SALMACIS

This album, along with Battle in the North which you call "melodic" in your other review, are in fact the two darkest yet beautifully anti-melodic albums in all of black metal. Anyway, good review.

I completely disagree with the statement that this album is more melodic than Pure Holocaust; rather (even though talking about melody for Immortal pre-At the Heart of Winter is risky anyway) the opposite is true; this album is just muuuuuch colder... brrr... than the previous one.

Well guys, what can I say... I'm glad that my suggestions are so well received. I particularly agree with those who claim the primacy of this platter among the records of the Gentle Giant. Unfortunately, this is not a universally shared opinion; if you take a look at progarchives, for example, you'll notice that Octopus, In a Glass House, and Free Hand are preferred... well, de gustibus...
Moreover, I will add that the first triad from the self-titled to "Three Friends" is, in my opinion, far superior to the aforementioned one, but here too the debate is open. I think that starting from Octopus onwards, they lost that freshness which was an essential element to lighten a sound that dangerously tends towards the convoluted and the obscure. The peak of the balance between these components is achieved brilliantly with "Acquiring the Taste."

The best Kraut-rock album, at least in its rockiest interpretation. It should be listened to strictly in a lysergic trip; otherwise, one cannot grasp the last three masterpieces resulting from some truly stratospheric jam sessions. I’m talking about the monumental yet surprisingly fresh suite "Yeti," the mesmerizing "Yeti talks to Yogi," and last but not least that chant-like psalm, as crosswise as a Tibetan breeze, which is "SANDOZ IN THE RAIN," A SUPREME PSYCHEDELIC MANIFESTO, for which J. Cope, in his enlightening book, does not hold back on praises and cameos. Praise be to the geniuses, praise be to the visionaries.

The best album by Anathema

* Ugly Panda.. you can go for it, in this case you won't regret it.. and you'll discover a form of a-symphonic prog very close to the genres you enjoy... anyway, if you want to stray even further from such a horizon, check out "Sea Shanties" more Dark-Hard than this...

I agree with Rooster, as this is the best Death album, more classic than The Sound of Perseverance, which, while brilliantly, reshuffles the cards (and the musicians) on the table. Among them, 10,000 Eyes and Crystal Mountains stand out, true shredder tracks.

I always forget to give the grades.

The review is quite good and addresses some fundamental aspects and themes of the album in question. I consider "High Tide" on par with "Sea Shanties," although I am more attached to the hard sound of the former. This one is softer, more polished, whereas the debut is tumultuous, volcanic, stuffed with brilliant ideas and... it also lasts at least 10 minutes longer... a detail not to be underestimated... In nomine prog.

After much tumultuous and ecstatic reflection and listening, I have finally decreed that Oceanic is better than Panopticon and, for that reason, represents the pinnacle reached so far by the Isis parabola. The tones are more varied, albeit slightly less polished, but it is precisely this greater adherence to its sludge origins, the persistence of a telluric background that poorly pairs with the airy sweetness of Panopticon, that makes me prefer it. The central section from Carry to Maritime is pure daydream!
Anyway, both are monumental and synthetic works at the same time.
P.S. Go listen to "Celestial" again; it's much more than a simple preamble to "Oceanic," definitely not a 3-star piece as Hybris judged it in a recent review.