To be clear, I've liked Anathema since Judgement and A Fine Day to Exit (title?). But I was never the hugest fan. Judgement was pretty awesome as an album, but of the others I heard, Alternative 4, Beach Suicide and Guy in Boat on Tiny Pond, there were only two or three songs on each that really struck me as great. When WHWBWHWHWBW came out, I just didn't get around to it (and in turn just left all the others after it alone).
For whatever reason, I had the impression that on this album, they went all blissy and atmospheric like, kind of semi-ambient for the most part. It actually seemed pretty loud the whole way. Not like ROCK OUT shit, but I was listening to it lying down with a headache, and it was noticeable how different a listen I got than what I was expecting.
I'm not gonna say it was amazing or mediocre or whatever, because it was just first listen, but it seemed at least good. And the songwriting seemed at least more consistent across the album than any of the previous ones other than maybe Judgement.