Anathema - Distant Satellites
Anathema have been on something of a creative and incredibly exciting musical journey, from their doom metal roots, and touring their first album with death metal legends Cannibal Corpse, in the early nineties to now. Their new album Distant Satellites is perhaps the pinnacle of that journey, providing for this reviewer, the most sublime mix of musical ingredients, blending jazz, classical, and progressive rock, with some quite beautifully haunting song writing. There is even just a hint of the metal roots they evolved from.
At the centre of this wonderful album is the three part The Lost Song. How about this for an achingly romantic opening lyric in The Lost Song part 1:
"tonight
I'm free
so free
for the first time
I've seen
new life
new life
start to breathe"
Starting with solemn strings, the drums hit a rolling pattern, and as Vincent Cavanagh sings the words "start to breathe", the piano and Lee Douglas's vocals join the fray, in a breathtakingly beautiful musical moment. Electric guitars ramp up the intensity, and Vincent implores us to hear that "the fear is just an illusion".
The Lost Song part 2 showcases Lee's angel like vocals, floating over the top of a very gentle piano and acoustic guitar, and soaring strings. Her emotive voice, touches your heart, as she sings:
"come back to me
please believe
the feeling is more than I've ever known
I can't believe it was just an illusion"
Dusk comes with an almost doom metal feel, and in contrast to the open expression of emotion in The Lost Song, speaks to a closed down way of being, where everything is kept inside. With guitars more to the fore, it crashes into your listening experience, striking a really melancholic note. The Lost Song part 3, and the preceding Ariel, with another spine tingling vocal from Lee, take us to a more joyful place, and the healing power of love. The shared vocals between Vincent and Lee inter-twine almost seamlessly, and glide and ascend a jazzy syncopated version of The Lost Song theme. Unbelievably good!
The title track Distant Satellites, begins with an electronica type percussive rhythm, and creates a staggering crescendo of instruments and voices, before journeying effortlessly into an almost dance type musical interlude, before Vincent's voice returns with the hypnotic refrain of..."I'm alive, I'm alive". While this is the work of a fully empathic and connected band, the album is full of some virtuoso playing within the band context, and none more than Daniel Cardoso's astonishing drumming; which drives a lot of the emotional punch to the heart, this album delivers. The strings are also no mere add on, but add an elegant light and shade to these amazing compositions.
This is quite simply an album you cannot afford to be without in 2014! Anathema set out on tour this September across the UK. Don't miss them!