Anathema

Anathema are one of the select few bands that actually progress with each album, honing their songwriting skills to provide a better means for their musical message - but a six-year gap in the recording schedule that preceded We're Here Because We're Here still left many fans wondering, where do they go from here? Turns out, it was in the right direction. The most easily recognized change is the increased emphasis on piano, which is the leading instrument on most songs, but if this description brings the likes of Coldplay and Fray to mind, the music does not, for the simple reason that Chris Martin, let alone the horde of his mainstream rock imitators, can never rival the immense emotional charge of Anathema's music…

Although the British band Anathema left their traditional death metal sound behind on The Silent Enigma with guitarist Vincent Cavanagh taking over vocals duties from growler Darren White, the dark themes continue. Shifting their morbid focus from God-bashing and destruction, the chaps focus on suicide and the meaningless of life. The blistering guitars have been replaced by atmospheric keyboards making this come off as a twisted combination of Pink Floyd and Peter Gabriel, and there is even some spoken poetry here. As a whole, Anathema has proven that they are an original band, not content to repeat history. Unfortunately, there is a place in this world for such dark subject matter, and for those who care, Eternity fits the bill.

On The Silent Enigma, Anathema started leaving behind the death-doom sound of their debut album Serenades and incorporating traces of the more melodic songwriting that will dominate their future discography. Fans of the band should have seen this coming: already on Serenades the band had showed their inclination to experiment with more cinematic and atmospheric pieces, such as on “Sleepless”, “J'ai fait une promesse”, or the 20-minute keyboard drone “Dreaming: The Romance”. The Silent Enigma moves a further step (or two) in this direction: the songwriting becomes more accessible, the riffs and melodies are catchier, and the tempos are not as oppressively slow as on the doomier Serenades.

If Alternative 4 feels like a rushed album, it’s because, somehow, it is. Prior to its recording, the Cavanagh brothers witnessed the death of their mother: the event is commemorated in the album’s cover artwork, which represents a burial place inside an angel’s shroud. The album’s main theme is based on betrayal. But not the typical relationship issues treated like a game by Chad Kroeger, but rather the realization that the importance of relationships and friendships can be understood only when lost forever, in favor of some sort of “ignorance of convenience” in order to make thoughts of misanthropy, nihilism and suicide hit as much later as possible: a battle against nothing made quietly by every human on Earth, yet widely accepted and practiced by the modern society like an elephant in the room…

Directed by Lasse Hoile (Steven Wilson/Opeth), Distant Satellites A Sort Of Home Coming is a stunning concert film of Anathema s homecoming show on March 7th 2015 in the spectacular setting of the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. Anathema have spent the vast majority of their career making music that defies description. Formed in the mid 90s, they have risen to become one of the UK s most cherished and critically acclaimed rock bands…