. Unfortunately, Darren really isn't much of a singer (as they all said), and some of the lyrics aren't my cup of tea. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw Danny's quote about the mountain, valley, etc., lyrics... It instantly reminds me of what has to be my single least favorite line of lyrics in Anathemas entire discography.
Leave your pearls in the sea, you undeserved bitch.
I'll have to give it another listen before I post any more
That "ow!" at the end of WTG is pretty funny, isn't it? :lol I always imagine he hit his head in the studio. :P
Darren explained the symbolism in Kingdom on an old Anathema forum 10 years ago: https://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/anathema/140156-darren-white-not-dead-not-dreaming.html#post2667568 He also talked about WTG: https://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/anathema/140156-darren-white-not-dead-not-dreaming.html#post2667481
I like the ideas behind those lyrics and prefer them to the standard gothic imagery on Serenades, but it's true that you could play a drinking game by taking a shot every time you hear "mountains". :lol I also agree on that "bitch" line; it sounds so crude in the context of a song with such spiritual lyrics.
Pentecost III is one of my favourite Anathema releases, and one of my favourite death/doom ones, too. It definitely gets a little monotonous, especially that first 3 minutes of "We, the Gods," but the rest have such a great payoff. It's an awesome accompaniment to The Silent Enigma, which their first video release conveys pretty well. Dunno if we're covering that in this topic. Also, the recent vinyl version has a pretty interesting tracklist change-up, though it's probably more difficult to listen to if you don't already like the EP.
It could use a good remaster, though, better than the ones currently out there (especially not the one coupled with Crestfallen, as it has a skip during WTG!). It's way, way too dark and muddy, and I think that stops a lot of people from liking it as much as TSE, which is relatively cleaner mixwise.
We're not doing the DVDs in this thread, but we can discuss A Vision of a Dying Embrace when it's time for TSE, as it was filmed on that tour. I didn't know about that vinyl version - having 2 epics back to back is a little too much IMO, but I understand it was the only way to avoid omitting any songs. Memento Mori was originally just a CD bonus track, as mentioned in that '94 newsletter I linked.
I have the P3/Crestfallen CD, but I haven't noticed anything wrong with WTG. That's a good thing though, because for example that glitch at 0:42 in Sleep in Sanity on the Serenades CD bugs the hell out of me! :lol Also, are my ears lying or are the Crestfallen songs louder than P3?
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A mediocre rehash of the stunningly brilliant We're Here Because We're Here.
That's exactly what I think of Weather Systems, although most people wouldn't agree. As far as I know, Weather Systems is THE new 'classic' Anathema album for most fans. I thought WHBWH was an album with a lot of real emotion in it, and when WS came out, I felt they were pushing that certain emotion / sunshine vibe a bit too far.
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I quite like this EP and particularly enjoy Kingdom. Though, on the whole, I'm still more interested in Serenades. Unfortunately, Darren really isn't much of a singer (as they all said), and some of the lyrics aren't my cup of tea. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw Danny's quote about the mountain, valley, etc., lyrics... It instantly reminds me of what has to be my single least favorite line of lyrics in Anathemas entire discography.
Leave your pearls in the sea, you undeserved bitch.
I'll have to give it another listen before I post any more
That "ow!" at the end of WTG is pretty funny, isn't it? :lol I always imagine he hit his head in the studio. :P
Darren explained the symbolism in Kingdom on an old Anathema forum 10 years ago: https://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/anathema/140156-darren-white-not-dead-not-dreaming.html#post2667568 He also talked about WTG: https://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/anathema/140156-darren-white-not-dead-not-dreaming.html#post2667481
I like the ideas behind those lyrics and prefer them to the standard gothic imagery on Serenades, but it's true that you could play a drinking game by taking a shot every time you hear "mountains". :lol I also agree on that "bitch" line; it sounds so crude in the context of a song with such spiritual lyrics.
Yes that Ow is a favorite moment for me as well :biggrin:
When it comes to Kingdom I still (and likely always will) prefer the live acoustic performance a la Union Chapel, but I still like the original quite a bit and appreciate the explanation you shared from the forum. I'm glad they were able to patch things up with Darren and bring him back on tour again. I remember reading an old interview of Vinny's from around the time of the Eternity (or Alternative 4) in which he didn't hold back any punches on Darrens singing. I guess it was pretty common for all of them at the time, but I remember thinking it was unnecessarily harsh.
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A mediocre rehash of the stunningly brilliant We're Here Because We're Here.
That's exactly what I think of Weather Systems, although most people wouldn't agree. As far as I know, Weather Systems is THE new 'classic' Anathema album for most fans. I thought WHBWH was an album with a lot of real emotion in it, and when WS came out, I felt they were pushing that certain emotion / sunshine vibe a bit too far.
This. But I have a feeling we will get to talk about WS soon enough. :D
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When it comes to Kingdom I still (and likely always will) prefer the live acoustic performance a la Union Chapel, but I still like the original quite a bit and appreciate the explanation you shared from the forum. I'm glad they were able to patch things up with Darren and bring him back on tour again. I remember reading an old interview of Vinny's from around the time of the Eternity (or Alternative 4) in which he didn't hold back any punches on Darrens singing. I guess it was pretty common for all of them at the time, but I remember thinking it was unnecessarily harsh.
As I said in the blog post, I like the Resonance live version the most, because it combines the best of both worlds, being based on the more compact and beautiful FD version, but also having the heavy ending.
I went through the article section of the oldest versions of Anathema's website on Wayback Machine (using the listen.to address from the Judgement booklet) to look for background info and there were even more inties where they spoke pretty harshly about Darren's abilities as a vocalist - in the booklet of the TSE reissue Danny admitted that they handled the split pretty immaturely. However, they were on good terms again by '99, as Darren performed Sleepless with them at one show that year. I vaguely remember an interview where he said he went to one of the first UK shows they did without him and he only got to do some stage diving that night. :lol
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Forgive me if you already mentioned this in the official thread and I've forgotten, but did you go to one of the Resonance shows?
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I didn't enjoy Crestfallen nor their debut that much, I have to admit I quite liked this EP. Kingdom was the highlight - amazing riffs, even if the vocal delivery is a bit lame. Looks like I'll finally get into their doom stuff :D
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Forgive me if you already mentioned this in the official thread and I've forgotten, but did you go to one of the Resonance shows?
No, unfortunately. There were no Resonance shows in Finland (or other Nordic countries), and school and financial limitations would've prevented me from travelling anyway. I'm still a little sad they broke their promise about the special encore in Tampere last year, as they only played the old stuff in Helsinki. :-\
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Just finished up my re-listen of this. First time in a long time.
Really good. My favorite thus far. I liked it a lot.
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So, just catching up. Again, only available as a YT upload. And when the description starts "True death/doom metal style. Classic! Brilliant and awesome album!"... well, these things just don't compute for me.
Musically it's ok, but the growls are killing it for me. Not sure I'll make it through a full hour of this. I think I'd rather listen to my son singing.
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The Silent Enigma (1995)
(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QCnW_xblT6Y/VaPT1wYzJ5I/AAAAAAAAAGE/IakZlzJBC7U/s320/enigma.jpg)
1. Restless Oblivion
2. Shroud of Frost
3. ...Alone
4. Sunset of Age
5. Nocturnal Emission
6. Cerulean Twilight
7. The Silent Enigma
8. A Dying Wish
9. Black Orchid
Line-up:
Vincent Cavanagh - vocals, guitars
John Douglas - drums, percussion
Duncan Patterson - bass
Danny Cavanagh - guitars, orchestral arrangements
Derek Fullwood - spoken word on "Shroud of Frost"
Rebecca Wilson - female vocals on "...Alone"
Anathema entered the Lynx Studios in the second quarter of 1995 with just a few song ideas (in the reissue booklet Danny states they had only two fully arranged songs, yet in this old interview (https://web.archive.org/web/19990208222503/https://www.dse.nl/inferno/issue5/anathema.html) he claims they had four songs), one of which was the future classic "A Dying Wish": according to Danny (https://www.3rdeyemag.net/live/live-reports/2015/anathema-resonance-tour-live-at-shepherds-bush-o2-empire-london/), "Duncan had a few riffs lying around… And one of them was… Really. Fucking. Good!"
For the first time everyone was involved in the writing process, and John Douglas debuted as a songwriter with "Cerulean Twilight". In the booklet all the songs have been credited to the whole band, but Duncan once posted the actual credits for each song on the official Anathema forum - unfortunately I can't find that post anymore, but I have a vague memory of what they looked like, so I can post them if anyone is interested.
As mentioned in the write-up for Pentecost III, Darren White was fired from the band during the recording of TSE. The working title Rise Pantheon Dreams was abandoned, as it was his idea originally - Darren later used that title for a release by his new band The Blood Divine. According to Danny, having Vincent take over the vocals was the obvious choice for everyone except Vincent himself: they were watching football on TV when Vinnie asked what they were going to do now that Darren was gone, and the rest of the guys pointed at him and said "it's you..." Although he was a more diverse vocalist than Darren, Vincent had to scream his way through the songs, as they'd been written with the ex-vocalist's voice in mind.
Having lost their lyricist, the band took a month off to work on the lyrics for the new material. They got some help from their friends Vincent O'Connell and Deryk "Dygga" Fullwood, who also recited the speech on "Shroud of Frost". The story behind "Nocturnal Emission" is a funny one: https://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/anathema/30597-questions-danny-thread-4.html#post450022
well, on the morning we were due to record the vocals for that song, we had no lyrics. as i said, vincent 'o connel and deryk "dygga" fulwood were staying with us helping us to complete the album. we woke dygga up (he was hungover on the couch) and said "dygga we need some lyrics" i have a vague recollection that dunc may have said a basic subject matter.
anyway dygga (still half asleep) grabs a pen, a piece of scrap paper and his boot. resting the paper on the boot, he began to scrawl these words down, after a couple of minutes he handed us the paper and fell straight back to sleep. we took it to the studio and duncan started to arrange the song using his duran duran influences. i think it turned out well and i'll always remember dygga and the boot. the subject matter is subconcious and probably a bit scarred..
In late 1995 Anathema played some UK shows supporting Cathedral and Paradise Lost, before heading out on a European tour with Trouble and Massacra in early 1996 (as a fun fact, Duncan Patterson later covered the Trouble song Mr. White with his Antimatter project). On this tour the band had Les Smith (Ship of Fools) playing keyboards to complement their live sound - he would play on Eternity the same year and join the band as a full-time member in 2000, after a stint with Cradle of Filth.
Anathema also played some dates with My Dying Bride in Poland, and one of them was recorded for A Vision of a Dying Embrace live video. That DVD can be found on the 2008 reissue of the album. It's a good document of Anathema from that period, including a heavy dose of TSE, but also a couple of Pentecost III songs and "Sleepless" from Serenades. However, it's also clear that doing the aggressive vocals was not easy on Vincent's voice and he seems pretty exhausted by the end of the show.
The Silent Enigma is a much more mature and unique release than Serenades (1993) or the early EPs. Although there's some idling in a couple of songs and the experiments may be hit-or-miss, the highlights of the album are among the greatest Anathema songs of all time and enough to make the album a must-listen for any fan of doom(y) metal. The increased amount of keyboards and Vincent's more diverse vocals make the music more intriguing and paved the way for the band's progression towards a more melodic sound. (full review: https://echotester.blogspot.com/2015/07/anathema-discography-4-silent-enigma.html)
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I love this album. To me it's one of their better ones, a top5 Anathema album for me. So much awesomeness.
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I love this album. To me it's one of their better ones, a top5 Anathema album for me. So much awesomeness.
I'm not totally sure if I would place it in my top 5 (it's battling with Distant Satellites), but it's definitely my favorite out of the first three albums. :metal
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Good writeup- very informative.
I quite enjoy this album and listened to it a lot last summer when I was really digging into Anathema's older music more seriously. A couple tracks in particular stand out. Restless Oblivion, Shroud of Frost and A Dying Wish immediately come to mind.
Unfortunately, that being said, this is still overall my least favorite Anathema album as a whole. I suspect it's largely because I think Vinnie is a great singer, but I'm not that fond of his harsh vocals. In fact, while I really appreciate the split with Darren White, for what it allowed the band to do eventually, I quite prefer his harsh vocal delivery. Vincent has a beautiful singing voice and this pales in comparison for me.
I'll listen to the album again and post some more coherent thoughts in a bit.
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Definitely a classic in the genre! Awesome opening, drags through the middle, but picks up a bit for the ending (mostly "ADW"). I love "Sunset of Age" but the Falling Deeper version is clearly superior.
Dunno about "Alone," though. The FD version is like twice as long and I'm unsure if it's for the better.
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It will help immensely when we get to the albums that are actually on Spotify.
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It will help immensely when we get to the albums that are actually on Spotify.
Every album is on Apple Music, if anyone is doing the free trial right now!
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It will help immensely when we get to the albums that are actually on Spotify.
At least in my country, all of their stuff is up on Spotify - even the latest remasters.
Haven't given this album a spin in ages - will fix that and report soon.
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Not in North America (or at least, Canada). Starts with Judgement. There are remasters of Fine Day To Exit and A Natural Disaster.
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Unfortunately, that being said, this is still overall my least favorite Anathema album as a whole. I suspect it's largely because I think Vinnie is a great singer, but I'm not that fond of his harsh vocals. In fact, while I really appreciate the split with Darren White, for what it allowed the band to do eventually, I quite prefer his harsh vocal delivery. Vincent has a beautiful singing voice and this pales in comparison for me.
I think both vocalists have good voices for the albums they growled on: Vincent's agonized and tortured screams work better on TSE, while Darren's resigned and crestfallen growl is perfect for the earlier stuff. However, I'm glad Vinnie quit doing the harsh vocals, not only because of the change of direction, but because it was clearly not good for his vocal cords - his speaking voice is kinda hoarse between the songs on AVOADE.
Dunno about "Alone," though. The FD version is like twice as long and I'm unsure if it's for the better.
Alone works as a break from the heaviness on the album, but it's not a song I ever feel like listening to on its own, and that FD version makes me snore. :P
It will help immensely when we get to the albums that are actually on Spotify.
At least in my country, all of their stuff is up on Spotify - even the latest remasters.
Same here. Why can't Spotify have the same albums available everywhere instead of complicating people's lives? :lol
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Oh, I still need to listen to this one. Will do so tomorrow.
Why can't Spotify be available everywhere? :lol
FTFM
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Those who hate growls can rejoice now, because we're moving to the clean vocal phase. :P I'll be gone for a few days, so I'm posting this already so that you won't have to wait too long:
Eternity (1996)
(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d77HKPrYSvs/VauhnWjU4_I/AAAAAAAAAG0/pTHGW-yuco8/s320/eternity.jpg)
1. Sentient
2. Angelica
3. The Beloved
4. Eternity Part I
5. Eternity Part II
6. Hope (Roy Harper cover)
7. Suicide Veil
8. Radiation
9. Far Away
10. Eternity Part III
11. Cries on the Wind
12. Ascension
Line-up:
Vincent Cavanagh - vocals, guitars
John Douglas - drums
Duncan Patterson - bass
Danny Cavanagh - guitars, keyboards
Michelle Richfield - female vocals
Les Smith - keyboards
Roy Harper - spoken word on "Hope"
Eternity was recorded in 1996. Now that the band could finally write songs for Vincent's voice, they abandoned the death metal elements and harsh vocals, putting more emphasis on atmosphere, although the music was still doomy and heavy - the album was compared to Pink Floyd in a lot of reviews at the time. For the first time the band used an outside keyboardist, Les Smith (not yet as a full-time member, though he co-wrote "Sentient"), and female vocals by Michelle Richfield (Dominion) appeared on full band songs instead of acoustic numbers (she would later lend her voice for Duncan Patterson's Antimatter project).
