ANATHEMA / We're Here Because We're Here (2010)

Seven years! That's how long it'd been since the previous Anathema album. Expectations were impossibly high, but the guys delivered the impossible. The record soars with a regenerative impetus, delivering harmonies so full of pure emotion, so uplifting in nature that it's impossible not to be enveloped by them.
Even back when Anathema delivered doom and gloom they didn't write songs, they wrote albums, self-contained expressions of intent reflecting an all-encompassing idea. We're Here Because We're Here is another perfect example of that intent. There are parts of it that bring me to tears, and I welcome them.

Songs of Note: Dreaming Light; Everything

4½ sudden new meanings out of 5

VARIOUS ARTISTS / The Best of Peaceville (1996)

If you hadn't already guessed, it's a best of Peaceville label sampler.~ Being released back in 1996 means there's no Opeth, Akercocke, Katatonia or Darkthrone on the roster. It's dominated by the three biggest artists they had at that time: Anathema, My Dying Bride, and the gloomy Paradise Lost. There's one track from the short-lived Dominion, from an album I've yet to buy.
There's nothing to encourage existing fans to buy, but as a sampler and a snapshot of an important label for British metal, it's a great collection.

Songs of Note: MDB / A Sea oo Suffer In; Anathema / Lovelorn Rhapsody

4 vile acts out of 5

ANATHEMA / Alternative 4 (1998)

The album that finally lost Anathema a legion of hairy fans is a genuine overlooked classic. The song structures are still occasionally doomy slow at times, a part of who they were prior to Alternative 4, but at other times it's balls-out anguished tirades from behind a wall of sound. Elsewhere there are some beautiful piano pieces that encourage the listener to engage with their own emotions, something many of us shy away from. It has a huge Roger Waters influence, which pleases me greatly. It's an album that opens to reveal intricacies the more you invest yourself in it.

Songs of Note: Shroud of False; Inner Silence

4 alternative songs about trust out of 5

ANATHEMA / Weather Systems (2012)

Weather Systems is layered symphonic, acoustic and piano driven with flawless accompanying percussion; there are of course still guitars, too. Each song builds upon the previous one until the whole thing becomes one engulfing wave that's both uplifting and beautifully saddening. Vincent Cavanagh always sounded better to me with clean vocals. His voice and harmonies are stronger and more emotional than ever. There's a fragility and a beauty on offer. Anathema have moved beyond maturity, into heightened serenity.

Songs of Note: Untouchable Part II; Internal Landscapes

5 minds open that can see out of 5