Anathema top 25 (now up: ?)

[TheVoxyn]

Hey Voxyn, you want to do a top 25 or something for these guys?

I decided to try and make a top X song list when faemir asked whether I would do one. Self-fulfilling prophecy? Maybe.

Anathema is one of my favorite bands and I think I am also one of the biggest (if not the biggest) Anathema fans on this forum. I have most of their albums (I think I only miss the very first one and the resonance best of discs) and have seen them live multiple times. Their newest album is one of my most anticipated albums ever (It only took them about 7 years...) and I really can't wait to have it in my hands.

Why a top 20 and not a top 25, top 31 or even a top 50? Simple, I suck major balls at ranking songs in lists. I already have trouble with albums, so this is even worse. I compiled this list by putting all my favorite songs in a playlist and trying to put them in a decent order. I probably failed at that and I will certainly forget a song or later wished I would have ranked it higher/lower but so be it. I haven't fully finalized it, but I will be sure to be done arranging my top 10 once I get to it. Be free to yell at me in your replies, I am looking forward to hearing different opinions. I hope there is enough interest in this thread, but otherwise I will just continue it alone.

I will put the album the song is from behind the song, seeing as Hindsight has produced some very good alternate versions of some songs. I will also be doing some sort of honorable mentions thingie sometime, as there are a couple of songs I want to mention but didn't quite make the list or were pretty short and had to make way for songs that weren't just intro's or transitions between songs.

Disclaimer: I suck at ranking songs and suck even more at describing them. I hope you enjoy the list anyways.


20. Balance - A Natural Disaster

I will begin with saying that although I realy love A Natural Disaster, it's somewhere halfway on my album preferences list. There will be a couple of songs from this album be in the list, but I think the album also contains some pretty bad songs (the title track springs to mind for me). This song really set's the mood for the album in my opinion. Whilst Harmonium is also pretty decent, I somehow tend to forget that that song exists. Balance has some melodies and riffs that can be stuck in my head for quite a while. It also has a good flow going on, becoming gradually faster and heavier as the song progresses. The outro is really cool and I am also kind off dissapointed when it suddenly ends and cuts to 'Closer'. Another good point about this song is that it's not too long. There are some songs on this album that suffer from just being too long.


19. Anyone, Anywhere - Judgement

Judgement is my favorite album by Anathema and is probably in my top 5 albums of all time, and this song is one of the many high points on the album. It starts off nice and slow with a great guitar and keyboard melody, which is a nice change of pace after the crushing 'Wings of God'. About halfway the song the electric guitars and drums are dusted off and brought in all at once. This is imo when the song really begins to shine. I can't get enough of the keyboard melodies that are being played whilst the song picks up pace and becomes heavier. I love the fact that the keyboards are so heavily focused on, something that doesn't happen that often in this type of music.

This song marks the end of the album for me. It starts of slow, explodes and then has an amazing calm outro. Whilst 2000 and gone isn't a bad song, I would have preferred Anyone, Anywhere to be the last song on the album.


18. Leave No Trace - A Fine Day to Exit

Here and now we are gone in a heartbeat, a dream in the passage of time.

The song starts off very slow and for me it also starts off pretty boring. When this song comes on, or I am on my bike with my mp3 player on shuffle, I usually think 'Ah no, not this song'. Until the above line comes on. The song really picks up from there, and the chorus has some pretty good vocal melodies. Talking about vocals, this song is one of the many Anathema songs that have great lyrics. I often overlook how good the lyrics are on Anathema albums, but there are some real lyrical gems on most albums. Whilst this isn't there best song lyrically, the message is conveyed really good and I like the idea they are trying to convey.

I chose the song from the original album instead of the Hindsight version. I think Hindsight improves some songs but this is definitely not one of them. The difference isn't big enough and it is one of the worst songs on Hindsight. It is however a really good song on A Fine Day to Exit.





I hope you like it so far. Any tips on improving it? I think you may have noticed that I suck at describing music. Also - English isn't my first language and although I like to think I am pretty good at it, don't hesitate to correct me.

My longest post ever? I think so.

[Zantera]

Cool list, will follow with interest!
Interesting picks this far, hopefully we'll see some more awesome songs on it.

Also, i would be really interested in doing a list when you're done.

[TheVoxyn]

Also, i would be really interested in doing a list when you're done.

