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ANATA

Tech/Extreme Prog Metal • Sweden


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Anata biography
ANATA was formed in Varberg, Sweden in 1993 by Fredrik Schälin, Mattias Svensson, Robert Petersson and Martin Sjöstrand). They integrated a lot of influences in their original mix of thrash and death metal. After the release of their first demo, guitarist Mattias Svensson and bassist Martin Sjöstrand left the band in 1996. Henrik Drake came in to take bass playing duties. After recording their second, more death-metal demo, Andreas Allenmark joined the band as guitarist.

"The Infernal Depths of Hatred" was the band's first studio album. Released in 1998, the album got good reviews, even being voted "Album Of The Month" in French magazine "Metallian". Almost at the same time, ANATA recorded a split album with BETHZAIDA.

2001 saw the release of "Dreams of Death and Dismay", another hammering-yet-melodic death metal album with more progressive touches than its predecessor. The ciritics applauded the band's continuous effort to write extreme, but highly melodical, death metal.

Drummer Robert Petersson left ANATA in 2001. ROTINJECTED's Conny Pertterson filled the position just before the band started to record their next studio album. After switching labels, the band finally released their 4th full length, "The Conductor's Departure", in 2006, to great reviews in all the metal and progressive press.



Why this artist must be listed in www.progarchives.com :
ANATA's brand of ferocious, dark death metal with concience-defying riffing and mind-warming melody is a unique blend of styles and a study in contrast that deserves a spot in progressive-metal's most comprehensive archive.



Discography:
The Infernal Depths of Hatred, studio album (1998)
Dreams of Death and Dismay, studio album (2001)
Under a Stone With No Inscription, studio album (2004)
The Conductor's Departure, studio album (2006)
...

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ANATA discography


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ANATA top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

2.54 | 12 ratings
The Infernal Depths Of Hatred
1998
2.50 | 11 ratings
Dreams of Death and Dismay
2001
3.47 | 14 ratings
Under A Stone With No Inscription
2004
3.09 | 20 ratings
The Conductor's Departure
2006

ANATA Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

ANATA Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

ANATA Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

ANATA Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

0.00 | 0 ratings
Bury Forever The Garden of Lie
1995
0.00 | 0 ratings
Vast Lands of My Infernal Domination
1997
0.00 | 0 ratings
Anata vs. Bethzaida: War Vol. II
1999

ANATA Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 The Infernal Depths Of Hatred  by ANATA album cover Studio Album, 1998
2.54 | 12 ratings

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The Infernal Depths Of Hatred
Anata Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by siLLy puPPy
Special Collaborator PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic

3 stars ANATA started out in Varberg, Sweden (just south of Gothenburg) all the way back in 1993 when Fredrik Sch'lin (vocals, guitar), Mattias Svensson (guitar), Martin Sj'strand (bass), and Robert Petersson (drums) started jamming to their favorite death metal bands and took their sweet time in releasing the two demos 'Bury Forever The Garden Of Life' and 'Vast Lands Of My Infernal Dominion' but the practice and patience paid off because as the band was honing its chops it successfully caught the attention of the Seasons of the Mist label. By the time the band got to releasing the 1998 debut THE INFERNAL DEPTHS OF HATRED there was a new lineup with Henrik Drake on bass and Andreas Allenmark.

Noted for their brutality and technical inclinations, ANATA's debut started out as a typical death metal release in the vein of Cryptopsy, Deicide and Dark Tranquility only more bombastic, with faster tempos and a sense of brutality more like Suffocation. The band's unique stamp was that it implemented C# tuning and created melodic constructs out of dissonant guitar riffs. While sounding rather generic on this first offering, the band exhibited a firm command of the instrumentation with lightning fast riffs that pummel away the senses and with heavy distortion and hints of progressiveness that would mature on future albums although one wouldn't call this technical by today's standards especially when side by side by other 1998 landmarks such as Gorguts' magnum opus 'Obscura.'

While creating melodic tracks instead of focusing on the rhythmic patterns that many tech death bands use to construct their labyrinthine progressions, ANATA has been referred to as melodic death metal given that the band emerged near the epicenter of melo-death, the Gothenburg scene where bands like At The Gates, In Flames and Dark Tranquility got the ball rolling. Having played with bands like Rotting Christ, there is a sense of blackened death metal in the mix as well. Overall the tracks contain a plethora of ridiculously fast tempos with incessant dissonant guitar riffs pounding away with the occasional Morbid Angel influenced guitar squeal or two. The musicianship is top notch but overall i find this to be a bit too generic for its own good as the tech death world had evolved significantly by this time.