The band also recorded a cover of Roy Harper's "Hope" and made a rather psychedelic video for it. Vincent explained the reasoning behind this choice: https://www.chroniclesofchaos.com/articles.aspx?id=1-173
CoC: What's the story behind the choice of using the song "Hope" on _Eternity_?
VC: The concept of "Hope". That was the choice, the concept itself of the song. Maybe we're not just spirits disappearing, maybe there is some sort of light at the end of the tunnel as far as our spirits are concerned. Perhaps things will be better one day, perhaps when we're dead; you know, all of these types of things you think about.
CoC: Why did you choose to have "Hope" as _Eternity_'s video clip? It's a somewhat strange choice, I think, since it's not very much like the rest of the album, is it?
VC: No, it isn't... Well, mainly, we chose it because the reactions from various sections of the media when _Eternity_ was released were very centered around "Hope", and it seemed to be the most popular choice at the time.
He also wrote the lyrics for the song "The Beloved" and talked about them in the same interview:
CoC: Specifically, I'd like to know what inspired you to write the lyrics for "The Beloved", if that's allright with you.
VC: Mainly the feeling of coming to the end of life as you see it, with all sorts of regrets about how you've conducted yourself while you were being given the chance -- love-wise, never really letting anyone in when you could have.
According to Danny, Eternity is a concept album: https://web.archive.org/web/19990204025210/https://www.scream.no/scr33/interviews33.html#ANATHEMA
It's Duncan (bass) that has written most of the lyrics. He has basically dealt with fear, and the fact that we sooner or later all are gonna die! He has also touch the theme that there are 4 billion people on this planet, and not a single person knows why we are here!
Duncan explained some of his lyrical themes in 1997: https://web.archive.org/web/19990302040646/https://www.dma.be/p/mindview/uk/new/iviews/anathema.htm
'Suicide Veil' is then again a weird story about someone taking drugs , thinks about committing suicide , but is ashamed of it a little bit later .
'Far Away' deals with escapism in every possible way : drinking , blowing , sniffing coke, eating magic mushrooms or just daydreaming to fly away with your thoughts from reality . When you grow older , you see your dreams shattered and you notice it's get ting worse , so that you only want to escape from it . 'Cries In The Wind' deals with the same theme as 'Hope' does , so rather a little bit depressing .
In later years, band members have expressed dissatisfaction with the album, like Vinnie in this interview: https://www.examiner.com/article/exclusive-interview-with-vincent-cavanagh-of-anathema-part-i
Eternity was where we tried to do the more rocking element and have some real singing, but I know that some people, to this day, think that’s their favorite album. When I listen to it, I hear a band that’s trying to find its sound. We were trying to find something but we were actually trying too hard. We had too many things on the table; too many guitars, too many effects. And it all sounded muddy because it was still down tuned to “B,” which is how we started
Danny has also said the production of Eternity is "a mess" and he wishes he could re-do it. On top of that, Duncan's original idea for the album cover was rejected by the record label and not used until it was reissued on vinyl a few years ago:
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--48sR4Cu90w/Tqoin1-R8SI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/L_xHndNbFJU/s1600/eternity.jpg)
"Duncan Patterson, the band mastermind at the time, wanted Eternity to be Anathema's White Album. He wanted the cover artwork to pay homage to the Beatles classic, but Music for Nations considered the concept uncommercial. So the album cover ended up sporting an image of an angel lost in cheesy CGI space.
I gotta agree that the final cover looks pretty awful! :lol
Eternity is the sound of a band in a transitional phase and feels like a stepping stone in between two great albums: some of Duncan Patterson's contributions are among the best Anathema songs ever, but a lot of the tunes are rather forgettable. Both the album's production and the vocals sound unrefined, the heavy arrangements don't do the songs justice and some of the keyboard sounds are quite dated. On the other hand, going from The Silent Enigma straight to Alternative 4 would've been impossible and would probably have been too drastic of a change for the fans at the time, so Eternity's place in the Anathema discography is justified, even though it's the band's weakest full-length album to date. (full review: https://echotester.blogspot.com/2015/07/anathema-discography-5-eternity-1996.html)
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Funny how opinions work. Weakest full length album to date?!!? I couldn't disagree more.
This one has gotten the most listens from me in the last few months. If I had to pinpoint parts of the album that I'm not thrilled about it would be Far Away and the last two tracks. The Eternity Suite and Hope on the other hand are, in my humble opinion, phenomenal. Angelica is possibly my favorite Anathema song yet, thus far in the discography, and The Beloved and Suicide Veil are also great. Particularly love the climax in the latter, but both have a few great moments.
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Together with The Silent Enigma, it's definitely their most underrated album. A really strong "first effort" (with the new sound) trying something other than metal. This is definitely a great album that set the sound which the band perfected on Judgement and Alternative 4.
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I'm a bit behind, sorry :lol. I actually enjoyed TSE - after the first two songs which are quite men imo, it got really interesting. Particularly liked Sunset of Age. Will listen to this one soon.
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I like most of Eternity but it's definitely the mess the band members are quoted saying. You can't stick an SM57 on a meh amplifier and stack that many tracks and make it sound good, even on tape!
Highlights for me are already said by others: "Angelica," the title suite.
I can't stand the Roy Harper cover. Awful.
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Funny how opinions work. Weakest full length album to date?!!? I couldn't disagree more.
This one has gotten the most listens from me in the last few months. If I had to pinpoint parts of the album that I'm not thrilled about it would be Far Away and the last two tracks. The Eternity Suite and Hope on the other hand are, in my humble opinion, phenomenal. Angelica is possibly my favorite Anathema song yet, thus far in the discography, and The Beloved and Suicide Veil are also great. Particularly love the climax in the latter, but both have a few great moments.
Really? :omg: Far Away is easily one of the best IMO. I feel Danny's songs are the weakest on the album, with the exception of Angelica, and even that one sounds a lot better on Hindsight.
I can't stand the Roy Harper cover. Awful.
I don't think it's that bad and it fits in surprisingly well, but it's not really an album highlight for me either.
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To open a can of worms: this is my favourite Anathema album, bar none. Hope drags a little, but the rest is perfect, especially Angelica, Far Away, Suicide Veil, Cries on the Wind and the Eternity Suite.
Damn, I'll have to listen to this one again. It's been too long.
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Funny how opinions work. Weakest full length album to date?!!? I couldn't disagree more.
This one has gotten the most listens from me in the last few months. If I had to pinpoint parts of the album that I'm not thrilled about it would be Far Away and the last two tracks. The Eternity Suite and Hope on the other hand are, in my humble opinion, phenomenal. Angelica is possibly my favorite Anathema song yet, thus far in the discography, and The Beloved and Suicide Veil are also great. Particularly love the climax in the latter, but both have a few great moments.
Really? :omg: Far Away is easily one of the best IMO. I feel Danny's songs are the weakest on the album, with the exception of Angelica, and even that one sounds a lot better on Hindsight.
I can't stand the Roy Harper cover. Awful.
I don't think it's that bad and it fits in surprisingly well, but it's not really an album highlight for me either.
Yeah... Far Away just hasn't ever really done much for me. They vocals are some of the weakest on the album, for me. Far awayyyyyyy... Meh...
I will say, the acoustic version is quite nice. And I agree on Hope. The little riff can be a little annoying but on the whole I still think it's a strong song.
To open a can of worms: this is my favourite Anathema album, bar none. Hope drags a little, but the rest is perfect, especially Angelica, Far Away, Suicide Veil, Cries on the Wind and the Eternity Suite.
Damn, I'll have to listen to this one again. It's been too long.
That makes me happy. Recently, it's been near the top for me. I think it's too bad that the band doesn't seem to enjoy it as much as we do.
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Finally listened to The Silent Enigma, yeah, growly stuff. Starting my listen to Eternity now.
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So, after one listen to Eternity, I can say I don't know why this album gets so much dislike from the band and from Ville. Yeah, few clunker tracks for sure: Hope, in my opinion, is just awful, and I'm kind of indifferent to Cries on the Wind and Ascension, but I liked the rest. Highlights for me are Angelica, The Beloved and Far Away. The title track suite is good, but not as good as those three.
Overall, I'm digging this dark vibe with clean vocal approach. Looking forward to the next one, and I may revisit this one a few times more this week.
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Overall, I'm digging this dark vibe with clean vocal approach. Looking forward to the next one, and I may revisit this one a few times more this week.
Then I'm sure you'll dig the following 2 albums ;D
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Still catching up on lost time from vacation. Listening to The Silent Enigma now.
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Well, that was interesting. Good compositions, but I'm kind of over the growly-growly.
Good thing that Eternity is up next. Here we go!
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Damn, Eternity is one damn fine album.
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Damn, Eternity is one damn fine album.
QFT.
I've listened to this album a couple of times over the last week or so, and with every listen, I love it more. Perfect mix of all the styles that Anathema were/are capable of, to be honest.
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To open a can of worms: this is my favourite Anathema album, bar none.
I can't say I agree with you, but I get why people love the album.
So, after one listen to Eternity, I can say I don't know why this album gets so much dislike from the band and from Ville.
Dunno, stylistically speaking Eternity should be right up my alley, but the songwriting just fails to excite me and the album comes across as a stepping stone on the band's way to Alternative 4. Speaking of that album, we're about to continue with it, as soon as I finish my write-up.
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I should give first two albums another listen ASAP but somehow I got bored when I started listening and never get to the end of album :/
And I think I never listened to Eternity in its entirety, good chance to finally get into those early albums.
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So, after one listen to Eternity, I can say I don't know why this album gets so much dislike from the band and from Ville.
Dunno, stylistically speaking Eternity should be right up my alley, but the songwriting just fails to excite me and the album comes across as a stepping stone on the band's way to Alternative 4. Speaking of that album, we're about to continue with it, as soon as I finish my write-up.
It's completely slipping my mind- where I saw this- but if I remember correctly the guys in the band have said in the past that Alternative 4 is the first release that they consider to be a legitimate album from a songwriting perspective. That is, in the sense that they wrote al the songs with a single product in mind, whereas in the past they just cobbled together albums from leftover pieces of other songs and different times, etc.
Now if that's true, maybe it explains some of the mixed reactions and perceptions of inconsistency. Though I think the production is also a big culprit as well.
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Alternative 4 (1998)
(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3_x6ZyvTp4A/VbdxCqXcHSI/AAAAAAAAAHI/JgJgTMIVYrc/s320/a4.jpg)
1. Shroud of False
2. Fragile Dreams
3. Empty
4. Lost Control
5. Re-Connect
6. Inner Silence
7. Alternative 4
8. Regret
9. Feel
10. Destiny
Line-up:
Vincent Cavanagh - vocals, guitars
Shaun Steels - drums
Duncan Patterson - bass, keyboards, piano
Danny Cavanagh - guitars, keyboards, piano
Andy Duncan - drum loops on "Empty"
George Rucci - violin
In 1997 Anathema parted ways with drummer John Douglas, who, according to Vincent at the time (https://www.chroniclesofchaos.com/articles.aspx?id=1-173), "was full of ideas, but he couldn't really bring any of them into action. He was too caught up with his ecstasy and his dancing... He lost all his enthusiasm; he wasn't really part of the band anymore." He was replaced by Shaun Steels, who would later go on to join My Dying Bride. However, before hiring him the band was requested to contribute a few cover tracks to a Peaceville compilation, and due to the lack of a drummer they recorded two Pink Floyd songs that had no drums and a piano ballad version of Bad Religion's "Better Off Dead" (featuring Michelle Richfield on vocals).
When Anathema started working on their fourth full-length album, everything wasn't alright within the band, as Vincent stated in a 2010 interview (https://www.examiner.com/article/exclusive-interview-with-vincent-cavanagh-of-anathema-part-i): "Danny [Cavanagh] and Duncan [Patterson] weren’t really talking at all. They didn’t even play on each other’s songs." Duncan left the band after the album was recorded, and in 2012 he explained his departure like this: https://autumnsphere.blogspot.fi/2012/01/interview-with-duncan-patterson.html
It was something that was on the cards for years. I was carrying the band, both musically and in every other sense. The guys got very lazy after Darren went and I was left to deal with everything. Danny went through a difficult period in his life around the time of Eternity and I stood up and took the musical reigns while he wasn't so creative. Thats how I ended up writing lyrics on his tracks, as he didn't have the energy or motivation at that time. I was always living in the hope that the guys would start to take more responsibility, but it never happened. Then around the time of Alternative 4 we were having big problems between us. A lot of it was a lack of communication, which we were all guilty of. And there were problems between all three of us, not just me versus Danny, which seems to be the accepted version of the tale. As I said earlier, we were surrounded by real parasitic people who were giving each of us their own 'advice' to basically play us off against each other and take advantage of whoever ended up leaving or being fired. We were very close to splitting up and then a family tragedy struck for the brothers. It was then that I put it all into perspective and told Danny and Vinny to sort out their differences and continue the band, and I decided to pursue another project. That was a pure gesture from me out of goodwill and decency. I'm glad I came away with my head held high. But after that I was shit on from a great height. I was stopped from making music, silenced in the press, and lied about and defamed in big magazines. I had my royalties stopped (illegally) and I was in a dark place for a while. I didn't deserve that at all. Then a couple of years later I bumped into Danny in a club and he helped fix a lot of the problems. He made sure that I got paid again and apologised for the band making me the scapegoat for their own chaos and guilt. I also bumped into someone who was close to Vinny at the time who told me "WE didn't mean to hurt you, WE had to do what was best for the bands image after you left". She used the word "WE" which confirmed that she was involved in influencing a lot of that shit. And I wont even mention the name of the guy who unsuccessfully replaced me. He was the ringleader and his departure coincided with me being friends with the guys again. Well, that was no coincidence. Anyway, neither of these people had anything to do with our music or the band. But they managed to force their way in. There were many of those kinds of people around us like vultures. We were young though, and still learning about all this. And the important thing is that we sorted it out long ago and we get along better than ever.
There were also musical differences, as Duncan "wanted to write more piano-based stuff and bring in a female vocalist, use more ambient sounds etc. While they wanted to be more guitar based and heavy, as they famously said during the Judgement interviews. Its funny the way things turn out." In a 1998 interview he said they'd like to make an acoustic album, but doubted their label would approve of the idea.
Anyway, into the music: Alternative 4 included some new elements, such as the violin on "Fragile Dreams" and "Lost Control", and the drum loops on "Empty". According to Duncan, the latter song was born after the record label requested the band to write a single, but I can't say it's a very radio-friendly tune! :lol Vincent had also taken singing lessons and the band now tuned to standard E instead of B.
The sound of the album is much more minimalistic and depressive compared to Eternity. Duncan would take the minimalism to extremes with his later projects, which had little to do with rock, let alone metal. However, in 1998 Vincent argued that Anathema's music was still doom metal, although its scope had become wider and more diverse. The Pink Floyd influence was still strong, but according to Duncan (https://web.archive.org/web/20041216010435/https://www.rockbrigade.com.br/pages/artigos_english/anathema.htm) people had compared the album to a variety of bands ranging from U2 to The Sisters of Mercy.
The album title was inspired by Leslie Watkins' book Alternative 3, which deals with conspiracy theories. Regarding Vincent's accent at the end of the title-track, Duncan said:
We were laughing too, it was intentionally humorous for us and Vinny is a great impersonator. We wanted to make it sound like 1930s style or something. As for the use of the word holocaust, it has nothing to do with Germany or the 2nd World War. I was actually referring to Armageddon. I really don't see how people could connect that song to the nazi atrocities. It wouldn't make sense at all.
