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Rating: Skilled weavers of delicate emotions, the English band Anathema always know how to melt even the hardest of hearts, and this "Judgement" (1999) is not only proof of that but also (and above all) the episode that represents the group's deepest and most touching side in every aspect: the intimate lyrics and the fascinating, emblematic cover faithfully reflect the all-encompassing emotionality of thirteen tracks marked by a wistful atmospheric rock, very simple and homogeneous yet far from being tiresome.
Simplicity and effectiveness make “Judgement” a rounded work, light and overall accessible, while the task of enchanting the listener is entrusted to that dreamy and calm melancholy that hovers throughout the considerable length of the album, without, however, being too intrusive or ostentatious. Just listening to the first track, “Deep,” would be enough to get an idea: suggestive acoustic inserts, curious psychedelic feeling, rarefied atmosphere, and bitter introspection intertwine in an intriguing alchemy of colors, sensations, and memories.
This formula is skillfully managed track after track through undoubtedly classy songwriting, but after all, Anathema has accustomed us to these standards. The resigned and dragging “Pitiless,” the leaden and extended piano of “Parisienne Moonlight,” and the progressive and pressing accelerations of the poignant title track are excellent examples of creativity beyond the ordinary. The hallucinated “Don’t Look Too Far” is decidedly successful, showcasing elastic wah-wah and relaxing vocals by the ever-impeccable Vincent Cavanagh, and “Emotional Winter” in its dreamy and ethereal, almost hypnotic, progression. But the real key moment of the album lies in the unforgettable “One Last Goodbye”, dedicated to the deceased mother of the three Cavanagh brothers: endless shivers, pure emotion, impetuous pathos. Indescribable.
The rest of the album is no less; among powerful and foggy strums, sliding on broad strokes of synth, and exploring every nuance of “Judgement,” one will be literally magnetized by what at first glance I would vaguely define as a cosmic and disorienting languor, an expression surely not unfamiliar to the new Anathema standards, now light-years away from their doom/death metal roots. Here is what you find in this CD: a band first and foremost mature, secure in themselves but freed from any ambition, capable of shaping their personal, inimitable, and unmistakable dimension in today's rock scene.
Album recommended to everyone.
Rating: 4.5
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Deep (04:53)
Feel my heart burning
Deep inside... yearning
I know it is coming
A fettered heart, waking
A tainted youth, fading
Leave it all behind
Delirious again
Mesmerize my senses
Souls entwine one more time
All our times will come
Searching oblivion
Leaving nothing but the memories of
All the things you give
They're all you'll leave behind
Within their mind
Open laughter held in distant days
Eternal stars have changed
I know that it can't be the same
There's no romance for you tonight
Feel my heart burning
Deep inside... yearning
I know it is coming
All our times will come
Searching oblivion
Leaving nothing but the memories of
All the things you give
They're all you'll leave behind
Within their mind
And time recedes every day
You can search your soul but you won't see
As we pass ever on and away
Towards some blank infinity
02 Pitiless (03:10)
Is it the emptiest of
All your broken hearted feelings?
A serious misconception
To chose a path that led to ruin.
I live for today
Can't get away from the burning inside.
Ashes to ash.
Dust to dust.
So quick to point the finger
When you're the source of your condition.
Why should I feel sympathy
When you only show me nothing?
I live for today.
Can't get away from the burning inside.
Ashes to ash.
Dust to dust.
I could stare for a thousand years.
Penetrate your deepest fears.
Leave you cold with a faceless embrace
Then disappear without a trace!
I live for today
Can't get away from the burning inside.
Ashes to ash.
Dust to dust.
05 Make It Right (F.F.S.) (04:19)
I know that I want you
I know that I need you
But I can't pretend that
This'll make it right
You whisper your name
But I can't hear you
Don't leave me behind
Lend me your hand
I can feel them
I think they're closing in
Don't leave me behind
Lend me your hand
Let me feel you
By my side
Be where I can hear you
I long to feel
06 One Last Goodbye (05:23)
How I needed you
How I grieve now you're gone
In my dreams I see you
I awake so alone
I know you didn't want to leave
Your heart yearned to stay
But the strength I always loved in you finally gave way
Somehow I knew you would leave me this way
Somehow I knew you could never stay
And in the early morning light
After a silent, peaceful night
You took my heart away and my being
In my dreams I can see you
I can tell you how I feel
In my dreams I can hold you
And it feels so real
I still feel the pain
I still feel your love
I still feel the pain
I still feel your love
And somehow I knew you could never never stay
And somehow I knew you would leave me
And in the early morning light
After a silent, peaceful night
You took my heart away
Oh I wish, I wish you could have stayed
07 Parisienne Moonlight (02:09)
I feel I know you
I don't know how
I don't know why
I see you feel for me
You cried with me
You would die for me
I know I need you
I want you
To be free of all the pain
You have inside
You cannot hide
I know you tried
To be who you couldn't be
You tried to see inside of me
And now I'm leaving you
I don't want to go
Away from you
Please try to understand
Take my hand
Be free of all the pain
You hold inside
You cannot hide
I know you tried
To feel
08 Judgement (04:20)
The inequity of fate
The pains of love and hate
The heart-sick memories
That brought you to your knees
And the times when we were young
When life seemed so long
Day after day
You burned it all away
All the hate that feeds your needs
All the sickness you conceive
All the horror you create
Will bring you to your knees
10 Emotional Winter (05:54)
Speak to me
For I have seen
Your waning smile
Your scars concealed
So far from home, do you know you're not alone
Sleep tonight
Sweet summerlight
Scattered yesterdays, the past is far away
How fast time passed by
The transience of life
Those wasted moments won't return
And we will never feel again
Beyond my dreams
Ever with me
You flash before my eyes, a final fading sigh
But the sun will (always) rise
And tears will dry
Of all that is to come, the dream has just begun
And time is speeding by
The transience of life
Those wasted moments wont return
And we will never feel agai
12 Anyone, Anywhere (04:50)
No one seems to care anymore
(as) I wander through this night all alone
No one feels the pain I have inside
Looking at this world through my eyes
No one really cares where I go
Searching to feel warmth forever more
The wheels of life they turn without me
Now you are gone... eternally
No...
Don't leave me here
The dream carries (me) on
Inside
I know...
Its not too late
Lost moments blown away
Tonight
[Chorus]
Mankind, with your heresy
Can't you see that this is killing me
There's no one in this life
To be here with me at my side
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Other reviews
By Norvheim
An album that is worth a hundred times most of the records that are spewed into today's music market.
One Last Goodbye is a song on which it’s hard to hold back tears, marked by Vincent Cavanagh’s wonderful and moving performance.