Particularly impressive is the drumming prowess of Robert Petersson who nails all the blastbeat and jazzified fills like a pro. Fredrik Sch'lin's growly vocals offer zero variation as he simply imitates the growly grunts of the past and in the process contributes to the rather stale presentation on display. As far as variation in the music though, there's enough disparate elements to keep this from being a total waste of time although for those not accustomed to the fastest tempos played in a death metal context, this will probably all sound the same. Overall i'm impressed by the instrumental skills of the musicians involved on THE INFERNAL DEPTHS OF HATRED but the compositional fortitude is clearly lacking as ANATA is simply going through the motions without really placing their own stamp on the world of extreme metal at this point. Still though ANATA are considered one of the more important bands of tech death so the logical place to start is in the beginning and although this debut isn't the most stellar example of tech death metal, it certainly gets the job done.

 The Conductor's Departure  by ANATA album cover Studio Album, 2006
3.09 | 20 ratings

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The Conductor's Departure
Anata Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by VOTOMS

5 stars "... the songs contain multible riffs and sections, tempo- and time signature changes in spades but it´s like there´s no master plan. The riffs succeed each other in an endless stream and the songs completely lack memorability and hooks. After the album finishes all I can remember is that the band are extremely well playing." - UMUR's review

This was my first thought after listen to the whole album at the first time. But this was released on 2006, I was too much into death metal and detailed songwriting. I kept playing this album many times. And after all these years, I have found the true Anata's gem. And hell, this was the hardest band for me. This is the real hard listening music. You need to play the album time after time to fully understand, something that I'm not able anymore into this kind of death metal (I think I'm getting old). But once understanding The Conductor's Departure, the album wouldn't fail again. The band has ENOUGH creativity and virtuocity, and this surplus makes the album detailed ENOUGH. Listen to it carefully, and you will understand the beauty of this harsh music.

My 3 favorite tracks: Complete Demise (the oldschool non-melodic swedish tune mixed with technical and melodic riffs, something already did- see Entropy Within, from the previous album), Children's Laughter (I love the feeling at this short instrumental, is not a heavy song), and my favorite song from Anata, and one of the best technical death metal tracks ever: RENUNCIATION.

 Under A Stone With No Inscription  by ANATA album cover Studio Album, 2004
3.47 | 14 ratings

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Under A Stone With No Inscription
Anata Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by VOTOMS

4 stars At 2004, Anata finally did an album sounding like themselves. This is their unique style. It's still exaggerated, but in a good way. Anata noticed the fact that they are hyperactive songwriters, and tried to balance their music. They could not do this, Quite the contrary, they were more hyperactive than ever. Aggressive and hard listening, too many complex riffs per song and sometimes melodic, but now the strange non-stop riffage machine makes the album pretty catchy. The weak point is the double bass, even the tempo changes prevents the strafing drums. The guitar works are unbelievable, these guys don't stop playing expert stuff and gettin prog within weird tempo. The highlights of the album are: Shackled to Guilt (the opening track) and Entropy WIthin, the perfect fuse of swedish old school death metal with technical tune.
 Dreams of Death and Dismay by ANATA album cover Studio Album, 2001
2.50 | 11 ratings

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Dreams of Death and Dismay
Anata Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by VOTOMS

3 stars And now, more goods from the technical swedish death metal band Anata. Dreams Of Death And Dismay is their second album. The album cover sucks. But the album is a good choice. If you are hoping a swedish old school death metal or another "gothenburg scene" act, this is not the one for you. No this work has nothing to do with the florida death metal type. I will describe this one as a mix of Suffocation (a technical Cannibal Corpse) with swedish old school records. This is technical but raw, and not that kind of annoying stuff. Creative riffs, some melodic passages too. Very different from their debut, but the same flaw: exaggerated. At this point, Anata had not developed their own style. Different, of course, but a mix of existing stuff.

By the way, a great album for harsh and violent death metal fans.

 The Infernal Depths Of Hatred  by ANATA album cover Studio Album, 1998
2.54 | 12 ratings

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The Infernal Depths Of Hatred
Anata Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by VOTOMS

3 stars Post Technical Death Metal

Anata is one of my favorite technical/progressive death metal acts. It's a swedish death band, and you know Sweden. But the great surprise is the different sounding of Anata in comparison with other influential bands of the town, like Dismember/Carnage, Entombed/Nihilist, or even into the prog and tech vein like Opeth and Dan Swano projects. This debut is the weakest album in their catalogue. It's very different from the successors. It's brutal, technical, sometimes exaggerated, but with some kind of melodic riffs like... Do you know how to distinguish post-hardcore from hardcore or melodic hardcore? This is it.

It's a great album, but if you listen to it once, you will not get the whole thing, too many riffs per track, that kind of technical pissing songwriting. But years ago I was too much into death metal and had the chance to listen carefully to Anata whole discography. The aftermath is that Anata is one of the few "exaggerated technical" death metal bands that I still have some consideration.

 The Conductor's Departure  by ANATA album cover Studio Album, 2006
3.09 | 20 ratings

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The Conductor's Departure
Anata Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by toroddfuglesteg

2 stars This album makes me look at their debut album with nostalgic, misty eyes.

