Anathema, for all their guises, have a very clever way of evoking feelings of despair, and
hope all at the same time and this is no exception. Judgement is mostly a song based
album and is probably their most straighforward arrangement wise, which normally for me
(and most of you I presume) would deter me from rating this as their most essential album
but believe me this is not the case. The opener, Deep, is an insight into the insignificance
if a human life (thats the way i see the lyrics) and is relatively up tempo and Anathema in
hopeful mode to contrast such dark subject matter and has a great melody, you just have
to hear this song and i promise wou will want to hear the rest. The first three tunes are
like a trilogy as they all segue into each other, Pitiless contains a small acoustic part which
re appears in Forgotten Hopes. Another standout is One Last Goodbye and is the sort of
song you may or may not especially want to hear after the loss of a loved one, with its
wonderful, emotionally cathartic melody. The production is immaculate, the lyrics are
thought provoking and are in a similar vein to Roger Waters at times (Yes they really are
THAT good!). The music on the whole atmospheric, melodic with a crunchy guitar sound
bordering on metal at times. Anathema have come a long way in their relatively short life,
from doom/death to a kind of Gothic Floyd, not progressive in the generic sense (ie. sound
like Genesis) so complex time signatures and anologue keyboard solos won't be found
here, but this will appeal to progessive fans and those who like music for emotional
content, as it did me. The only thing that could be a drawback for some is that this album
is emotionally demanding, for this reason i find it compelling. Anathema's pinnacle to date.
Jools |5/5 |
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