As an interesting fun fact, the clicking noise in "Destiny" after the 1-minute mark is the buttons on Duncan's combat pants hitting the acoustic guitar: https://www.facebook.com/duncanpatterson.music/posts/10153011922333722
Vincent has said the thought-provoking album cover is "a picture of the virgin Mary -- with an astronaut face, the reflexion of an astronaut." However, like the original cover concept for Eternity, the album cover wasn't first met with approval:
I remember that Music For Nations didn't like the cover, and originally removed the wings and tried to change the 'alternative 4' font, because they thought it didn't fit. I was stubborn though and made sure that they fixed it. They also changed some of the lyrics and punctuation which I had originally typed into their computer in their office. Crazy stuff!
Due to the split with Dunc, Dave Pybus was brought in to play the bass for the tour in support of the album, eventually becoming a full-time member. Martin Powell (ex-My Dying Bride) was also hired to play live keyboards, and the band toured with Portuguese gothic metallers Moonspell in the fall of 1998.
Alternative 4 is a brutally honest album, both musically and lyrically. There's not a single filler track in its 45-minute running time and the album has a strong atmosphere without getting monotonous at any point, thanks to the different styles of the band's songwriters. Anathema prove that there are probably even more shades of gray than 50! While I don't agree with the Cavanagh brothers' view that it's the beginning of the "real" Anathema, I do consider Alternative 4 the band's greatest achievement and the first of their two bullseyes. (full review: https://echotester.blogspot.com/2015/07/anathema-discography-6-alternative-4.html)
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It's completely slipping my mind- where I saw this- but if I remember correctly the guys in the band have said in the past that Alternative 4 is the first release that they consider to be a legitimate album from a songwriting perspective. That is, in the sense that they wrote al the songs with a single product in mind, whereas in the past they just cobbled together albums from leftover pieces of other songs and different times, etc.
Now if that's true, maybe it explains some of the mixed reactions and perceptions of inconsistency. Though I think the production is also a big culprit as well.
Yeah, as I just wrote at the bottom of the write-up, both Danny and Vinnie have called A4 the first "true" Anathema album. The least open-minded metalheads probably consider it the last, though. :P Seeing how many posters in this thread liked Eternity compared to the previous albums, I think the number will get even higher now. ;)
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Definitely one of their best. I'd probably put it as my third favorite Anathema album. Regret and Alternative 4 are my two favorites, but it also has other "classics" like Fragile Dream, Lost Control and Empty.
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This album is so depressing, but awesome music-wise. Fragile Dreams, Lost Control, and the self-titled song are the highlights here imo.
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It's completely slipping my mind- where I saw this- but if I remember correctly the guys in the band have said in the past that Alternative 4 is the first release that they consider to be a legitimate album from a songwriting perspective. That is, in the sense that they wrote al the songs with a single product in mind, whereas in the past they just cobbled together albums from leftover pieces of other songs and different times, etc.
Now if that's true, maybe it explains some of the mixed reactions and perceptions of inconsistency. Though I think the production is also a big culprit as well.
Yeah, as I just wrote at the bottom of the write-up, both Danny and Vinnie have called A4 the first "true" Anathema album.
Good timing.
I haven't listened to Alternative 4, as a whole, in a few weeks but I'd say it's probably in the top half of their albums, for me. My favorites are Lost Control, Inner Silence and Regret. Fragile Dreams is a really nice song as well, but I'd be lying if I said I understood why the band plays it live far more than any other song. The rest of the songs are quite strong as well.
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Will listen to it tomorrow.
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There's not a single filler track in its 45-minute running time and the album has a strong atmosphere without getting monotonous at any point, thanks to the different styles of the band's songwriters.
Love your writeup, but I depart on this point. For the incredible strength of songs like "Fragile Dreams," "Lost Control," "Inner Silence," "Alternative 4" and "Regret," the rest simply don't live up. "Feel" in particular is quite bad considering this – I actually deleted it, renumbered the tracks, and totally forgot it existed until last week. So that's like 12-13 years I have despised it! I didn't even do that to "Hope," jeez. xD (I like the end riff these days, but the rest is still pretty meh imo.)
Also, I see a lot of people (all over the web) praise the production on this one. While it's a huge improvement over Eternity for sure, and hardly bad sounding, I get very annoyed at how far forward Vincent's vocal is, and how the drums sit on top of the guitars rather than punching through. I'm thankful they fixed these things for Judgement.
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Fragile Dreams is a really nice song as well, but I'd be lying if I said I understood why the band plays it live far more than any other song.
I think it's a great rock song that manages to be upbeat and sad at the same time, and that mix of emotions is what defines Anathema IMO. Also, that guitar melody is so infectious that even newbie fans who only know the latest three albums will probably be humming it after the show is over. :D However, Fragile Dreams (or any other pre-WHBWH song) hasn't been played lately: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/anathema/2015/concorde-2-brighton-england-7bf67e6c.html
There's not a single filler track in its 45-minute running time and the album has a strong atmosphere without getting monotonous at any point, thanks to the different styles of the band's songwriters.
Love your writeup, but I depart on this point. For the incredible strength of songs like "Fragile Dreams," "Lost Control," "Inner Silence," "Alternative 4" and "Regret," the rest simply don't live up. "Feel" in particular is quite bad considering this – I actually deleted it, renumbered the tracks, and totally forgot it existed until last week. So that's like 12-13 years I have despised it! I didn't even do that to "Hope," jeez. xD (I like the end riff these days, but the rest is still pretty meh imo.)
Also, I see a lot of people (all over the web) praise the production on this one. While it's a huge improvement over Eternity for sure, and hardly bad sounding, I get very annoyed at how far forward Vincent's vocal is, and how the drums sit on top of the guitars rather than punching through. I'm thankful they fixed these things for Judgement.
Glad you enjoyed the writeup! :) Feel may not be one of the highlights, but I love the Hammond in it and I think it's a pity it has only been played live by Antimatter. I agree that Judgement is better produced than A4, though.
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You're right about all that- Fragile Dreams is a great song with a great melody and great melody. I suppose my only issue is that I feel the description you just gave could apply to a whole lot of other Anathema songs that barely ever get played these days (I'm thinking about some from Judgement and AFDTE, in particular, but I think Angelica applies as well).
Does anyone know what kind of stuff Dave Pybus was saying about Dunc in the couple years after he quit the band?
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Nice album, slightly better than Eternity in my opinion. The instrumentation is a definite highlight on this one, but I'm kind of unconvinced by the vocal delivery. I mean, in some songs it works for me, in others it doesn't.
My favourites are Lost Control (the two instrumental parts after "Have I really lost control?" and "I admit I've lost control" are amazing) and Regret (this is where vocalit shines indeed), both songs are great. I also liked the opener, Fragile Dreams, and I think Feel is alright too. My least favourite is probably Empty.
Enjoyable album overall.
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Great album. I think it was their first I heard (or just first I liked).
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Nice album, slightly better than Eternity in my opinion. The instrumentation is a definite highlight on this one, but I'm kind of unconvinced by the vocal delivery. I mean, in some songs it works for me, in others it doesn't.
I guess Vincent was still learning how to sing on this one, and I think he gets a bit better with the next album. Glad you're now enjoying their music btw ;D
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Nice album, slightly better than Eternity in my opinion. The instrumentation is a definite highlight on this one, but I'm kind of unconvinced by the vocal delivery. I mean, in some songs it works for me, in others it doesn't.
I guess Vincent was still learning how to sing on this one, and I think he gets a bit better with the next album. Glad you're now enjoying their music btw ;D
I'm kind of dreading the next one. I've never given a chance to both Eternity and Alternative 4, but I did listen to Judgement a few times and didn't like it at all. We'll see, I guess.
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Well, it's not that different from Alternative 4 - some could even say it's just a better version of it. Maybe now you're in the mood it might click. Or not :lol .
Anyways, you should give A4 a few more spins until you love it :neverusethis:
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It was nice relistening to Alternative 4 again. I too am dreading Judgement, for out of their second 'phase' (A4 to AND) it's my least favourite and I simply don't 'get' half the tracks on that album. We'll see, I'll spin it when the time comes :)
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You're right about all that- Fragile Dreams is a great song with a great melody and great melody. I suppose my only issue is that I feel the description you just gave could apply to a whole lot of other Anathema songs that barely ever get played these days (I'm thinking about some from Judgement and AFDTE, in particular, but I think Angelica applies as well).
Does anyone know what kind of stuff Dave Pybus was saying about Dunc in the couple years after he quit the band?
I think Deep is closest to Fragile Dreams musically and could also have become THE song that gets played at every show (it's #3 behind FD and Closer, according to setlist.fm), but maybe they got bored of it - the performance in 2006 in Istanbul (https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/anathema/2006/yeni-melek-istanbul-turkey-43d57f17.html) was introduced as "maybe the last time we play it in Europe", although they've played it countless times since then.
I haven't managed to find any old interviews with Pybus, but according to Danny he stopped Dunc from being paid royalties, even though they'd just played together in a band called Dreambreed. Funnily enough, the Dreambreed album was engineered by Jamie Cavanagh, so this must be the only time all the three Anathema bassists have worked together. :P
Nice album, slightly better than Eternity in my opinion. The instrumentation is a definite highlight on this one, but I'm kind of unconvinced by the vocal delivery. I mean, in some songs it works for me, in others it doesn't.
I consider the vocals a massive improvement over Eternity and you can tell the singing lessons helped Vincent. But maybe you'll like his singing on the later albums better, as he continued to improve over time.
I'm kind of dreading the next one. I've never given a chance to both Eternity and Alternative 4, but I did listen to Judgement a few times and didn't like it at all. We'll see, I guess.
I too am dreading Judgement, for out of their second 'phase' (A4 to AND) it's my least favourite and I simply don't 'get' half the tracks on that album.
People not liking Judgement?! You both can redeem yourselves next week! :police:
Well, it's not that different from Alternative 4 - some could even say it's just a better version of it.
Nah, I wouldn't go that far, though I love both albums. ;)
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What? I just think that both AFDTE and AND are better than Judgement :)
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I mean it's their best album so, I guess we'll have plenty to talk about.
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Enlighten me :)
(Or wait until we actually get there and first discuss Alternative 4 :lol)
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Sue me, but I like this better:
Shroud of False
Fragile Dreams
Alternative 4
Reconnect (the hyphen makes no sense!)
Lost Control
Empty
Inner Silence
Feel
Destiny
Regret
FD->A4 are in the same key, IS->Feel have the same rhythmic end/beginning, and Destiny->Regret are also in the same key. It just works. (I could see swapping Reconnect & Empty, though.)
Also, does anyone like the covers as bonus tracks? The PF ones are great but maaaan those other two are... eugh.
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Fragile Dreams is in G minor, while A4 is in D minor, but the transition works surprisingly well anyway. Destiny is the only right closer, though - the band has often played it after Lost Control in concerts, so LC might work as the penultimate song.
Also, does anyone like the covers as bonus tracks? The PF ones are great but maaaan those other two are... eugh.
There are three PF covers, so which one of them is "eugh" besides the Bad Religion song?
As I said in the blog post, I find the Floyd covers pretty redundant, because they sound almost identical to the original versions. Better Off Dead, on the other hand... :heart
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This album is so depressing, but awesome music-wise. Fragile Dreams, Lost Control, and the self-titled song are the highlights here imo.
I was going to type something, but this post is basically what I was going to type.
So, this.
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This album is so depressing, but awesome music-wise. Fragile Dreams, Lost Control, and the self-titled song are the highlights here imo.
I was going to type something, but this post is basically what I was going to type.
So, this.
Does that mean I get the admin spot? Or bosk will grant me an emoji? :neverusethis:
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This album is so depressing, but awesome music-wise. Fragile Dreams, Lost Control, and the self-titled song are the highlights here imo.
I was going to type something, but this post is basically what I was going to type.
So, this.
Does that mean I get the admin spot? Or bosk will grant me an emoji? :neverusethis:
No.
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This album is so depressing, but awesome music-wise. Fragile Dreams, Lost Control, and the self-titled song are the highlights here imo.
I was going to type something, but this post is basically what I was going to type.
So, this.
Does that mean I get the admin spot? Or bosk will grant me an emoji? :neverusethis:
No.
Well, maybe I always knew. My fragile dreams would be broken :'(
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This album is so depressing, but awesome music-wise. Fragile Dreams, Lost Control, and the self-titled song are the highlights here imo.
I was going to type something, but this post is basically what I was going to type.
So, this.
Does that mean I get the admin spot? Or bosk will grant me an emoji? :neverusethis:
No.
Well, maybe I always knew. My fragile dreams would be broken :'(
I admit I've lost control.
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I wish I could find that pic Duncan posted on his FB page where there was a keyboard missing a Ctrl button and it said "I admit I've lost control." :lol
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There are three PF covers, so which one of them is "eugh" besides the Bad Religion song?
Heh, shit. I always associate "Your Possible Pasts" directly with Roger Waters, but you're right, it was released under Floyd. That's the one I meant.
A4 has a lyrical obsession with "coming back." Seemed like there are some references on Eternity too, iirc.
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Sorry about the delay, I got back to work this week!
Judgement (1999)
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XYBlGJ5JM88/VcZC6_KV2QI/AAAAAAAAAHY/ntHQoyw1_tk/s320/judgement.jpg)
1. Deep
2. Pitiless
3. Forgotten Hopes
4. Destiny Is Dead
5. Make It Right (FFS)
6. One Last Goodbye
7. Parisienne Moonlight
8. Judgement
9. Don't Look Too Far
10. Emotional Winter
11. Wings of God
12. Anyone, Anywhere
13. 2000 & Gone
Line-up:
Vincent Cavanagh - vocals, guitars
John Douglas - drums
Dave Pybus - bass
Danny Cavanagh - guitars, keyboards, vocals on "Parisienne Moonlight"
Dario Patti - piano on "Anyone, Anywhere"
Lee Douglas - female vocals on "Parisienne Moonlight" and "Don't Look Too Far"
After the tour in support of Alternative 4, John Douglas returned behind the drum kit. According to Vincent, letting Shaun Steels go wasn't a slight on his abilities or personality, but the band "needed to get back home", because Vincent and Danny thought having only two original members in the band wasn't enough. Newcomer Dave Pybus commented at the time (https://web.archive.org/web/20000424115122/https://blackmetal.com/~mega/Anathema/NewsOct98.html): "John has short hair these days, but fuck that, he still does a great job on the drums... and more. He has tons of excellent ideas for new material and spends half of the rehearsal time on the guitar and keyboards." The new line-up had writing sessions in Crash Studios, Liverpool, and they were working on "around 15 new songs and maybe 2 covers which we will demo in late December."
For the first time since The Silent Enigma (and the last time overall), a large number of songs were born as group efforts instead of being written by just one member. Vincent offered some insight on the music and the songwriting process in a news update in January 1999: https://web.archive.org/web/19991008002231/https://www.blackmetal.com/~mega/Anathema/NewsJan99.html
All I can say at this point is that its very ANATHEMA. There are a lot of ideas coming from everyone and the only problem we have is finishing it all in time for the studio. There seems to be so much variation in the songs too, some are very heavy and quite angry, others are beautiful ambient pieces. I don't think the album will be a short one, that's for sure.
[John and Dave] have so many ideas its difficult to say stop! John has fit back in very well and Dave has more of a mature, working attitude with the material we are writing. Its good to have someone in the band listening to the music like a true fan and weeding out any rubbish. We need some guidance right now and they are both filling the gaps great. It feels like John never left.
We are still using working titles with all the new songs so we can't really give anything away. All of them will change before the album is released. Some of the better ones are: "Wings of God", "No One" and "Celestial Warning"
Musically, Judgement is more guitar-driven and rocking than the ambient and keyboard-heavy Alternative 4. According to Vincent, this change of direction was intentional: https://www.examiner.com/article/exclusive-interview-with-vincent-cavanagh-of-anathema-part-i
I said to Danny, “you’ve got to play more lead guitar. It’s one of your most expressive ways of playing. It’s the most expressive way for you to say anything. You can write songs and say lyrics, but to hear you play lead guitar... it’s you. No one plays like you.” So I reminded him of that on Judgement, and it ended up being a more electric guitar based album, rather than piano or acoustic guitar. There are more leads and more rock.