For once; an album title truly reflects the essence of an album. The true Anata has departed on this album. What we get is stew of bland hardcore and thrash/heavy metal with some hints of death and progressive metal. If the death metal scene is overcrowded, their new scene is ten times worse. OK, there are some references to Gorguts and their last two albums here. But where Gorguts was both very brave and clever; Anata is just copying the whole hardcore/thrash/heavy metal formula without injecting their own DNA. The death growling is still there and that's all. The conductor has departed.

Quality wise, this album is not a disaster. It has some OK riffs and what I loosely would call songs. But this is probably Anata's worst ever album. I wonder if their association with the big label Earache was such a good idea after all. The good old Anata is missing on this album.

2 stars (barely)

 Under A Stone With No Inscription  by ANATA album cover Studio Album, 2004
3.47 | 14 ratings

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Under A Stone With No Inscription
Anata Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by toroddfuglesteg

2 stars Anata continues their mix of Gothenburg and US death metal on this, their third album.

.......with a slight difference. The music has become slightly more catchy and melodic. Some power metal has been introduced too. Not much, but it is still there. Anata has also added some hardcore to their sound. The result is a pretty modern, dare I say...... trendy death metal album. It sounds fresh and crisp.

The quality of the material though is still not that impressive. Anata's problem is the lack of identity. They are just one of many bands on the same scene and Anata is pretty average. It is a good band. But so is ten other bands and that is their problems. This album is pretty decent and workmanlike. It is not an outstanding album though as required from this overcrowded scene. This is a case of "must write better riffs and songs".

2.5 stars

 Dreams of Death and Dismay by ANATA album cover Studio Album, 2001
2.50 | 11 ratings

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Dreams of Death and Dismay
Anata Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by toroddfuglesteg

2 stars Ther second offering from this socalled innovative progressive death metal act comes across as a blend of the Gothenburg death metal scene and the American death metal scene. Actually, it is a blend of Suffocation and At The Gates, as far as I can detect. The Suffocation associations is particular strong on this album. But it is also pretty melodic and that is where the Gothenburg assosiations comes in.

Nobody should have any doubts that this band is extreme skilled musicians. This is why they have such a great reputation. Anata is one of the prime examples of why death metal has some of the most skilled musicians around. But skills does not always make good albums. Skills sometimes makes boring albums like this one. This album is clinically delivered without much soul. This is just a generic death metal album and that's it. The band is excellent; the album is bad. Anata can and must do better.

2.75 stars

 Dreams of Death and Dismay by ANATA album cover Studio Album, 2001
2.50 | 11 ratings

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Dreams of Death and Dismay
Anata Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by UMUR
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

2 stars "Dreams of Death and Dismay" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Anata. The album was released through Season of Mist in April 2001. The band´s debut album "The Infernal Depths Of Hatred (1998)" was to my ears a pretty generic sounding US influenced death metal album. Decent but ultimately too standard to stand out.

On "Dreams of Death and Dismay", Anata pretty much continue where they left off on the debut album. US influenced death metal with a few hints to the more melodic Swedish variant. There´s nothing wrong with the level of musicianship on the album and that´s actually the greatest asset this band has because they have real trouble writing memorable music. Now death metal is per definition very powerful music but there´s a big difference in the way the music is composed and delivered by the leaders and the followers in the genre. The material on "Dreams of Death and Dismay" are generally generic and lack any form of original approach and it´s obvious that Anata belong in the latter catagory of followers. Listening to this album I´m not able to tell that it´s Anata I´m listening to and that´s a real issue in my book. Thousands of bands sound like this. After only a couple of tracks my attention start to wander and that´s always a bad sign.

"Dreams of Death and Dismay" is a very generic sounding death metal release and Anata unfortunately seem content with just playing run of the mill death metal. However as the level of musicianship is high, the sound production is decent, and there´s nothing really offensive on the album (other than the fact that the material are generally pretty bland) a 2.5 star (50%) rating is still deserved.

 The Infernal Depths Of Hatred  by ANATA album cover Studio Album, 1998
2.54 | 12 ratings

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The Infernal Depths Of Hatred
Anata Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by toroddfuglesteg

2 stars This is one of the better death metal bands around. Well, they try to incorporate some quality into their music instead of just being brutal for the sake of being brutal. There are hundreds of bands down that alley. Although Anata is heavy influenced by the likes of Suffocation on this, their album, they tries to do something different. They have also a lot of influences from the melodic Gothenburg scene. The likes of At The Gates springs to mind.

Despite of this, the music here is pretty much standard death metal in the US vein. Anata does ultra-fast death metal here and they are pretty good at it. Despite of this, this album lacks orginality and mostly falls flat on it's face. But it is not a bad debut album. This being a progressive rock website, a two stars verdict is fitting. But this underrated band should not be ignored. But start with the last album from 2006 and not this one.

2 stars

Thanks to The T for the artist addition.

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