JUDGEMENT

In my opinion this album and 2001's A fine Day to exit are Anathema's best releases up to date.

This album takes off where Alternative 4 ended. We keep the same beautiful compositions but make them more friendlier and les dark. This is something you can notice right from the start: the album kicks off with a 4 track suite, featuring a lot of acoustic guitar and very nice vocals! The guitar solo in Deep is simply stunning and very melodic, whereas the also superb guitar solo in Pitiless is heavier than Anathema has ever done before! The suit ends with the laidback Forgotten Hopes track that gives us a dreamy ending followed by the instrumental Destiny is dead to finish the suit in a perfect way by repeating a certain guitar pattern and slowly slowing it down until it finally stops.

What is also a difference compared to its predecessor is that the keyboards are lesser present on this release, there are exceptions as always, most notably on the song Make it right (FFS). This song features walls of keyboard sounds in the instrumental chorus.

One last Goodbye is a ballad in true Anathema style. Very nice keyboard orchestration accompanied by some melancholic acoustic guitar chords create a very mellow but bit depressing mood for the vocals to start. The song naturally progresses to a heavy, metal ending with again a magnificent guitar solo before it eventually ends the same way as it started with the same acoustic guitar verses. This song is my favourite if I only look at the vocals, they truly express the right emotions for the lyrics accompanying the song.

Parisienne Moonlight and Don't look too far are both songs that feature a second female singer. The first of these two is a piano based duet, whereas the second one is an up-tempo rocker.

Another highlight is one of the most direct songs on the album, Wings of God. I love this track's lyrics. The song gives the guitar a lot of freedom to solo about.

The instrumental 2000 and gone is the perfect ending for an already incredible album. It is very calm and gentle with waves of warm keyboard sounds, subtle drumming and again smooth guitarwork, both acoustic and electric.

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