"Parisienne Moonlight" and "Don't Look Too Far" are notable songs for being the first to feature future vocalist Lee Douglas.
Lyrically, the album is dark and sad in traditional Anathema vein: fan-favorite "One Last Goodbye" is about the death of Vincent and Danny's mother, while John Douglas wrote about insanity and "Forgotten Hopes" is, according to Danny (https://web.archive.org/web/19991004124414/https://www.iad.be/mindview/iviews/anathema99.htm), "dedicated to all alcoholic people who blame other people for their problems." Later he has commented that Pybus' sole lyrical contribution, "Anyone, Anywhere" had no meaning at all to its writer and is the only dishonest song in the Anathema catalog.
The sessions went smoothly with the exception of one incident: https://web.archive.org/web/19991008014244/https://www.blackmetal.com/~mega/Anathema/NewsMarch99.html
Vincent and Danny arrested after secret show!
While recording their new album at Damage Inc. studios in Vetimiglia, Italy, ANATHEMA decided to make a special live appearence in a down town bar to air some of their new songs. Just moments after finishing the short set, in burst the local police armed with sniffer dogs who took an instant liking to vocalist Vincentand guitarist Danny. THE CAGE guitarist and studio owner Dario Mollo fails an attempt to save the brothers from spending the night in the cells, and the two are arrested. On their release next morning, Vincent was in good spirits: "One of the Police recognised us and we spent the night signing autographs and listening to Pink Floyds "The Wall" on their tape player." They were not charged.
The recordings were followed by a couple of shows in Greece, where the band played "Deep" and "Pitiless". They also opened for Cathedral at a one-off show in London, where the setlist included "Deep" again, along with the premiere of the title-track and a performance of "Sleepless" with Darren White on vocals. At the end of 1999 Anathema toured Europe with Tiamat and played dates in France on its own. They performed Judgement in full in Paris, and Lee Douglas was flown out to sing "Parisienne Moonlight" with them. You can read a tour diary by Dave Pybus here: https://web.archive.org/web/20000411111556/https://www.blackmetal.com/~mega/Anathema/NewsDecember99.html
Judgement works as the perfect bridge between Anathema's metal beginnings and their later sound. It's also like a companion work to Alternative 4: obviously the songwriting is different, but they were released so close to each other that they feel like two halves of a double album and complement each other. Alternative 4 sounds cold and edgy, whereas Judgement has a warm and full production. If A4 is the soundtrack for hitting the rock bottom, then Judgement represents the first difficult step you have to take to get your life back on track.
The cover art and the band photo in the centerfold of the booklet probably have a lot to do with this, but Judgement is a summer album to me - if you close your eyes while listening, you can imagine yourself by a lake at sunset. The atmosphere of the album also makes it a pleasure to listen to: it's sad, but you can hear that there was a good vibe going on during the making process. Judgement may not be as tight as its precedessor, but I wouldn't change a thing about it regardless.
Full review: https://echotester.blogspot.com/2015/08/anathema-discography-7-judgement.html
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I listened to this album once on Spotify and it didn't really do anything for me, despite all the praise it gets. Maybe I'll give it another try someday.
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Their best album for sure. :) Took me a few spins to really appreciate, but boy oh boy what an album it is.
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Their second best album for sure. :) Took me a few spins to really appreciate, but boy oh boy what an album it is.
Fixed. At first it told me nothing, and bored me. Damn, what a fantastic grower! Don't let one spin disappoint you guys ;)
My fav songs here are Judgement and Pitiless, with Deep just behind.
Didn't know that about their arrest, good everything ended up fine.
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For a long time I had a hard time ranking this or WHBWH highest, but I think Judgement has stood the test of time just slightly better. WHBWH is still most definitely awesome (and second best), but Judgement is just the perfect emotional album. Nowadays it feels like they are just emulating feelings a lot of the time, but on the older albums you could tell it was more genuine, at least IMO.
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Judgement was the second album I really loved. The opening suite of 4 songs is just perfect, not a single note wasted nor a single transition not perfect. I often wonder if they did all of them in one take while recording the bed tracks.
About the only song that doesn't stand up, imo, is "Don't Look Too Far." Even Lee Douglas couldn't turn it beyond "okay."
Special shoutout to the absolutely crazy title track. What a punchout!
I really dig the "Emotional Winter/Wings of God" medley they play on Universal. Genius. And it dodges the opening part of "Wings of God" that I rather dislike (but is rather like Alternative 4!).
If anyone is wondering why "2000 & Gone" is so boring: It was constructed to be carried by speech samples that were removed, though not quite as well as "Internal Landscapes." Danny had shared the version with samples online around the same time he shared what became "A Fine Day."
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About the only song that doesn't stand up, imo, is "Don't Look Too Far." Even Lee Douglas couldn't turn it beyond "okay."
I love the verses but the chorus is kind of anticlimactic, though I like the guitar effects on it.
If anyone is wondering why "2000 & Gone" is so boring: It was constructed to be carried by speech samples that were removed, though not quite as well as "Internal Landscapes." Danny had shared the version with samples online around the same time he shared what became "A Fine Day."
Oh yeah, I remember hearing that version, along with A Fine Day, when it was still online. I wonder what happened to the samples - they would've given the song a little more color.
Nowadays it feels like they are just emulating feelings a lot of the time, but on the older albums you could tell it was more genuine, at least IMO.
I don't think they're faking or emulating their feelings in the new stuff, but I have to admit the lyrics have gotten slightly predictable in the past few years. Maybe it's because Danny writes pretty much all of them these days, but I also feel that with darker subjects it's easier not to get repetitive. However, the only glaringly fake and cheesy Anathema lyrics can be found in Anyone, Anywhere. "No one really cares where I go..." :'(
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Nowadays it feels like they are just emulating feelings a lot of the time, but on the older albums you could tell it was more genuine, at least IMO.
I don't think they're faking or emulating their feelings in the new stuff, but I have to admit the lyrics have gotten slightly predictable in the past few years. Maybe it's because Danny writes pretty much all of them these days, but I also feel that with darker subjects it's easier not to get repetitive.
This. Maybe they just got past a tough period in their life, and have no intentions of going back to such an obscure place. And their career has never been so successful, thu I don't see why they can't be happy about their situation.
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I'm late to the posting on this album...
Judgement was the first pre-WHBWH album that really took a hold over me. I still remember so vividly the first time that it clicked for me. I was out camping, alone in my tent late at night winding down after a long day of hiking. I was physically and mentally exhausted and within seconds of putting the album on I found myself completely transported. It was an immensely calm and beautifully dark space.
Over time the rest of those early albums have similarly clicked and as a result I don't necessarily revere Judgement as much as I once did, but it's still clearly one of the strongest Anathema albums for me. Despite having perhaps my single favorite Anathema song on the album (I'll get to that in a second), I still feel that this album is a great example of the often overused 'whole stronger than the sum of its parts'. The reason I say that is that I very rarely go back for listens of single tracks, as only one of them consistently blows me away. However, the album as a whole- it's atmosphere, the way it flows, the warm sound, the mood conveyed through the lyrics and everything else mixed together- very consistently blows me away.
I will echo the comment about the newer lyrics not necessarily being more cheesy or fake but rather instead being a bit more predictable as a result of Danny writing most of them (though I still the majority of them).
Also, since we're halfway through the discography (not including Hindsight and Falling Deeper, which reminds me- are you going to post on those, Ville?) I'm curious to see how everyone following the thread so far would rank their favorite songs on these first five albums.
A top 10 ranking for me would look something like this:
10. Kingdom
9. Lovelorn Rhapsody
8. Suicide Veil
7. Regret
6. Under a Veil (of Black Lace)
5. Eternity Suite (yes- I cheat a bit on this one...)
4. Inner Silence
3. Lost Control
2. Angelica
1. One Last Goodbye
With three A4 and Eternity songs in my top 10, it seems like those would be the albums to beat. But like I said, Judgement is an incredibly strong album and it has my favorite song thus far. And really, when it comes to individual songs, it's not that close (which is incredible considering how much I love songs 2-5 in particular). One Last Goodbye is the quintessential early-middle Anathema song, in my opinion.
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Oh yes, One last Goodbye is fantastic. My top would look like thin, in no particular order:
Pitiless
Fragile Dreams
Deep
Kingdom
Alternative 4
Lost Control
Eternity
One Last Goodbye
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I still feel that this album is a great example of the often overused 'whole stronger than the sum of its parts'. The reason I say that is that I very rarely go back for listens of single tracks, as only one of them consistently blows me away. However, the album as a whole- it's atmosphere, the way it flows, the warm sound, the mood conveyed through the lyrics and everything else mixed together- very consistently blows me away.
:iagree:
I think Judgement and WHBWH are the most "complete" Anathema albums in the sense that they benefit the most from being listened to in full. Ironically, these are the only two albums Anathema has played front to back live!
Also, since we're halfway through the discography (not including Hindsight and Falling Deeper, which reminds me- are you going to post on those, Ville?)
Yep, that's the plan! I may keep those discussions open for a shorter time, though - maybe 4 or 5 days, depending on how busy I am at that point.
I posted my own Anathema top 25 a couple of years ago, but I can't remember what it looked like and of course my mind has changed in that time, so these are my top 10 90s Anathema songs at the moment (chronologically):
Lovelorn Rhapsody
Restless Oblivion
Sunset of Age
Eternity Part III
Fragile Dreams
Lost Control (my #1)
Inner Silence
Deep
One Last Goodbye
Emotional Winter
Honorable mentions:
They (Will Always) Die
A Dying Wish
Empty
Regret
Judgement
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Finally listened to Judgement. Well, it was alright, but I liked Alternative 4 a lot more. My favourite song was probably One Last Goodbye or Forgotten Hopes. All four songs in the beginning are alright though. I also liked Emotional Winter. All in all, I don't think I'll be revisiting this one often. Looking forward to the next one.
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You know, I used to think that way, and it grew a fucking lot. It took some time tho. Can't believe I didn't notice the amazing solo on Pitiless before the 6th listen or so :lol
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You know, I used to think that way, and it grew a fucking lot. It took some time tho. Can't believe I didn't notice the amazing solo on Pitiless before the 6th listen or so :lol
Speaking of that, I didn't realize the bridge in Pitiless and the verses in Forgotten Hopes share the same guitar melody until last week when I listened to the album because of this thread. :blush
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You know, I used to think that way, and it grew a fucking lot. It took some time tho. Can't believe I didn't notice the amazing solo on Pitiless before the 6th listen or so :lol
Speaking of that, I didn't realize the bridge in Pitiless and the verses in Forgotten Hopes share the same guitar melody until last week when I listened to the album because of this thread. :blush
Even though "Deep" segues directly, I think the actual 'Judgement Suite' is just "Pitiless"/"Forgotten Hopes"/"Destiny is Dead." They are held together much more directly than the guitar resonance holding "Deep" with them.
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Just finished my listen of Judgement.
Wow, that was fantastic. As far as I'm concerned, these are just getting better and better.
I realize that continued listening may change that opinion.
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Great to hear you liked it! :tup
I'll post the write-up for AFDTE tomorrow...
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:caffeine:
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A Fine Day to Exit (2001)
(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GXMKp87cJAM/VdNpjNIGdtI/AAAAAAAAAHo/J8gG3Vy_sug/s320/fineday.jpg)
1. Pressure
2. Release
3. Looking Outside Inside
4. Leave No Trace
5. Underworld
6. Barriers
7. Panic
8. A Fine Day to Exit
9. Temporary Peace
Reissue:
1. A Fine Day
2. Release
3. Leave No Trace
4. Underworld
5. Pressure
6. Panic
7. Breaking Down the Barriers
8. Looking Outside Inside
9. A Fine Day to Exit
10. Temporary Peace
Line-up:
Vincent Cavanagh - vocals, guitars
John Douglas - drums
Dave Pybus - bass
Les Smith - keyboards, programming
Danny Cavanagh - guitars, keyboards, backing vocals
Lee Douglas - vocals
After Judgement, Anathema became a five-piece (again) with the addition of keyboardist Les Smith, who joined the band as a full-time member. In a recent interview with Drowned in Sound (https://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4148756-from-the-beginning--dis-meets-anathema), Vincent described Les' often overlooked role in the band:
He'd played with us a bit before, and he'd been in Ship of Fools - who were this fantastic psychedelic band - and he had a lot of experience in the industry too which was really calming and helpful for us. He became our de facto manager really for the next ten years or so.
However, this line-up didn't last long, as Dave Pybus quit the band to "play headbanging things" and join Cradle of Filth during the making of the new album. According to Vincent (https://web.archive.org/web/20020913134211/https://anathemafr.free.fr/pressibis.htm), Dave was spending more time with his girlfriend than with the band around the time of the recording, so in hindsight his departure wasn't a shock. However, Danny had less nice things to say about him in 2002: https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/daniel-cavanagh-to-rejoin-anathema/
Dave is a little weasel (to quote a member of CRADLE OF FILTH). who used ANATHEMA completely for his own ends. He spent 5 (five!) days in the studio during the entire time of the A Fine Day To Exit sessions (3 months altogether) he only did this for his own advantage, and he was really pissed off that he didn't get the same publishing royalties (songwriter's money) as the rest of the band, even though he stopped Duncan being paid, even though he hated us anyway, he never wanted Les to join the band, he never really liked any of the songs from the band (he pretended to like Judgement), he refused to write songs or become truly involved in the process, he would spread sh.t about ANATHEMA on the net, pretendind to be Vinny in the chat room on occasion! And he constantly complained about being in a band with bastards! And to top all this off, Vinny was begging him not to leave (at first), and didn't even want his own brother Jamie (genuine, talented, understanding bloke) to play in the band (at first, he has understood since then). Some people have no clue about what has actually been happening, and this includes some band members!
Musically, A Fine Day to Exit is a step in the direction of alternative rock, and the album drew comparisons to Radiohead - just when the band was starting to shake off the Pink Floyd comparisons! :lol Lee Douglas made her second appearance on an Anathema album, this time on two songs: "Barriers" and "Temporary Peace" - Danny also debuted as a lead singer on the former. The album title was an accident of sorts: https://web.archive.org/web/20041120192120/https://digitalmetal.com/interviews.asp?iID=1813&page=4
It became the title of the album; it was a working title. The riff John wrote on that song reminded him of "A Fine Day to Die" by Bathory and "Exit Music" by Radiohead. It's two completely different styles. The Bathory was the clean guitar thing and the way the drums come in reminded him of "Exit Music." It was a working title just so we'd remember which riff we were talking about; it was called "A Fine Day to Exit." It's only afterwards that when things started to tie in with it.
The lyrics of the up-tempo track "Panic", which has often been played right after "Judgement" in concerts, were born with an unusual method:
"Panic," for one, was difficult, 'cause it was a departure. It has that big, fast punk riff. I was going to write some words for it, but I was busy trying to finish the words to my own song. It turned out John [Douglas] came up with this completely original idea, inspired by the Beater bands, which has nothing to do with punk. [laughs] He just took it and wrote these mad words that rhythmically fit with the music. The first time I read them and he was singing them to me it made me laugh. It was brilliant - I enjoyed singing it. It's a great pick-me-up on the record. It all happened in the studio: we still needed a chorus and I wrote one. But, John wrote one that was better, so we used it.
"Looking Outside Inside", on the other hand, was based on a 5-year-old guitar melody, and Vincent improvised the wordless vocals at the end.
The hidden track at the end of "Temporary Peace" serves as comic relief: https://www.examiner.com/article/exclusive-interview-with-vincent-cavanagh-of-anathema-part-i
After the song “Temporary Peace,” John wanted to record some of his own poetry, so he took a recorder out in the snow and walked along the English countryside, on the south coast. He walked across cliffs reciting his own poetry to himself, into the recorder, and he’d recall memories of going out to the club at 3 a.m., out of his mind in a way. All of that wound up being a composite at the end of the album just for humor.
