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Rating:
Someone wrote, somewhere, that this is their masterpiece. I don't know…
And so, with this premise, where do we start talking about this (penultimate) effort of the Liverpool band? But also, from which angle should we frame this rather strange creature of British rock, especially considering that the writer has only known them since last year and specifically from the album in question? Still, I don't know…
Yes, because it seems (as confirmed by other debasers in various reviews of older material) that before AFDTE – indeed, to be precise, before that Judgement dated 1999 – Anathema were, from the point of view of sound, a completely different band. Devoted to a very (doom) metal music, complete with 'growling' style singing.
Well… for those like myself who have only recently encountered them, it seems impossible. Yes, because in these 9 tracks there's nothing, absolutely nothing that recalls metal, let alone the fierce and shrouded sounds of doom despair. We are talking, much more simply, about a very personal and melancholic rock, in which one can easily detect echoes of Pink Floyd. All of this, however, is flavored with a good dose of melody, never trivial or saccharine, and a singer who harmonizes with the moods of the music, maintaining that deep and melancholic timbre, the true 'narrative voice' that sketches and sets the direction of the album.
The piano opening of the initial (beautiful) Pressure might closely recall certain things by Radiohead, but it would be highly misleading to think we are facing yet another clone-band of the Oxford 5. Indeed, the subsequent Release (perhaps the best of the bunch) already stamps a turning point on the album; starting quietly with acoustic guitar phrases in the foreground, then 'opening up' halfway through the piece to become an authentic rock ride, with a beautiful fading finale after a vaguely 'grunge'-flavored solo.
The songs then settle on a decidedly more 'soft' register, and the mood becomes more introspective (beautiful Barriers, with Lee Douglas's female vocals as the second voice) until the fast and punkish Panic, ultimately the only truly 'spirited' track of the album (as well as the most immediate).
In closing, two more little gems such as the title track and the concluding Temporary peace – again with two voices – that convey a sense of transcendental calm.
A very pleasant album, which I perhaps still know too little to give a more exhaustive judgment and praise as truly excellent. Certainly, an album (and a band) that I promise myself from now on to know more thoroughly and that, as far as I'm concerned, would deserve better fate, especially considering that from Great Britain lately, groups have emerged that are markedly inferior in terms of quality of the proposal, and of which frankly one could easily do without (true Oasi(s) of mediocrity).
Could it perhaps be the fault of the name?
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