Sure, I'm interested to see how your rankings are.

Cool list, will follow with interest!
Interesting picks this far, hopefully we'll see some more awesome songs on it.

20-15 or so was hardest for me to arrange, there were so many songs to choose from. The top 15/top 10 are my definitive favorites though, so that was a lot easier. I knew immediatly what I would put at 1.

[faemir]

I have a heard time describing music too - just look at ranking threads of bands you like and see how they describes songs you like

I hope I see the title track of judgement on here, though the cut off bugs me so much.

Also if we are the only three commenting in this thread, this forums fails but it doesn't matter.

[TheVoxyn]

As long as you two comment I will continue .

I'm sure there will be some suprises coming up. I think I will try to do 3 a day. Not sure how that will work out in the weekend though (going to my parents this week), but we shall see.

[Fluffy Lothario]

I quite like this band, but in all honesty, I couldn't recognise many of their songs by name, so I'll have to make a playlist of the songs in order or something.

[TheVoxyn]

I quite like this band, but in all honesty, I couldn't recognise many of their songs by name, so I'll have to make a playlist of the songs in order or something.

My top 10 is pretty varied I think. If you listen to that you might get a good idea of the general sound of each album and of the band.

[TheVoxyn]

I have decided to pick up the pace a bit more, seeing as there are only 3 or 4 people following this anyway. I will do 3 more songs now and probably another update tonight.

17. Flying - A Natural Disaster

Back down to earth...

This song immediatly sprung out to me when I first listened to A Natural Disaster. Apart from the annoying effects in the beginning, I love this song. I do not find this song to be that interesting lyrically, but musically it is very emotional. I love the way the chorus is sung, it is really soul-crushing. This is one of the songs that shows me that Vincent is pretty underrated as vocalist.

But the thing that stand out the most is of course the guitar playing/outro after the last chorus. It takes more than 1/3rd of the song but I have the feeling that the length is perfect. I remember a thread here on DTF about 'Which songs have emotional guitar playing' or something in that direction, and I think this song qualifies perfectly for that thread. I'm not sure if it is what they are actually trying to convey, but for me it screams of desperation with a glimmer of hope. Weird description, but I have no idea how to word it differently. Again, the Hindsight version isn't that special for me.


16. Wings of God - Judgement

I checked where this song was on Anathema's last.fm page. It turned out to be on the 36th spot. This kind of amazed me, seing as I really love this song. This song shows off a bit of the Floyd influences in Anathema's music. That is only a good thing imo, as Pink Floyd is one of my favorite bands as well.

The song starts off really depressing and reeking of desperation. I think the song is really good lyrically but it really starts to shine musically around the 3:20 mark. One of my favorite instrumental parts on Judgement then starts kicking off. Whilst the beginning of the song sounds very desperate, the instrumental part actually sounds very hopeful and positive to me. Amazing instrumental part, not a second too long/short. I don't like that they ended it off with a fade-out, but this is one of the cases where the fade-out isn't totally lame (I also don't find it lame in TBOT, but in most other songs I find it a rather easy solution and a bad way to end a song).


15. A Dying Wish - The Silent Enigma

For me this is the best song in the doom-metal era of Anathema. The song would definitely be one of my absolute favorites, if it weren't for the fairly bad production and the vocals which are a turn-off in certain points of the song.

This song has tons of catchy hooks and riffs. The transition from slow intro to the heavy main part of the song is amazing, and makes me want to run around and headbang my head off every time I listen to it. The next part that springs to mind is the part after 3:46. It is just amazing and I love it to death. Wat kind of kills of the song for me is the vocal delivery that follows after that short instrumental break. I love the vocal melodies in the song but this sort of vocals just isn't meant for me. Furthermore, every single guitar melody in this song is very good and incredibly catchy.

I wish they would re-make this song with better production and different vocals. If they did that, it would probably become a top 3 song for me. There are some bootlegs where they sing it in a clean voice and it sounds truly amazing. Too bad the bootlegs aren't the best quality either...




I will probably do 3/4 more songs tonight. I think it is about to get interesting with a few controversial songs in here, but also a few fan favorites.

[Zantera]

I love Flying, would probably rank it a bit higher myself... 
A Dying Wish is phenomenal as well. 

[bodiesinflight]

Interesting list, I don't like Flying that much myself but otherwise some excellent choices.

[faemir]

I guess I should get the Silent Enigma...