You hear the sound of a beach and the way we tied it in is that there’s the guy who’s gone completely mad in the artwork – that’s John. It’s like he’s come back from faking his own death and instead of walking into the water, he leaves all of stuff behind and wonders off for a new life. He’s rambling on because he’s completely crazy.
The acoustic piece was also John Douglas' idea:
It's Dog House. It's John singing a song we recorded in the rehearsal room in Liverpool and we decided to put it on the album, we like it, because of the lyrics, they're funny. Imagine like a farmer who told too many lies in his life and the last one have been found out by his wife, so she kicks him out. So he's got a bag and his guitar and he walks off, down the path, he don't even know where. So he just sits on the wall, takes his guitar, stares at the dog. And he just start singing this song. That's what John meant with this song.
A video was made for "Pressure" and the song was going to be released as a single, but the release was scrapped: https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/anathema-cancel-single-plans-to-issue-live-dvd-in-april/
According to an official statement by Music For Nations Records press officer Doug Wright, Pressure was withdrawn as a single because: 1) MTV did not like the video and therefore would not play it, 2) The majority of radio stations, although they are finally getting into the band, felt that 'Pressure' was just too slow to be played on the radio, and 3) Without support at radio and TV, it is impossible to get singles into the shops, which would mean that you would all be frustrated by not being able to find it anywhere. As to the future, we have not given up, as we all believe this band will be huge. Therefore we will be going with a new single, 'Underworld', at the very end of April, which is to be released simultaneously with a DVD of their recent live performance in Greece. Believe me, we expected 'Pressure' to be a hit, otherwise we would not have scheduled it for release, however you just never know until it is presented to radio and TV.
However, the "Underworld" single never saw the light of day, either, and Danny has later said he thought "Panic" should've been the single.
According to Vincent, the band had bigger video-related plans:
We were going to do a short film about that too actually. A guy who leaves his entire life behind because he’s messed up so much but instead of killing himself, he fakes his own suicide and then starts a new life. This stuff does happen, you know? He’s a novel guy and we proposed a fifteen minute film to the record company and they, well, politely told us “no.’ Then they made the video for “Pressure,” which was basically our idea but done in a really bad way ... And it’s not to say that they did a bad job; they did an adequate job and an adequate video, but I can’t watch that now because it reminds me of what could have been. It reminds me of how clunky and rough it is. We have incredible ideas for visuals that I guess we’ll have to do ourselves.
In recent years, the band members have admitted they're not totally happy with AFDTE: Vinnie has said (https://www.auxportesdumetal.com/interviews/Anathema2012-uk.html) it "had its moments, but it lacks a bit of direction." Danny has also regretted the omission of the intro, which finally got officially released when the album was reissued with a rearranged tracklist earlier this year.
However, a song called "A Fleeting Glimpse" remains unreleased to this day, as you can see from this track-by-track breakdown by Danny from April 2001: https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/archive-news-apr-04-2001/ Looks like the tracklist made through various changes before the album got released, as "A Fleeting Glimpse" and the intro were still going to be on it when the official album announcement was made: https://web.archive.org/web/20011004063621/https://listen.to/anathema
1. Intro (untitled)
2. Looking Outside Inside
3. Underworld
4. Pressure
5. Release
6. Breaking Down the Barriers
7. Leave No Trace
8. A Fleeting Glimpse
9. Panic
10. A Fine Day to Exit
11. Temporary Peace
A Fine Day to Exit is a fine album that shows a different side of Anathema. This may also be why the album is slightly divisive among the fans, as not everyone is pleased with its modern rock sound. I have to admit I prefer the band's atmospheric side, but thanks to the fairly solid songwriting and classics like the title-track, "Release" and "Panic", AFDTE has earned a place in my big 4 of Anathema albums.
Full review: https://echotester.blogspot.com/2015/08/anathema-discography-8-fine-day-to-exit.html
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Just dropping by (I've been following, but haven't been commenting that much) to say that this album is great, but not Anathema's best. I think Release is absolutely fantastic, they should play it live more often! Temporary Peace is also one of my favourite Anathema tracks.
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I love this record. Got me into the band along with Judgement right around 2002ish.
Also, the Blabbermouth link mentions another song called "Levity." Weird that neither it nor "A Fleeting Glimpse" were put on the reissue for bonuses.
And I have no clue why they pushed "Pressure." It's easily the worst song on the thing. "Release" and, as Danny mentioned, "Panic" would have caught on far better.
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Damn, didn't know the band had gone through so many internal problems and lineup changes. Guess it somehow reflects on their music a bit.
This album is quite underrated, and is easily in my top 3 Anathema albums. Love how they mixed some alt. rock with their formula, and even a bit of shoegaze/post-rock elements here and there. Pressure and Panic are my favorites here, but the rest of the album is fantastic as well.
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Also, the Blabbermouth link mentions another song called "Levity." Weird that neither it nor "A Fleeting Glimpse" were put on the reissue for bonuses.
"Levity" most likely became "Leave No Trace", as it appears in the first 11-track list, but not in the latter. Still, I'd love to hear "A Fleeting Glimpse" and wonder what happened to it.
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A Fine Day to Exit is really underrated and quite the lovely album IMO. I definitely consider songs like the title track, Temporary Peace, Underworld, Pressure, Release and Looking Outside Inside to be great highlights. Perhaps their most "accessible" album, it feels very light and easy to listen to, and doesn't get overly dark like the albums before it. But still catchy songs.
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Finished my listen.
I thought it was very good. However, not as good as the previous album. Which means, my streak is ended (I was liking each album more than the previous one).
Really liked Temporary Peace.
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As others have already mentioned, I think this one is a bit underrated. Not a top 5 Anathema album for me, but still really solid I think.
And Temporary Peace is definitely one of my favorite Anathema songs of all time. Awesome lyrics in that last bit (you know the one). Also really love this live, acoustic version from their Liverpool Cathedral show (to be released on the upcoming DVD, whenever that is)...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LCG0TtHkqk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LCG0TtHkqk)
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Finally listened to this album. Easily my least favourite out of all non-growly albums so far. The only tracks I liked are Release, Leave No Trace (kind of) and Temporary Peace. The latter is amazing though (the actual song is). Panic was alright I guess; I didn't like Pressure and Looking Outside Inside at all, and the other tracks were kind of forgettable.
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So what do you think of the reissue of this album? I really enjoyed it, and think the new song is fantastic. The new tracklist is better, makes the album flow.
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A Fine Day to Exit is really underrated and quite the lovely album IMO. I definitely consider songs like the title track, Temporary Peace, Underworld, Pressure, Release and Looking Outside Inside to be great highlights. Perhaps their most "accessible" album, it feels very light and easy to listen to, and doesn't get overly dark like the albums before it. But still catchy songs.
Yeah, it's definitely the most straight-forward and accessible Anathema album to date, and probably the least dark out of the pre-WHBWH releases.
So what do you think of the reissue of this album? I really enjoyed it, and think the new song is fantastic. The new tracklist is better, makes the album flow.
As I said in my full review, opening with the intro and Release is a change for the better, but I don't like the way the song couples with seamless transitions (Looking/Trace, Panic/Exit) have been separated.
I thought it was very good. However, not as good as the previous album. Which means, my streak is ended (I was liking each album more than the previous one).
Easily my least favourite out of all non-growly albums so far.
I figured this album might not be as popular as the previous ones, seeing how different it is. It'll be interesting to see how you guys react to A Natural Disaster - I'll (try to) post the write-up for that album tomorrow!
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For what it's worth, I went and bought a ticket for Anathema show in Moscow at 1st of October, mainly because of this thread. Looking forward to see the band live.
Yeah, I'm waiting for A Natural Disaster too. This and their latest are the only two albums I haven't heard yet.
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Oh you won't regret it - for what I know, they are an amazing live act.
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Never seen a band evolve so differently from where they started.
Skipped all of the growly stuff. Checked out some of Eternity and Judgement. A little mellow for my taste. And this was a metal band??
They remind me a lot of Fields Of The Nephilim.
Also, love the interview snippets about people leaving the band. The honesty is so refreshing.
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Sorry guys, you'll have to wait one more day until we get to AND - I'm moving back to my student apartment tomorrow and had my last day at work today, so it's been a little hectic lately.
Never seen a band evolve so differently from where they started.
Skipped all of the growly stuff. Checked out some of Eternity and Judgement. A little mellow for my taste. And this was a metal band??
They remind me a lot of Fields Of The Nephilim.
Also, love the interview snippets about people leaving the band. The honesty is so refreshing.
Emphasis on was! :lol Eternity and Alternative 4 still have some metal elements, but since then they've moved on from metal completely, though they still get lumped in with metal bands due to their past. I can't hear the similarity to FOTN myself, though they're a good band as well.
The members are pretty honest and outspoken, which is something I appreciate. Too many musicians are overly diplomatic and give the same stock answers to every question IMO.
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Anathema have definitely evolved a lot since the start, though I think Ulver has them beaten. (They started out as black metal and eventually became more of an electronic piece)
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Anathema have definitely evolved a lot since the start, though I think Ulver has them beaten. (They started out as black metal and eventually became more of an electronic piece)
And now are doing some Dark Ambient stuff ;D
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Another double post, fucking quote/modify
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Anathema have definitely evolved a lot since the start, though I think Ulver has them beaten. (They started out as black metal and eventually became more of an electronic piece)
I don't know of any bands that have evolved as much as Ulver :lol
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I couldn't find as many interesting interview tidbits as previously - this album is probably too old and too new at the same time! :lol
A Natural Disaster (2003)
(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7Z1hqe_lRPM/VeIIUt-MoiI/AAAAAAAAAH4/Vc5r2kDOTzQ/s320/and.jpg)
1. Harmonium
2. Balance
3. Closer
4. Are You There?
5. Childhood Dream
6. Pulled Under at 2000 Metres a Second
7. A Natural Disaster
8. Flying
9. Electricity
10. Violence
Vincent Cavanagh - vocals, guitars, vocoder
John Douglas - drums
Les Smith - keyboards, programming
Jamie Cavanagh - bass, programming
Danny Cavanagh - guitars, keyboards, vocals on "Are You There?" and "Electricity"
Anna Livingstone - additional vocals on "Are You There?"
Lee Douglas - vocals on "A Natural Disaster"
Anathema reached a boiling point in the spring of 2002, when Danny Cavanagh suddenly announced he was leaving the band. He wanted to play with Antimatter instead, saying (https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/daniel-cavanagh-leaves-anathema/) he prefers playing in a band with no frontman, and that the new Antimatter songs would be "a lot closer to the true ANATHEMA of Alternative 4, Eternity and songs like 'Temporary Peace'." However, Danny changed his mind shortly afterwards - he realized he was just trying to escape his own problems and that he would regret leaving behind something he'd poured his heart and soul into for 12 years.
In 2015 Vincent admitted he had forgotten about the split: https://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4148756-from-the-beginning--dis-meets-anathema
I'd totally forgotten about it until the other day. I’m not exactly sure what happened to be honest. Maybe he did leave for a bit. It didn't feel like he was away for very long. If anything it was just down to a lack of communication and connection at that point. We're all guilty of losing touch with the people we care about sometimes in our lives. Danny and I weren't very close at that time, but when he came back he realised that Anathema was his home and he had all this music to get off his chest. He wrote all of A Natural Disaster. There's some quite "out there" stuff on that record, some really ambitious pieces like 'Closer' and 'Violence'.
After original bassist - and Vincent and Danny's brother - Jamie Cavanagh had rejoined the group, they started working on A Natural Disaster. Danny had been through some turbulent times, and according to him (https://rockezine.com/asp/rez_ainterview.asp?ID=251&interview=Anathema%20with%20Danny%20Cavanagh), the album was a necessary catharsis for him to be able to move on, both musically and personally. He commented (https://qvadrivivm.blogspot.fi/2011/08/anathema-interview-from-qvadrivivm-5.html) on the minimalistic nature of the album: "It’s stripped down to bare essentials with lyrics and music, and I guess that’s just because that’s the way it needed to be. It didn’t need to be big and epic so that the music wouldn’t suit with the lyrics." Danny also admitted the album may be difficult to get into: "This album takes a while to get into, it`s a bit like film music I guess. There is no instant hit and no obvious single on it. This album is darker than recent ones and reflects certain atmospheres quite well."
Musically, the album includes a lot of experimentation and surprising elements, such as the electronics on "Harmonium", Vocoder on "Closer", the aggression of "Pulled Under at 2000 Metres a Second", and the reversed guitars on "Flying". You can hear Radiohead influences on "Balance", while the title-track - sung by Lee Douglas - has a Portishead vibe, and "Violence" was influenced by Cradle of Filth(!). Also, the child's voice on "Childhood Dream" is Les Smith's baby boy, so the Cavanagh and Douglas families weren't the only ones to have more than one person contribute to the album. The lyrics are personal, as always: "Closer" is about being under the influence of drugs, and the title-track is a break-up song. Although Danny has never explicitly admitted that "Are You There?" is another song about his mother, he's said there's a reason why that song comes after "Inner Silence" and "One Last Goodbye" in the tracklist of Hindsight.
Although material from A Natural Disaster continues to be played live to this day, Vincent has said (https://www.auxportesdumetal.com/interviews/Anathema2012-uk.html) the album "was not quite finished, I don't think it was ready." Danny has admitted he's not happy with all the songs, but it was necessary for him to get all the songs out of his system, because they were intertwined lyrically. Vincent has specifically mentioned "Pulled Under..." as a song he never liked: https://www.metal-discovery.com/Interviews/anathema_interview_2011_pt2.htm
I have mixed feelings on A Natural Disaster: most of the songs are good, but the chaotic nature of the album prevents it from being one of the band's best. Anathema has always made diverse albums, but I feel AND lacks the cohesion of the other releases. Although none of the songs can compete with the absolute crown jewels of the Anathema discography, there's plenty of good material to go back to, such as the title-track, "Flying" and the combo of "Balance" and "Closer".
Full review at https://echotester.blogspot.com/2015/08/anathema-discography-9-natural-disaster.html
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I really feel this album works better as a whole, even if some tracks sound quite to each other. Songs like Flying and A Natural Disaster are the highlights tho, at least for me. Still, I'm not a big fan of the electronics used here, or more like the way they're presented - feels too similar to Kid A at times.
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There's obviously standouts, but it definitely works great as a whole. Most of this album is really darn great.
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This album is fantastic. Probably the first pre-WHBWH Anathema album I got into.
Also Ville, love your writeups here. You really take the time to find some information and interviews. Good job, it's really interesting!
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I agree with Onno- you're doing a good job with the writeups!
As for the album, I think it's safely in the upper half of the discography most days, from where I'm sitting. I really enjoy the experimentatipm and aforementioned diversity of songs on the album. There's really only one song that I'm not really happy with and that's the title track. I made a comment about it in the permanent thread, but it seems relevant here too...
Side note, I don't like A Natural Disaster (the track) nearly as much as the band seems to. I can understand why it's been a fixture in their shows, since it gives Vinnie a little bit of a break and lets Lee showcase her skills more, but it's always been my least favorite song on the album.
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Thanks guys! :) I try to put in as much effort as possible to make the posts interesting and informative for new and old fans alike.
Looks like I'm the only one who's not totally sold on AND! :lol On the other hand, it makes you realize how strong Anathema's discography is - even a bottom 3 (to me anyway) album like this is pretty good.
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:bump: for those who haven't listened yet...
I can't find the interview anymore, but Vincent said the album cover involves a sexual innuendo - not sure if he was serious, though. :P
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I'm on it, will try to listen at weekend. Busy times.
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I can't find the interview anymore, but Vincent said the album cover involves a sexual innuendo - not sure if he was serious, though. :P
Well, the boat and its shadow might look suspicious...
