Here we move to my high school days. Imagine this: an early doom metal band has just moved on from growled vocals but the emotional weight still remains. Add great melodies and wistful lyrics and you'll get Anathema's Eternity. Through this record, I came to know another pioneer of doom metal, My Dying Bride. I also ended up returning (albeit briefly and superficially) to Pink Floyd. It is no coincidence there is a cover of a song composed by David Gilmour on this record. The best song on this record, as well as today's excerpt, is "Angelica", one of my perennial favorites.
My take on Anathema: Anathema is a strange one, because the stylistical development of the band has been quite the trek over the three decades of the band, starting from the early death-doom, progressing to gothic stuff like this record, and ending up on the latter day soft prog. The early death-doom records ("Serenades", "Pentecost III", and "The Silent Enigma") are very inconsistent, but the high points are very good. This record is near-perfect. The next one, "Alternative 4", is stylistically very similar, and many like it just as much if not more. I just haven't ever gotten that much into it. The next three albums ("Judgement", "A Fine Day to Exit", and "A Natural Disaster") follow the pattern "strong–weak–strong". The albums after "A Natural Disaster" are only momentarily interesting at best. In addition to the studio albums "Eternity", "Judgement", and "A Natural Disaster", I recommend the live DVD "Were You There?" as a highlight of the Anathema discography. The DVD is a very hypnotic one.
influence: doom metal – especially My Dying Bride, Pink Floyd
excerpt: Angelica (YouTube)
This post was retroactively compiled on 2024-01-19 from an old Facebook post.