[TheVoxyn]

I guess I should get the Silent Enigma...

It has some pretty cool songs, but A Dying Wish is definitely the best. Be sure to check at least that song out.

[TheVoxyn]

Also, seeing that you guys are the only ones that interested anyway - I will update this again sometime this hour or so.

Thoughts on songs that you guys feel are still missing?

[bodiesinflight]

Pressure, A Natural Disaster, Pulled Under...

[TheVoxyn]

14/13. Judgement/Panic    -    Judgement/A Fine Day to Exit

Why these two songs together? Two reasons:

1) They are both really cool songs, that have quite a similair sound imo. I wouldn't know which one I like more, so they share this spot.
2) They are usually paired up live. Instead of the cut-off in Judgement, they segue it into Panic. Which is very awesome.

I love these songs, and live they are even more awesome. They are both pretty energetic and both make me want to jump around. Judgement has an amazing speed increase going on. It starts of calm but slowly becomes faster and heavier - until it becomes one of the heaviest songs that Anathema has (late catalogue of course). The outro guitar part is very catchy but like faemir said:

the cut off bugs me so much.

And that is why I am very glad that live they segue it into Panic (they usually shorten the guitar part as well).

Panic is one of my favorites from A Fine Day to Exit. It is very up-tempo and the energy is just radiating from it. I think the album version is one of the worst versions of the song, it is way better in a live setting. The lyrics are pretty silly but that doesn't really matter in this song. It's fun to sing along with and it makes me want to move. I am listening to it whilst typing this and I can't resist the urge to sing along and move my legs. It kinda makes typing harder .


12. Lost Control - Alternative 4

Yes I am falling, how much longer till I hit the ground?

Have I really lost control?

This song is so depressing. This song is one of the many Anathema songs that are soul-crushing and makes you feel empty after listening to it. It is one of my favorite songs of Alternative 4. It's really hard to explain, I guess it's just because of the slow and depresing keyboard melody combined with the lyrics. This is one of the songs that I have to think about immediatly when Anathema is mentioned. This song is a good representation of the sound that Anathema is trying to achieve in the period between Eternity and Judgement.

The positioning on the album is also really good. After the fast pace 'Fragile Dreams' and 'Empty', this is a welcome change. 'Re-Connect' which is the song after Lost Control really picks up were Lost Control left off, and tries to segue from the total depression of lost control to a more happier state of mind. The interaction between the two songs is really well done, and one of my favorite moments on the album.


11. Deep - Judgement

I think the placement of this song might be due to sentimental value. But this is my list, so whatever . It was the first Anathema song I heard, and I immediatly fell in love with it. The guitar melody that is used throughout the song is amazing and immediatly shows the overall sound of Judgement. It is the opening track of the album, and get's you pumped immediatly for the rest of the album. Heavy parts and calmer parts combined with great transitions. Lyrically I also really like it, and I tend to sing every single line of this song along. It is impossible not to sing along with the final lyrics; 'Time recedes every day, you may search your soul but you won't see...'.

Whenever I hear this song, I know that the next 56 minutes are going to be awesome. Anathema is really good in creating good opening tracks for albums, and I might do a seperate update on that sometime - together with some honorable mentions.



More comments please. What do you think of the list so far, expectations for the top 10, what can be improved etc  . The top 10 is going to be interesting. It has many fan favorites in it, but it will certainly contain some suprises.

[TheVoxyn]

A Natural Disaster

I seem to be the only person that absolutely hates that track. I think it is one of the worst tracks on the album. I am not sure if it is because of Lee's vocal delivery, the lyrics or the fact that it is too long for me - but I just don't like it at all .

[faemir]

Lost Control at 12?!

I hope to see Empty in top 5, perhaps deep and fragile dreams too.

[TheVoxyn]

Lost Control at 12?!

I hope to see Empty in top 5, perhaps deep and fragile dreams too.

Deep is already at 11. I originally had it placed higher but I switched it around a bit.

A lot of the songs coming up now aren't that hard to predict, apart from a select few. I think I might have some controversial stuff in my top 5 though.

[Zantera]

Lost Control at 12?!

I hope to see Empty in top 5, perhaps deep and fragile dreams too.

Haha, i can already see that you wouldn't have liked my list very much.. 

Gogo Voxyn!