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Aaaand now I can't unsee it! :lol
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Just listened to it.
I understand what is meant about some of the tracks feeling incomplete, but I enjoyed the hell out of this album. I also agree that the whole is greater than the parts. Some of the individual tracks may not be awesome on their own, but within the context of the album, everything works together beautifully.
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Gave a few listens to A Natural Disaster and I didn't really enjoy it. I liked Are You There and title track, and Flying was also alright, but other than that, meh. I went back and listened to Alternative 4, and I've got to say, Alternative 4 is superior in every way for me.
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Nice timing, Evermind - I was just about to post that we're moving on to the next release! :lol
Hindsight (2008)
(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fEaklpHS9RA/VfBgFwTo7yI/AAAAAAAAAIM/mWFzXnyWgRI/s320/hindsight.jpg)
1. Fragile Dreams
2. Leave No Trace
3. Inner Silence
4. One Last Goodbye
5. Are You There?
6. Angelica
7. A Natural Disaster
8. Temporary Peace
9. Flying
10. Unchained (Tales of the Unexpected)
Line-up:
Jamie Cavanagh - bass guitar
Les Smith - keyboards
Danny Cavanagh - guitar, vocals, keyboards
Vincent Cavanagh - vocals, guitar
John Douglas - drums
Lee Douglas - vocals
David Wesling - cello
Duncan Patterson - mandolin
After A Natural Disaster, Music for Nations was shut down, and as a result Anathema found itself without a record deal and management. The band continued to write new music and look for a new label, but they couldn't seem to find the right people to work with: according to Danny (https://www.metal-sound.net/anathema-reaching-horizonts/), most of the offers came from metal labels, so the band decided to wait. Other obstacles, such as John Douglas' injury, also slowed them down. However, Anathema continued to play live and tour with bands like Porcupine Tree: the 2005-2008 period was arguably the most interesting in the band's live history, as they dug up old songs like Regret, Anyone Anywhere and Lost Control, and premiered a lot of the new material they'd been working on.
Amidst all the hassle, Anathema finally managed to fulfil their dream of releasing an acoustic album, which had been in talks ever since late 90s. Hindsight was released in 2008 by Kscope, which would become the band's label permanently in later years. Danny said they'd use the money to finance the recording of the next album, but Vincent stated that there were more reasons why the timing was right for this kind of release:
After we met Dave the cello player, me, Danny and Dave did a tour. The songs sounded fantastic with the cello, so it was great experience and it just made perfect sense to us to do that at that time. When we think about it now, it’s the biggest crossroads that the band’s ever faced, it’s the biggest challenge and the biggest step forward that we’ve ever taken from the last album to this next one. So it was logically the moment to reflect and to say “ok, here’s where we were, we can see these songs in a different light and then just move on”. We won’t do it again.
In addition to cellist David Wesling, ex-member Duncan Patterson made a guest appearance, playing mandolin on the album. Danny also played a lot of his leads with an Ebow. Besides rearranged classics from 1996-2003, Hindsight includes one previously unreleased song, "Unchained (Tales of the Unexpected)".
Even though Hindsight isn't an essential release by any means, it's not a complete waste of money, as the versions of "Are You There?" and "Angelica" are so good that I never listen to the originals anymore. Hindsight also works as the closure of a chapter in the band's career, before they moved on to the sound they're known for these days.
Full review: https://echotester.blogspot.com/2015/09/anathema-discography-10-hindsight-2008.html
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Never even heard about this release. Guess I need to check it out, I usually like acoustic albums.
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Hindsight is pretty good, but I didn't really end up enjoying the new versions that much compared to the originals. If anything, I think Falling Deeper gave more of a different and unique vibe to the songs on it, than Hindsight did.
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I really like Hindsight, but most versions aren't quite as good as the originals, though it's interesting to hear different versions of the song.
There's one big exception though: Flying. That tremolo solo is so absolutely gorgeous, the first time I heard it is probably the closest I've ever come to a musical orgasm. Seriously, I was just doing something else besides listening to the album for the first time and then the solo came on and I just completely forgot the world around me and had shivers all over my body and that kind of butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling you get when you see someone you're in love with. One of the most memorable experiences I ever had while listening to music.
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I love Hindsight. Fragile Dreams is amazing.
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Hindsight is fantastic. Not quite as interesting as Falling Deeper, in terms of alterations, but still a really strong release for me. Between Temporary Peace, Angelica, Inner Silence and One Last Goodbye they've got four of my five favorite pre-WHBWH songs (speaking of which, I'm really excited to see how Temporary Peace looks and sounds in the new DVD/Blu-ray). The rest are really nice as well.
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By far the definitive versions of "Angelica" and AYT. I like the rest as well, but songs like OLG, AND and TP couldn't possibly hold a candle to the originals – they are great alternatives but lack the crystallized emotion and impact the full arrangements provide. FD is about equal to the original though, I'd say!
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I've had a great deal of paperwork today so it's allowed me to start getting caught up on this thread. I binge listened to The Silent Enigma, Eternity, Alternative 4, Judgement. What a journey!
So far I'd have to say that Alternative 4 was my fav...although it was so damned depressing that I considered listening to The Wall as a pick me up.
Hopefully I can find the time to catch up the rest of the way. Thanks for the posts ?...I've been reading your posts as I start each album. Terrific job! :tup
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For some reason, never got around this one. Until now. DAMN. The arrangements are amazing, and hold up to the originals quite well, even surpassing a few ones. Fantastic.
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First time I had listened to Hindsight.
I really enjoyed it! Great arrangements, and the acoustic layout really showed how great the compositions really are. :tup :tup
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Nice to see some love for Hindsight - as I said in my post, it's not a pointless release! :tup
Thanks for the posts ?...I've been reading your posts as I start each album. Terrific job! :tup
Thanks! :)
Now we're finally getting to the era that should be familiar to most of you:
We're Here Because We're Here (2010)
(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-osxRgDynLss/Vfrpw6cCJDI/AAAAAAAAAIc/uIdeYk4dbm0/s320/whbwh.jpg)
1. Thin Air
2. Summernight Horizon
3. Dreaming Light
4. Everything
5. Angels Walk Among Us
6. Presence
7. A Simple Mistake
8. Get off, Get Out
9. Universal
10. Hindsight
Line-up:
Daniel Cavanagh — guitar, piano, keyboards, vocals
Jamie Cavanagh — bass guitar
Vincent Cavanagh — vocals, guitar
John Douglas — percussion, drums, keyboards, guitars
Lee Douglas — vocals
Les Smith — keyboards
Ville Valo — backing vocals on "Angels Walk Among Us"
Stan Ambrose — spoken word on "Presence"
Maren Svenning — narration on "Hindsight"
As mentioned in the write-up for Hindsight, several struggles kept Anathema from releasing a new album for many years. The seeds for WHBWH were sown in 2005, when the band released three songs - "Everything (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh6owxavVSw)", "A Simple Mistake (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaI3AzyI898)" and "Angels Walk Among Us (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKz_MNQXsso)" (including "Presence (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uhfS44Qnl0)") - on a "pay what you want" basis. The first tracklist for the album was already announced in December 2006, when the working title was still Everything: https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/anathema-new-album-title-track-listing-revealed/
01. Thin Air (Ann Further)
02. Bricks (working title)
03. Lightning Song
04. Sunlight
05. Get Off. Get Out. (working title)
06. Angels Walk Among Us
07. Everything
08. A Simple Mistake
09. Voodoo (working title)
10. No One Is Free (working title)
11. Paradigm Shift
12. Hindsight
However, the album went through several other working titles, such as Paradigm Shift and Horizons, and several songs were dropped when new ones came along. Some of these rejected numbers would eventually appear on the subsequent two albums.
The album finally saw the light of day in 2010, when Kscope released We're Here Because We're Here. According to Danny, the band was happy with the work the label did for Hindsight, and hence decided to continue working with them: https://www.femmemetalwebzine.net/2012/06/10/interview-danny-cavanagh-anathema/
Why did we choose KScope Records? Well, they are very good and they believe in us very much and they wanted it more than anybody else did. They were really keen to have our record, and they wanted it for many years. We saw that, with the work they did on “Hindsight”, they are actually quite good. They do things properly and they don’t spend a fortune. They don’t spend quite a lot of money wastefully. Our manager — we have a manager now — he recommends we take this and we did. We were not the kind of band at that time that could attract a much bigger label, so we went with that one. We are happy and I am happy that we did.
The album title was taken from a song sung in the Allied trenches of World War I. Vincent explained it as follows: https://www.reflectionsofdarkness.com/artists-a-e-interviews-85/7682-anathema-june-2010
It is a celebration of life in defiance of death, of triumph over adversity. Of brotherhood, sisterhood, of solidarity. It is a rallying-call. “Come on dear friends, to the barricades again! “ Ultimately it is about us. The members of this band. The brothers and sister that have stayed true to each other for all of our lives, for good or ill.
WHBWH was mixed by Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree, whom the band had toured with in 2007. Ville Valo of the Finnish band HIM - who had also been supported by Anathema on tour back in 2006 - sings subtle backing vocals on "Angels Walk Among Us". Regarding his contribution, Vincent said: https://www.heartagram.it/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1222:anathema-were-here-because-were-here&catid=65&Itemid=70
We asked him “would you try to add something to the backing vocals, he agreed, very kindly wanted to retain the integrity of the lyric and the very personal nature of the lyric by just adding a kind of almost keyboard-like vocal effect in the background really...
And he was easy to work with because he just recorded it at home, you know, in his own home studio and he just gave us the files. “Ok guys” he said “ listen, you can do with it what you will. I just had fun doing it and I really enjoyed it, so...” You know, he didn’t ask anything for it. He’s just a great guy.
"Presence" includes a quote from Stillness Speaks by Eckhard Tolle: "Death is not the opposite of life. Life has no opposite. The opposite of death is birth. Life is eternal…" It was recited by Stan Ambrose, who had been interviewed by Danny:
He is a very beautiful person, he’s a musician and a radio presenter. He was involved in counselling for a long time and he is a local activist. Just a gentleman who many people like… many people like this man. He is very humble, very kind and we became friends. We started to talk about spiritual things and the essence of life and these things. He’s always been interested in those things, interested in mediation and all that stuff. So I interviewed him actually in the Cathedral — in Liverpool Cathedral I interviewed him – and he began talking about a book by Eckhart Tolle, who is a spiritual writer, a very successful spiritual writer whose message of stillness is making an impact around the world. Stan is a person who is very much interested in these things and very sincere. When he spoke to me about this, he almost had a tear in his eye. I made the interview with him, and it just seemed to fit with the song, “Presence”. Also, the fact is that he is talking a little bit about the possibility of life beyond death and I know that he was thinking about that. And that relates directly to “Angels Walk Among Us”, which is also asking that question.
Musically, WHBWH is the start of a new chapter: the sound is characterized by orchestral arrangements, a heavy dose of piano, Lee Douglas' greater vocal presence, Danny's E-bow leads, occasional rhythmic experimentation, as well as post-rockish song structures that start out soft and build up to a climax. The album has a more optimistic tone than any of Anathema's previous releases, which stems from the positive changes in the band members' lives, especially Danny's: https://getreadytorock.me.uk/blog/2013/09/interview-with-daniel-cavanagh-anathemaleafblade-25-july-2013/
It was back in 2005 that I got some much needed help from a personal therapist. It was only a few sessions that I did but they were very beautiful with regards opening up my mind, releasing all past negativity and look forwards to the then present. That was very, very powerful stuff and, when that happened, my mind opened up to a new way of creativity and my lifestyle changed for the better.
Things got easier and more emotional but in a way different from what I was used to – more life-affirming, more positive. That happened in 2005, following which we got together and wrote the song “Thin Air”, with “Dreaming Light” coming together a year or two after. This was the beginning of the rebirth of Anathema!
"Angels Walk Among Us" is a sequel to "Angelica", while "Dreaming Light" is about Danny's daughter (https://www.lordsofmetal.nl/en/interviews/view/id/5090).
We're Here Because We're Here is by far the most cohesive and complete Anathema album since Judgement. Years of hard work paid off, and the resulting record is lively and diverse. It's not an absolute 10 like Alternative 4 and Judgement, but Anathema found its own identity and signature sound on this euphoric rebirth of an album, and it set the standards for the subsequent records.
Full review: https://echotester.blogspot.com/2015/09/anathema-discography-11-were-here.html
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The only song I don't dig quite much here is Get off, Get Out, but that one aside, it's a wonderful record :heart
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Great reviews :tup
WHBWH is with WS my favorite album by Anathema. Even though I usually prefer darker music I absolutely adore this album. It's much lighter than previous albums but, to me, this one make me feel like I'm at the end of dark events in my life and I just can't believe I'm alive. It's like a first ray of sunshine after rain. I know it sounds cheesy but that's how I feel about it :P
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This album was the first thing from Anathema I heard. Pretty great album, but I think it's a bit overrated. I can see why people love it so much, but I just never quite made that personal connection with it that so many others have.
Weather Systems, on the other hand... Well, we'll get to that when we get to that.
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One of my favourite, if not my absolute favourite, Anathema album. And it was the first Anathema I heard to. Just glorious.
This album was the first thing from Anathema I heard. Pretty great album, but I think it's a bit overrated. I can see why people love it so much, but I just never quite made that personal connection with it that so many others have.
Weather Systems, on the other hand... Well, we'll get to that when we get to that.
I sort of had the same. When I heard this album for the first time, I was blown away. When I heard WS for the first time, I was blown away even more. Yet I think I might like WHBWH a tiny bit more.
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Amazing album and their best together with Judgement. You could tell they took 7 years to make it, and the quality really shines through. Universal - their best song, Thin Air - their best opener, and Hindsight might just be their best closer. In between you have a crazy good tracklist.
It's almost a shame that WHBWH was so good, because WS and DS in contrast were not close to reaching that same level, but it's nice to know that Anathema returned out of their shadows and took an opportunity. Considering PT had met their demise already at the release, WHBWH really managed to launch Anathema from the shadows right into that "frontrunner" of new progressive rock, and in many ways I think they filled the void that PT left behind.
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Meh. Pretty boring record imo.
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Angels Walk Among Us is heavenly.
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Angels Walk Among Us is heavenly.
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There's a real unsung hero on this album, and that is "Summernight Horizon." Definitely a top 5 song for me – so intense!
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There's a real unsung hero on this album, and that is "Summernight Horizon." Definitely a top 5 song for me – so intense!
A really great song. Definitely in my top5 of the album together with Universal, Thin Air, Hindsight and A Simple Mistake.
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This is something minor- a bit of a pet peeve- but I'd rather artists not reveal too many details about a song and its origins. Dreaming Light, in this case. It's one of the beautiful things about music, for me, that people can make of the lyrics what they will despite a wide variety of interpretations. Now that I know the song is about his daughter, it kind of breaks the spell for me. Are other people bothered by this kind of thing?
Anyways, this is a top 3-5 Anathema album for me, depending on the day. Also the first one I got and first one I really fell in love with. I'm a big fan of the use of samples on this album, among other things. Not a bad song on the album for me, but I'd probably rank the songs like this...
Dreaming Light
Universal
Thin Air
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Angels Walk Among Us/Presence
Hindsight
Everything
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A Simple Mistake
Get off, Get Out
Summernight Horizon
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There's a real unsung hero on this album, and that is "Summernight Horizon." Definitely a top 5 song for me – so intense!
A really great song. Definitely in my top5 of the album together with Universal, Thin Air, Hindsight and A Simple Mistake.
I'll agree with all of this, for sure.
Great, great album. This was my first exposure to Anathema, and definitely one of my favorite albums by the band.
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I wanted to write my favorite song of this album but I'd must say almost all of them :lol:
Seriously, Thin Air and Dreaming Light are among my all time favorite songs. I listen to those every day or every few days and they never get old.
