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Rating: Eleven years have passed since its release, but SERENADES still leaves an impression, perhaps because it's Anathema's debut.
Now, many of those who will read this review will only know the current Anathema.
Well, forget them because at the time, Anathema was far from the artistic evolution that made them what they are now; indeed, back then, the band could still be considered a pure Doom Metal group (they themselves would later author one of the absolute masterpieces of the genre with the subsequent and unreachable "The Silent Enigma").
If you loved Alternative 4 or better yet Judgement, you will struggle to approach this album.
The differences are vast, starting with the use of Death Metal-style growl for the vocal parts (in this album, the band's first singer Darren White still sings, and not the better Vincent Cavanagh, who here is relegated only to the guitar).
Another element of undoubted interest is the lyrics, centered on the theme of lost love, stunning and annihilating in all their pessimism.
Musically then, SERENADES is a demonstration of what Anathema was for the English Doom Metal scene. The abyssal bass lines and the classic "moans" of the guitar are all already present.
The album also offers us great tracks and at least two absolutely valuable gems. First of all, SLEEPLESS, one of the band's most famous tracks, and THEY DIE, the masterpiece of the album.
The track unfolds slow and dark until it drowns in the blackest despair in the finale, where the splendid and moving keyboard work stands out.
Ultimately, SERENADES is just the first step in a journey into the territories of disillusionment and desperation of living that will continue with the subsequent masterpieces: The Silent Enigma and Eternity.
"They die.......They will always die"
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Lovelorn Rhapsody (06:21)
I hear your voice
It sings so softly
Curious to join in
A harmony to breathe forevermore
Joyous the one to hear a voice
In fields where grass grows tall
Golden carpets swell and whisper
Autumn trees will weep
Immune to pity, I've grown used to grief
The eternal tear reciprocates
In fields where grass grows tall
Golden carpets swell and whisper
Autumn trees will weep
Dawn breaks open like a wound that bleeds afresh
In bleak misery, the lifeless lie in squander
Love has left me, fled from me
Fragrant lust waits beside and dies
Like flowers that wilt without refreshment
In midday sun I sit and bide time
Adorning me, a lovelorn rhapsody
02 Sweet Tears (04:10)
In each others arms
We cried together
And your tears tasted sweet
All is not lost
And never to be forgotten
Like a shiver down my spine
The lonely nights keep falling
And I still want you
All is not lost
And never to be forgotten
She's passed away but dreaming
Her soul's awake and screaming
The weeping willow is weeping
And beneath our hearts ...
... all joy is sleeping
our bliss is carried away ... sweet tears
03 J'ai fait une promesse (02:36)
The way that the willow bows over the stream
like a mourner crying for their loved one
reminds me of last fall
when on one knee, I pledged myself to you
04 They (Will Always) Die (07:12)
All tears restrained for years
Their grief is confined
Which destroys my mind
An ode to their plight is this dirge
Some yearn for lugubrious silence
(It is the) serenity in the image of coffins
Shall life renew these bodies of a truth?
All death will he annul, all tears assuage?
Fill the void veins of life, again with youth
And wash with an immortal water, age
They Die... (they will always die)
05 Sleepless (04:09)
And I often sigh
I often wonder why
I'm still here and I still cry
And I often cry
I often spill a tear
Over those not here
But still they are so dear
Please ease my burden
And I still remember
A memory and I weep
In my broken sleep
The scars they cut so deep
Please ease my burden
Please ease my pain
Surely without war there would be no loss
Hence no mourning, no grief, no pain, no misery
No sleepless nights missing the dead ... Oh, no more
No more war
06 Sleep in Sanity (06:49)
It is not I who sleeps
It is you who sleeps ... you sleep
Insane you sleep, I sleep in sanity
07 Scars of the Old Stream (01:07)
scars of the old stream..
trailing down the hills
where we once lived
08 Under a Veil (Of Black Lace) (07:29)
With loving passion, oh your radiance
A serenade I cry
Your silk lined coffin the lachrymatory
To hold a mourner's tears
Ethereal splendor
Pale skin and down cast eyes
Scent of paradise
Like her, forever remains unknown
Through tear stained eyes
My view is growing weaker
Please help my grief be vanquished
Thy bed of roses, funereal drapery
Impale my on your thorns
Celestial splendor
Pale skin and down cast eyes
Farewell autumn kisses
Like her, forever remains unknown
I loved her ... but now she's gone
(It's so hard to face)
Overcoming ... tender reckoning
If I too depart the earth
I harmony to (our) heaven we'll elope
Heavenly grace with which to ease
the virgin's tears
11 ...and I Lust (05:44)
Stately columns standing in solemn rows
Such empty honours are suitable for those
Whose death erases all renown and fame
And vanquishes their glory with their name
Wandering aimlessly through dead filled fields
Rewards are just, who knows what absence yields?
By the golden beauty of dusk
and the sun low in our sky
By the haunting shadows of trees
and graves, mesmerized am I.
Searching deep inside trying to reach my dreams
I see a face stare back at me... oh, so serene.
By the golden beauty of dusk
and the sun low in our sky
By the haunting shadows of trees
and graves, mesmerized am I.
Those whispering shades... sad, silent glades
But not for those whose superior worth
After death extols them to the earth
I would even venture to assume
That one need not build for them a tomb
By human art, since glory heaven sent
Serves them as a living monument
Pain is a far away land,
Misery, a lifetime's journey...
...and I lust for death (judgement).
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