[TheVoxyn]

Honorable mentions


Regular songs:


Destiny is Dead - Great transitional song between Forgotten Hopes and Make it Right (F.F.S.).
Shroud of False - One of the best album intro's I know. Immediatly sets the moods for the rest of the album.
J'ai Fait une Promesse - Song of their first album, which I sadly do not own (yet). I have listened to thing song though (because I liked the title) and it is pretty cool. The singing and the melody kinda makes you uncomfortable, and that is probably what they were trying to achieve.


Covers: The covers on the limited edition of Alternative 4 are really cool. Especially 'Better off Dead' (Bad Religion) and 'Your Possible Pasts' (Pink Floyd) are awesome. I would even go as far as to say that Better off Dead is better than the original. Live they have also covered some songs. There are some really good bootlegs out there of 'Comfortably Numb' which is one of the best Pink Floyd covers I have heard. They have covered a lot of songs, but these are the best imo.


Unreleased songs

Ann Further - Not sure if this will be on the new album (maybe with a different name) but there are a lot of bootlegs that contain this song, and it is really cool.
Hindsight - This song will be on the new album. It is a really cool instrumental and has potential to become one of my favorite Anathema songs.

[faemir]

So you did. Whoops.

However, re-connect needs more love too.

[Zantera]

Seems to be lots of love for Alternative 4, personally i think the title-track and Regret are the highlights on it.
Fragile Dreams is pretty sweet too.
Other than that, i prefer the other albums for some reason. 

[faemir]

No love for Feel?

And actually, I prefer Judgement to Alternative 4

Oh and Violence is gonna be top 5 I reckon.

[Zantera]

No love for Feel?

And actually, I prefer Judgement to Alternative 4

Oh and Violence is gonna be top 5 I reckon.

Well, since i started with Alternative 4, i discovered all the other albums after it, and therefor i haven't really gone back to listening to A4 a lot.
However, it is pretty solid.
Though i've never been a HUGE fan of "Shroud of False", i think it's a BIT cheesy. 
A Fine Day to Exit, Judgement or The Silent Enigma would be my favorite, they kinda switch up and down.
Also, Eternity has grown on me.. a lot.

[TheVoxyn]

Judgement is my favorite, and definitely in my top 5 albums of all time. Alternative 4 is probably my second favorite.

I will give another update sometime in the next hour or so. It won't contain songs from the same album, so chances are that there is a song from your favorite album in there .

[TheVoxyn]

10. Empty - Alternative 4

I cannot count the number of times that I have listened to this song, and it never get's old. It's short, it's powerful and it's a lot of fun to sing along to. The melodies are incredibly catchy and can be stuck inside my head for days on end. I love the calm part between the heavy middle and the outro. This song really shines live, and the energy emmited by the band and the audience is amazing. I just cannot get enough of this song.


09. Pulled Under at 2000 Metres a Second - A Natural Disaster

Holy buildup batman. I know what is going to come, yet I get incredible nervous when listening to the intro. And what's coming is pretty damn awesome. It gives me tons of energy and makes me want to run around and/or smash stuff. And I like smashing stuff. The end of the song really reminds me of Pink Floyd, and Sheep in particular. Nothing wrong with that though, since it is plain awesome - and it's not enough alike to call it a rip-off.


08. Temporary Peace - A Fine Day to Exit/Hindsight

But with you I start to feel some sort of temporary peace

I don't really like the song till the moment that the above lyric is sung. From that point on, it is plain awesome. I love the lyrics, I love the way it is sung and I love the music. And I also absolutely love the version on Hindsight. I usually don't like Lee's vocals, but here they actually don't bother me at all. One negative point; the outro drags on a little bit too long in my opinion. This song could be improved by a different intro and a different outro, but everything in between is golden.

'Beyond this beautiful horizon lies a dream for you and I...'


07. Angelica - Eternity/Hindsight

And I still wonder... why this song is so awesome. I find it interesting both musically and lyrically. My favorite part is the calm part about 4 minutes into the song. This part is even more awesome in the Hindsight version. Very calming and it fits perfectly into the song, it doesn't seem forced at all. I really don't know what else I can say about this song. I have the feeling that it is a but underrated but it is the best song on Eternity for me.

[Zantera]

Great songs.
Especially love the "there's a drift in and out"-part of Temporary Peace.