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I just remembered something. Back in April, I hadn't listen to WHBWH for a very long time. Back then I had a job preparing kids in high school for their final exams. I had to teach a Maths class in Rotterdam, which meant getting up at 6:15 every day to catch my train. After not having to get up early for a good few months I had to get used to that, so every morning in the train I was basically just staring out of the window while trying to stay awake. On one of the first days, I put on WHBWH as the train started moving. I sat and watched the sun rise while I listened to that album. That was amazing.
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Great reviews :tup
Thank you! :D
This is something minor- a bit of a pet peeve- but I'd rather artists not reveal too many details about a song and its origins. Dreaming Light, in this case. It's one of the beautiful things about music, for me, that people can make of the lyrics what they will despite a wide variety of interpretations. Now that I know the song is about his daughter, it kind of breaks the spell for me. Are other people bothered by this kind of thing?
Blame it on Vinnie - he let the cat out of the bag! :lol I've only seen Danny comment that DL was influenced by "Norway and the most beautiful girl in the world".
But seriously, I've never had that kind of problem, because the beauty of lyrics (and poetry in general) is that they can be interpreted in numerous ways. Even if the writer has had a specific idea in mind, you can come up with a different meaning if you like. In fact, finding out what was going on inside the artist's head while writing can help me appreciate the song more.
I just remembered something. Back in April, I hadn't listen to WHBWH for a very long time. Back then I had a job preparing kids in high school for their final exams. I had to teach a Maths class in Rotterdam, which meant getting up at 6:15 every day to catch my train. After not having to get up early for a good few months I had to get used to that, so every morning in the train I was basically just staring out of the window while trying to stay awake. On one of the first days, I put on WHBWH as the train started moving. I sat and watched the sun rise while I listened to that album. That was amazing.
Awesome story, Onno! :tup I've had some magical listening experiences like that too.
I'll post the write-up for Falling Deeper on Friday, so those who haven't listened to WHBWH yet still have two days to do so.
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I've never had that kind of problem, because the beauty of lyrics (and poetry in general) is that they can be interpreted in numerous ways. Even if the writer has had a specific idea in mind, you can come up with a different meaning if you like.
As long as it's based in the text! Subjective as it is, one can be wrong still – if you think "Dreaming Light" is about killing a horse, there's just no way that can be valid.
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You both make fair points.
Another example of what I'm talking about is Anyone, Anywhere. Used to love that song... And then I heard the band ragging on it.
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Falling Deeper (2011)
(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LIPPIe53fjE/VgVcHPPatAI/AAAAAAAAAIw/Udrhll36L2Q/s320/deeper.jpg)
1. Crestfallen
2. Sleep in Sanity
3. Kingdom
4. They Die
5. Everwake
6. J'ai Fait une Promesse
7. ...Alone
8. We, the Gods
9. Sunset of Age
Line-up:
Daniel Cavanagh – guitars
Jamie Cavanagh – bass
Vincent Cavanagh – vocals, guitars, keyboards
John Douglas – drums
Lee Douglas – vocals
Anneke van Giersbergen – vocals on "Everwake" and "...Alone"
After coming back with a bang on We're Here Because We're Here, Anathema made a follow-up to Hindsight by reimagining its early material with orchestral arrangements and piano. At first the idea was to record just a few tracks for the Dreaming Light EP: https://www.thrashhits.com/2011/03/interview-anathema-danny-cavanagh-on-inspiration-evolution-and-being-awesome/
There’s a release coming out called the Dreaming Light EP with at least 17 minutes of material originally recorded between 1992 and 1994. Songs like ‘Kingdom’, ‘Sleep In Sanity’ and ‘We, The Gods’ re-recorded with a full orchestra and grand piano, so that’s gonna be really nice. I don’t know exactly what might happen with the release as yet, things can change. It might not necessarily be an EP, it could extend into being an album.”
However, the release ended up being a 38-minute album. Danny described Falling Deeper as “a nod to our past and a look to our future all at the same time, with a sound that is designed to transport you to the heart of the present moment.” Danny's friend Anneke van Giersbergen (ex-The Gathering), who has played several acoustic duo gigs with him, makes a guest appearance on two of the tracks.
Not surprisingly, some stubborn metalheads weren't thrilled with the release and thought of it as a cash grab and an insult to the band's roots, but according to Vincent they got it wrong: https://crypticrock.com/interview-vincent-cavanagh-of-anathema/
There was another misconception with that as well, some people thought we were changing our roots. They were misunderstanding it, what we were doing was actually paying tribute to the music we did back then because we still love it. We still like the melodies and everything we did with it, but this time we are doing it with an orchestra. Guess what, it was going to be dead expense, a lot of hard work, and it probably will not sell very well, so it may not even make any money for us. We did not give a fuck, we might have lost money on it, but that was not the point, that is not why we did it.
I was mildly disappointed by Falling Deeper initially, but I've learned to appreciate it as is, though I still think there's room for improvement. The short length of the release is totally understandable, because hiring a string orchestra isn't exactly cheap, but at least one of the ballads could've been replaced with another rearranged doom metal song, such as "Under a Veil (of Black Lace)" or "Shroud of Frost". However, if you throw out all your expectations and notions of what the album should've been like, and just give it a spin without thinking too much, it's an enjoyable and relaxing listen. It's got beautiful arrangements on it and demonstrates that despite all the stylistic changes, the essence of Anathema's music has never changed.
Full review: https://echotester.blogspot.com/2015/09/anathema-discography-12-falling-deeper.html
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The only part I dislike about FD is that "We, the Gods" is only based on the first part of the original song. The second part has that killer melody in the bridge that would've been magnificent on piano!
Otherwise, I think it's pretty clear this album is entirely worth listening to because of the absolutely definitive recording of "Sunset of Age." Dat orchestra/guitar unison! Goddamn.
I had an audio engineering teacher who insisted the strings were fake on this album. Anyone agree with him?
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Falling Deeper is a nice listen. Good melodies and some catchy songs, even if some like Sunset of Age doesn't come close to the original. The first half or so is really strong though.
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I don't mean to interrupt, but I'm standing in a cd shop trying to decide between Ayreon Theory of everything, and an Anathema boxed set with Judgement, A Fine Day to Exit and A Natural Disaster. It also has a live DVD. Are these some of Anathemas better material?
EDIT: I ended up buying it. Never heard any of this stuff before. I've only heard snippets of Weather Systems and The Silent Enigma (talk about two ends of the spectrum)
Tell you what I think of this middle stuff later.
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I was going to watch the DVD while I was on the computer and discovered that they sold me a PAL set. >:( :censored
I'm going to have to go back and either exchange it or get my money back.
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Don't you have a stand alone dvd/br player that can play multi zone discs?
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I really enjoyed Falling Deeper. A real change of pace. Nice arrangements.
And for something like this, I appreciated that it was shorter. Not that I was getting tired of it, but I think that lent something to it.
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Falling Deeper was nice. I have it on CD but I have to say that I don't know it too well. It's been long since I last listened to it, maybe I'll listen to it later today or tomorrow. It'll probably be a good record for putting on while studying for an exam.
One thing I do remember clearly: Everwake is :heart :heart :heart :hefdaddy
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Looks like I've got some catching up to do, missing the last few entries due to a vacation. Will post my thoughts in a day or two. Great to see this thread is going on steadily. :tup
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Don't you have a stand alone dvd/br player that can play multi zone discs?
No...never needed one before.
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I don't mean to interrupt, but I'm standing in a cd shop trying to decide between Ayreon Theory of everything, and an Anathema boxed set with Judgement, A Fine Day to Exit and A Natural Disaster. It also has a live DVD. Are these some of Anathemas better material?
EDIT: I ended up buying it. Never heard any of this stuff before. I've only heard snippets of Weather Systems and The Silent Enigma (talk about two ends of the spectrum)
Tell you what I think of this middle stuff later.
Cool, hopefully you'll enjoy it! :tup
BTW, this isn't exactly related to Falling Deeper, but since the original songs were written in early 90s, I think this pic Duncan Patterson posted today is apt - it's a rehearsal tape from 1991:
(https://scontent-bru2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/12088508_10153267026888722_1814010720561979780_n.jpg?oh=ce0b71de81546d2fefa987cb8ebc3350&oe=5692815F)
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Really enjoyed Hindsight, especially the renditions of Fragile Dreams and Angelica. Falling Deeper, not so much, but the Anneke-enhanced version of Everwake is amazing.
I also listened to We're Here Because We're Here a few times and well, I still don't really like it. It's an interesting listen, but to be honest, I liked both Alternative 4 and Judgement more at this point. And it doesn't even get close to Weather Systems, in my opinion - but I'll wait until we reach that album.
Looking forward to seeing the band live tomorrow!
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When they changed their style into something more mellow and atmospheric music I had my doubts but I have to admit they are just great as they are now.
In my eyes they have two main era musically. Their first era's top piece Judgement and second era's top piece is Weather Systems. I actually would count 3 era of their musical journey which includes their first 7 or 8 albums and EPs but I didn't dig them enough. All I can say they all different matter considering their popularity went high by Alternative 4 album with different musical direction. (Which is completely awesome)
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Weather Systems (2012)
(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eyINgQQEMMI/Vg1b1hV6H1I/AAAAAAAAAJA/7dyrZpLDXyI/s320/weather.jpg)
1. Untouchable Pt. 1
2. Untouchable Pt. 2
3. The Gathering of the Clouds
4. Lightning Song
5. Sunlight
6. The Storm Before the Calm
7. The Beginning and the End
8. The Lost Child
9. Internal Landscapes
Line-up:
Daniel Cavanagh - lead vocals (5), co-lead vocals (8), electric guitars (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9), acoustic guitars (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9), bass guitars (4, 5, 9), keyboards (1, 3, 5), piano (2, 3, 7, 8)
Jamie Cavanagh - bass guitars (6)
Vincent Cavanagh - lead vocals (1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9), electric guitars (6), acoustic guitars (6), bass guitars (6), keyboards (1, 3, 5, 6, 9), programming (1, 3, 5, 6, 7), backing vocals (5)
John Douglas - drums (2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9), keyboards (6), programming (6)
Lee Douglas - lead vocals (4), co-lead vocals (1, 2, 3, 6, 9), backing vocals (5)
Petter Carlsen - backing vocals (1, 2)
Christer-André Cederberg - bass guitars (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8), Piano (7)
Joe Geraci - spoken word (9)
Wetle Holte - drums (1, 3)
In 2011 Anathema went through its last line-up change to date, when long-time keyboardist Les Smith was fired due to musical differences. I remember there was a lot of confusion amidst the fans at the time, because Daniel Cardoso started filling in for Les in the spring, and the band gave no reason for his absence until his departure was officially announced when Falling Deeper came out. The band received some criticism for this, but Danny has later explained that the decision to let Les go wasn't an easy one: https://crypticrock.com/interview-danny-cavanagh-of-anathema/
It was a very difficult situation with Les Smith. He is very dearly loved and respected brother in the band. Musically I just couldn’t work. I loved him, but I couldn’t work musically. Eventually in the end that just took its toll and I couldn’t take it anymore. That was a difficult decision in 2011. I had a lot of sadness there. There is just so much love, we still love each other very much, it’s just one of those things.
The band made its next album as a five-piece (though not everyone in the band plays on every song, as you can see in the credits). Just like Falling Deeper, Weather Systems was originally supposed to be an EP, but after writing "Internal Landscapes", the band decided to make a full album instead. According to Vincent, the original four songs laid the foundation for the record and gave it its title: https://www.thrashhits.com/2012/04/interview-vincent-cavanagh-from-anathema-on-weather-systems-subterranean-recording-and-on-whats-so-special-about-kscope/
It was from a particular suite of songs, titled ‘The Gathering of the Clouds’, ‘Lightning Song’, ‘Sunlight’ and ‘The Storm Before The Calm’. They were always really meant to run in sequence. These songs came about around the time of the last album, We’re Here Because We’re Here, and it was obvious that [these songs] were going to be the core of the next album.
As you may remember, "Lightning Song" and "Sunlight" were part of the original WHBWH tracklist from 2006 (which you can see in my write-up for that album), so these songs had been lying around for years. You can read Danny's comments on every Weather Systems track here - there's a really interesting story behind "The Lost Child": https://www.reflectionsofdarkness.com/in-my-own-words/11629-interview-in-my-own-words-anathema-about-weather-systems
Weather Systems marks the beginning of the working relationship between Anathema and Norwegian producer Christer-André Cederberg (who also plays bass and a little bit of piano on the record), whom Danny has later called the band's own George Martin. This was a match made in heaven right from the start:
We met him through a guy called Petter Carlsen, who’s also from Norway. Christer plays in [Carlsen’s] band, and also produced his album, Clocks Don’t Count, which came out last year. We listened to the production [on the record] and it was pristine quality. It was so natural, and rootsy, and earthy, and had all of the natural feel that you want in a good “rock” sound, but also it had that touch of class to it, so it was a no-brainer for us. We knew immediately: “Okay, this is the guy. We have to at least try [to record] with him”.
I’d never really met the guy before, but instantly on the first day [of going in to the studio], I struck up a friendship with him that was…we just…over breakfast on the first day we were talking about everything…about art…music…culture…politics…philosophy – just over a piece of toast in the morning. And I instantly knew that not only had we found a good producer, but also I’d found a good friend.
Weather Systems is a densely layered album with lots of fingerpicked guitar melodies, orchestrations, and vocal harmonies. It continued to expand Anathema's fanbase, apparently even outselling the previous releases: according to a Kscope press release, it was the band's most successful album to date. Vincent wasn't surprised (https://decibelmagazine.com/blog/featured/vincent-cavanagh-anathema-interviewed) by this: "It’s all about keeping the momentum going. It was obvious that if followed We’re Here Because We’re Here quickly, people would have a strong interest in the band. That’s exactly what happened." On the tour in support of the album Anathema recorded a live video called Universal - check it out if you haven't already!
Weather Systems was a disappointment for me at the time it was released, because the best songs ("Untouchable Pt. 1" and "The Beginning and the End") had been released in advance of the album and made my expectations too high. After revisiting the album, I still think Weather Systems is slightly uneven and lacks variety. The highs are fantastic, but don't save it from being in the lower half of my Anathema album ranking. That said, I'm glad the record brought Anathema more exposure, because they've earned their success.
Full review: https://echotester.blogspot.com/2015/10/anathema-discography-13-weather-systems.html
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Awesome interview on all the songs.
Weather Systems is an emotional album, It's beautiful and uplifting. It's why I enjoy this album.
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Can't love this album enough :heart
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I love this album.
Many people say it lacks in comparison to WHBWH, and that it's pretty much just more of the same. Yeah, they do sound quite similar, but in my opinion, Weather Systems is miles ahead of WHBWH. It's got better songs (Untouchable pt. 1 and The Beginning and The End are absolutely amazing), it's more consistent in quality, and I like how it's a bit moodier than the previous album, with some songs that more melancholy and dark, or flat-out depressing as hell in the case of The Lost Child. To me, WHBWH laid the groundwork, and Weather Systems built upon it, refined it, and took it to a whole new level. And in case you're wondering, I heard WHBWH first.
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The weakest out of their second phase albums (Untouchables and Internal Landscapes are amazing, everything else is good but not great), but the few highlights it has are really great. A 7.5 out of 10 or so.
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Totally opposite. Their best album out of their 2nd phase. Untouchables are just amazing in every aspect. The others are not far behind, IMO.
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Best Anathema album for me. WHBWH and DS aren't even close to this, in my opinion. Seeing some songs from it live today reinforced this album strength for me. Just glorious. Untouchables, The Gathering of the Clouds, second half of The Storm before the Calm and The Beginning and the End are all great songs.
Edit: and since all Anathema talk is happening in this thread anyway, here's the setlist (https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/anathema/2015/volta-club-moscow-russia-3f43def.html) from the show (just added it). Danny — I think it was Danny, the most charismatic guy playing guitar and keyboards and not the main vocalist — had some problems with the sound or with something in the first half of the show, he went on and said "I'm having a disaster here right now, this is the worst that happened to me on stage since the times I played death metal" and asked the audience to support him. Thankfully everything went alright in the second half I think.
Before playing The Lost Song pt. 1 Vincent — I think it was Vincent, the main vocal guy who looks like Jon Snow — announced they're going to play all three parts in a row. They played two parts and apparently forgot the setlist, Vincent came to the mic and announced they're going to play something from Weather Systems next. :lol Someone from the band corrected him though and they went on to play Part 3 and then A Simple Mistake.
They also did some weird dance at the very end of the show, after Fragile Dreams was played. Don't know what that's about, but I'm sure it will pop up on YouTube soon.
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Sounds like a truly memorable night :lol
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I've never really thought of Danny as being the most charismatic of the bunch, but maybe that's just because he was having an off night the most recent time I watched him. He even mentioned it later in the show, thanking the audience for cheering him up after he started the day a bit pissed off (about what, I don't know). That set list is pretty good, but I probably would've been a touch disappointed with the lack of older stuff. Yeah I know, this is what we have to expect at this point. But I'd still hope for One Last Goodbye *at least*.
I still haven't commented on WS. Another good writeup- thanks Ville.
This is my favorite Anathema album of all, though I've somewhat wavered in that in the past year and a half, with Judgement and WHBWH sometimes sneaking ahead of it. After WHBWH, it was the second Anathema album that really possessed me. I attribute at least part of my adoration to the fact that it was playing in my car for about a year and was the soundtrack to a really exciting time in my life. It was, quite simply, the perfect album for me at that time. Particularly in my spiritual and emotional lives.
My favorite song on the album is Internal Landscapes. It's also my single favorite Anathema song, most days; and my favorite song from this world, but not of it. I've cried tears of joy and power to this song and I'll always be thankful for that. Also really, reeaaaallly love the Untouchables, Lightning Song, and The Beginning and the End.
Lastly, having seen most of the album live has had a really strong effect on me, only strengthening my attachment to this album. And another reason I love this album is in its relative commercial success. Normally things like that don't really register for me, but it's helped open the door to so many new Anathema fans and helped Anathema gain some of the exposure which they deserve after all these years.
As a side note, anyone who isn't familiar with Petter Carlsen, mentioned in the writeup, might want to check out some of his stuff. His most recent album (Sirens, released last year), is really nice.
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I dunno if I can pick my favourite Anathema record, but WS is damn close. It's just megalithic. They were very smart to keep the little cluster of songs written during the 'big break' for this one.
My only gripe is that the suite of Gathering/Lightning/Sunlight/Storm should have opened the record. It's obvious IL is the proper ending but I really don't think the most conventional tunes on the whole record that offer nothing new from the sound established by WHBWH were the best choice to open the record, nor for a single. If you look at almost every other Anathema record, they really make a point to burst out the door going, "here's the new direction." Eternity announces the clear Floyd influence with "Sentient," A4 establishes the morose, moody rock landscape with "Shroud of False," "Pressure" clearly shows the Radiohead influence all over AFDTE, "Harmonium" immediately shows the changed direction of AND, etc. "Untouchable" is, I guarantee, the primary reason people call WS a rehash/sister to WHBWH, even if it's unconscious. WS is an absolutely different style subset and so is DS.
One other point I want to make is that "The Beginning and the End" is potentially the best lead single the band ever released (perhaps rivalling "Deep" though). What a fantastic song and summary of WS!
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Yeah, so,this album is awesome. :tup
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Yeah, so,this album is awesome. :tup
It sure is.
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It's my favorite album of all and has been for a couple years now and it's largely responsible for making Anathema my current favorite band.
Love that Joseph Geraci story to death.
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I wish I could get into this album.
I guess I'll give it another some time soon.
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Sorry about the lack of updates, I've been really busy lately. I promise we'll get to conclude this series with Distant Satellites tomorrow!
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Nah- your apologies are no good here. Take them back.
You've done a great job keeping this going and your write-ups have been quite informative. When this started I considered myself quite knowledgeable on Anathema, but you've shown me a whole another level above me.
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Yes, I think it's gone really well. Great job!
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Nah- your apologies are no good here. Take them back.
You've done a great job keeping this going and your write-ups have been quite informative. When this started I considered myself quite knowledgeable on Anathema, but you've shown me a whole another level above me.
Oh, you're being way too kind - thanks! :blush
Distant Satellites (2014)
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mqZpcqzx8wQ/VhveVp4NitI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/lqxzhtBWSmw/s1600/satellites.jpg)
1. The Lost Song, Part 1
2. The Lost Song, Part 2
3. Dusk (Dark Is Descending)
4. Ariel
5. The Lost Song, Part 3
6. Anathema
7. You're Not Alone
8. Firelight
9. Distant Satellites
10. Take Shelter
Line-up:
Vincent Cavanagh – lead vocals, electric guitars, acoustic guitars, bass guitars, keyboards, programming, backing vocals
Daniel Cavanagh – co-lead vocals, electric guitars, acoustic guitars, bass guitars, keyboards, piano
John Douglas – e-drums, percussion, keyboards, programming
Lee Douglas – lead vocals, co-lead vocals, backing vocals
Daniel Cardoso – drums
Christer-André Cederberg – bass guitar
A year after the release of Weather Systems, Anathema started demoing new material: https://www.metal-rules.com/metalnews/2014/06/02/anathema-interview-with-danny-cavanagh/
[W]e did two sessions; one in Portugal in March 2013 and I lived with those instrumental demos for six months and then in November 2013 I got together with Vinnie and John who are the other creative parts of this band. We basically chose the songs during the November sessions.
According to Danny (https://www.metalunderground.com/interviews/details.cfm?newsid=103992), "some of the songs are very old such as the last four songs on the album, the rest of the tracks dates back as far as 2011-12. The focus this term was to be more minimalistic, and simply to try and write a great versatile album, to do our best."
The oldest piece on the record is the title-track, the core of which was written around the time of Eternity. It's yet another song that didn't make it onto We're Here Because We're Here, and Lee has stated (https://blogs.independent.co.uk/2014/06/16/interview-with-anathema-it%E2%80%99s-all-states-of-consciousness/) that its original working title "Voodoo" was inspired by a club that (some of) the band members went to in the 90s. The band's self-titled song, on the other hand, got its name because of its epic and doomy vibe - which reminded Vincent of early Anathema - and because the lyrics are about the band's history. The riff at the end was originally part of another song, but Vincent convinced Danny to add it into "Anathema".
The trilogy "The Lost Song" literally was an attempt by Danny to re-write a song he'd lost a few years earlier when he'd forgotten to put the lock switch on on his digital recorder. Vinnie elaborated on the birth of the three parts: https://www.radiometal.com/en/article/vincent-cavanagh-anathema-sends-his-emotions-into-orbit,151286
It came from Danny (Daniel Cavanagh) trying to remember this song or this riff that he had lost a few years ago. So the only thing he remembered of the old riff was the time’s signature which was in 5/4. So he tried to write another riff and it was not the right one. He was trying to think of a beat for it, so I suggested a drumbeat for this riff. And then Cardoso (Daniel Cardoso) played the beats. And next thing you know, my brother Danny just said “Okay that’s good” and then started playing a brand new thing which ended being “The Lost Song Part 1”. And then immediately after the beats stopped he started playing the part 2, improvising on the spot and it just became that song. We recorded it all and a couple hours later he did part 3 with Cardoso, as well as a jam, with me kind of directing it. It happened really quickly. So three songs came out after Daniel trying to remember what this lost song was, which is why they’re all called “The Lost Song”. [Laughs]
The making of the album wasn't completely smooth, as producer Christer-André Cederberg had to have an operation on his back towards the end of the session. Since the album's deadline was getting closer, Steven Wilson was asked to mix "You're Not Alone" and "Take Shelter". Their schedule was more hectic than usual: Danny wrote the lyrics in the studio, and the band went on a US tour with HIM in the spring of 2014, which meant that the band had to put the finishing touches on the album in a studio in Chicago. In an interview with the Finnish radio channel Radio City earlier this year, Vincent admitted that he's not completely happy with a few songs, because he felt they didn't have enough time to work on them. However, he added that it's a question of taste, and that the band can take the liberty of changing the songs on stage, as they've done with the ending of "The Lost Song, Part 3".
Believe it or not, the artwork was discovered on Google!
It’s pictures from the instillation, I just typed it into google saw some stuff and I was with John and the I typed in “Distant light” into google, this was from John’s recommendation and on the first page of google images was his image. Clicked on it and John immediately fell in love with it. Emailed the guy that night and he replied the same night that the art work was on it’s way and there it was and they are all images based on a installation he made in New York I don’t know if it’s still there, simply that.
You can see pictures and a video of Sang Jun Yoo's installation here: https://www.startinmylife.net/distant-light-exhibition/
The album title itself was described by Vincent like this:
The actual album name, Distant Satellites, is about people in your life; those people that you know. It’s about yourself and how you’re a distant satellite to people in your life and how occasionally your orbits will cross but ultimately you’ll have to keep going and for this band particularly we are satellites to each other and we orbit around the music.
Compared to its precedessors, Distant Satellites is more minimalistic and gets more electronic and experimental in its second half. Also, on this album John Douglas switched to electronic percussions and pads, while the drumming was handled by Daniel Cardoso, who had become a full-time member of Anathema during the Weather Systems tour.
While the minimalism of Distant Satellites may have been a conscious choice, the album turned out darker than the band had expected: https://www.prog-sphere.com/interviews/anathema-interview/
It’s certainly darker. I think a lot of the songs, in fact all of the songs practically are in the minor key. So that was the reason. But the thing was we didn’t even realize until we finished the record. When we finished the record we played it to a couple of people and they were like “Fuck me! It’s good. You know, it’s dark. It’s fucking dark, this album.” And we were like “Is it? Ah shit, I guess you’re right. Okay, we made a dark album.” [laughs]
For me, Distant Satellites is a step up from Weather Systems: it's more dynamic and I dig the less heavily layered instrumentation and the darker vibe. It doesn't reach the brilliance of Anathema's best works, but the highlights are easily among the band's greatest songs, and the experimentation gives the record a shade of freshness, though there's plenty of familiarity in the first half. The album doesn't sound rushed, although it was done with a tight schedule. It'll be interesting to see whether Anathema will further explore the electronic path or if they have something different in store for us listeners!
Full review: https://echotester.blogspot.com/2015/10/anathema-discography-14-distant.html
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A step up from WS but not as good as WHBWH. Overall, a good addition to the most recent trilogy of albums though. :) I really dig most of the album, but I think "You're Not Alone" feels a bit more like a B-Side maybe. I know people complain about Get Off, Get Out on WHBWH and how it feels very SW, I have that problem with You're Not Alone instead.
The Lost Song suite is amazing, the title track is really good, Anathema is definitely a stand out and I would say a classic song from them. Overall a nice album. :)
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The title track and Take Shelter are both fantastic, and I've said in the past that if the rest of the album were like those songs I might have been more into it. The rest of the album is okay, but nothing all that remarkable. I think they should have done more with the electronic sound, as it's only featured at the very end of the album and feels more like a brief sample of what could have been than anything.
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A significant step down from Weather Systems for me, but I spinned it only a five or so times. I really like The Lost Song, Anathema and Ariel.
I would be alright with never hearing the title track again, I dislike it a lot. They played it live, the first song in the encore, and it was really meh, even with Vincent on that big drum. Thankfully they followed it with incredible A Natural Disaster (the song).
You're Not Alone definitely has this SW feeling, in my opinion.
I had a great time following this thread and discovering Anathema, thank you Ville! This was probably the first discography thread I managed to follow from beginning to the end. Awesome job!
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I honestly didn't expect them to top WS. And they didn't. But I love this record anyways, lots of great songs - dunno what you're talking about Ev, Distant Satellites is a fantastic track :loser:
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Love this album, it's great. My only problem with it is The Lost Song. As a whole, it's hard not to compare the song to the Untouchable duo on WS, especially since both have part 1 and 2 as the album openers, both have a strong build up in the first part and a mellow-dramatic second part and the themes in the parts are the same. When I compare these two, I have to say I think Untouchable is way better, even though The Lost Song is still good. Of course, it shouldn't really matter, but I'm sort of bummered that I always have to think of Untouchable when I hear the Lost Song because of their similarities.
Secondly, I think The Lost Song part 3 is by far the weakest song on the album. I didn't really like it when they released it as a single before the album was released. I do like it in the flow of the album, but I wouldn't have minded if they'd left it out.
Firelight into the title track though, wow. That may be my favourite Anathema one-two-punch. I would argue that the title track is one of the best songs Anathema have ever recorded. I also love the combination of electronics and drums on that one.
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:bump:
Now that we've talked about each studio release, I've added a poll where you can vote for your favorite full-length Anathema album. You can also post album rankings, top 10 song lists, etc. if you like, and of course you can still post your thoughts on the album(s) that you hadn't listened to yet - to quote Vincent, "it's never too laaateee!" :D
My album ranking:
1. Alternative 4
2. Judgement
3. We're Here Because We're Here
4. A Fine Day to Exit
5. The Silent Enigma
6. Distant Satellites
7. Weather Systems
8. A Natural Disaster
9. Serenades
10. Eternity
Since we did the "top 10 songs from the 90s" lists when we were halfway through the discography, here's my top 10 Anathema songs from the new millennium (chronologically):
Release
A Fine Day to Exit
Summernight Horizon
Dreaming Light
Angels Walk Among Us
A Simple Mistake
Untouchable 1&2 (cheating, I know :P)
The Lost Song 1&2 (ditto)
Anathema
Distant Satellites
Thanks to everyone for following and posting here, as well as for the feedback! :) All the positive comments made it a pleasure to keep this thread going, even when I was facing other tasks in my busy student's life. It took a little longer to get to this point than I'd expected, but we moved at a pretty good pace, I think.
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i super dig the last two tracks on Distant Satellites but even a dozen or so spins later, don't ask me what any of the other songs on the album sound like :lol
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I never commented on the DS post, was super busy last week, but I will say that it's a good album. Not nearly as good as the previous two, for me, but still ended up being one of my favorites from last year (testament to how much I adore Anathema, and how consistent their discography is.
My album ranking look something like this...
WS
WHBWH
Judgement
Eternity
Alternative 4
Natural Disaster
A Fine Day to Exit
Serenades
Distant Satellites
Silent Enigma
2-5 are always battling for spots, as are 6-9. Only my favorite and least favorite seem stable at this point.
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Judgement
We're Here Because We're Here
A Natural Disaster
Alternative 4
The Silent Enigma
Distant Satellites
A Fine Day to Exit
Eternity
Weather Systems
Serenades
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Top 10 Songs (difficult to leave so many great songs off)
Internal Landscapes
One Last Goodbye
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Temporary Peace
Angelica
Dreaming Light
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Thin Air
Lost Control
----- (these last three could be comprised of so many other songs... AHH)
Inner Silence
Universal
Flying
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Seneca, what was the live album of the song you sent my in my Roulette?
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That'd be their most recent, Universal. It's a magnificent live DVD/blu-ray and I really can't say enough good things about it. A really great introduction to the band as it currently stands, I think.
They've also got another new live release coming out in less than two weeks now. All acoustic, filmed in the Liverpool Cathedral. Looks, and sounds, pretty sharp from everything I've seen so far. You might wanna give that a shot if it strikes your fancy.
Here's a track from that, maybe well worth checking out if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7TOJt5bQtU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7TOJt5bQtU)
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Finished up my listen of Distant Satellites this morning.
I really enjoyed this album, definitely one of my favorites.