[faemir]

All brilliant songs, though pulled under at 9 saddens me a bit

[TheVoxyn]

Would you have rather seen it higher or lower?

[faemir]

Higher. It's a top 5 for me.

[TheVoxyn]

Still not 100% about the placing of 2 songs. Might switch them around from what I have planned now.

The only thing I knew 100% sure was the #1 song.

[Zantera]

This is actually harder then it seems.

[faemir]

I'm having great trouble with my OSI top 20 too

But I am going to get several friends onto anathema using this list, so hurreeee

[TheVoxyn]

06. Inner Silence - Alternative 4/Hindsight

This is a really short and sweet track. I think it is very uplifting and depressing at the same time. The track starts with a nice intro. The short silence after that (at 0:50 (Hindsight)) is really cool and it marks the start of the main part of the song. Although the main part is really short as well, being only a few lines of text. The message that is conveyed in that short time is very powerfull though.

"When the silence beckons,
And the day draws to a close.
When the light of your life sighs.
And love dies in your eyes.
Only then will I realise,
What you mean to me."

The Hindsight version is the superior version here imo, and I cannot get enough of it.


05. Release - A Fine Day to Exit

That intro riff . I never really payed any attention to this song till Faemir once pointed it out that it was brilliant. I started listening to it more, and he was right. This song has so many catchy parts and the vocal melodies just shout: "sing along to me!". Favorite parts: The awesome riff, the vocals, the guitar at 4:20 and the outro. Actually, everything is awesome. I wish the production was a tad better, but that doesn't detract too much from the song.


04. Violence - A Natural Disaster

AMAZING instrumental. Normally I'm not one for instrumental (not in this genre at least) but this one is so amazing. My favorite song on A Natural Disaster by far. I used to think it was fairly boring, but once it clicked... damn. The build-up is very good and actually reminds me a bit of Sigur Rós. I love how the song interchanges the main calm sections with a crushing heavy part. The song conveys so much emotion and energy, something that I miss in most instrumental songs. I also love the fact that it is centred mostly around the keys instead of the guitars. One negative point: the outro drags a bit too long imo. Everything else is golden though, so I don't really mind.

One of my favorite instrumental tracks for sure.


03. Are You There? - A Natural Disaster/Hindsight

What I want to say first: I am talking about the Hindsight version. I think it is infinitely better than the version on A Natural Disaster.

Another one of the songs I just cannot get enough of. I'm in love with the acoustic guitar playing on this song. If it were a human being, I would probably propose to it. The song starts out really great, emotional and very catchy at the same time. But it becomes even better around halfway in. 'But since you've been gone I have been lost in time...'. It becomes simply amazing from that line in. The lyrics are fairly simple but still beautiful and emotional. The song is more than 5 minutes long, but it feels closer like 2 minutes for me. Time flies listening to this song, and I can listen to it a long time on repeat before getting bored with it. I can listen ages to that guitar melody and I will probably never get bored with this song. The definite highlight on Hindsight for me. When I first listened to this song on Hindsight I could not believe that it was the same song that I disliked on A Natural Disaster.

This is probably a fairly controversial choice, but I think it deserves a top 3 spot because it is so simple and yet so hauntingly beatifull at the same time. I think I will put it on and listen to it 5 times now, just thinking about the song makes me want to listen to it.





For the 3 people that actually follow this: Thoughts on the above songs? And what do you expect for the top 2 songs? Whoever guesses both songs and the placement right gets a virtual cookie.


And for who hasn't seen it yet; 'Thin Air' off the new album has been released and it is amazing.

[Zantera]

Interesting choices for those spots, but i can see that my list would be really different from yours.
Guess it's a good thing though, shows how great the entire Anathema-catalog is.
Release was one of my early favorites, and even though it hasn't really grown with me, i agree that it's really catchy, and the "Hold On"-part is impossible NOT singing along to.
Violence is like.. one of the few Anathema-instrumentals, and it immediately stood out to me, for not sounding like Anathema or the rest of the album at all.
Something that was really nice.
I've never been a huge fan of "Are you there?", i don't even know if it would qualify for my top30 or so.

As for your 2 spots, it's hard to predict.
There are several songs that you haven't mentioned that could be there, like:
Fragile Dreams, Far Away, Pressure, Closer, Harmonium, Judgement, One Last Goodbye, Emotional Winter, Regret and A Fine Day To Exit.
Plus a lot more. :>