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Anathema – Weather Systems (Bonus DVD)
Artist: Anathema | Album: Weather Systems | Style: Progressive-Rock, New Prog | Year: 2012 | Quality: DVD-Audio (PCM 48kHz/24Bit, Dolby AC3 5.1, 48kHz/16Bit) + Audio-DVD (Dolby AC3 5.1, 48kHz/16Bit) + FLAC 5.1 (.flac+.cue, 48kHz/24Bit) | Bitrate: ~448 kbps + lossless | Tracks: 9 | Size: ~201 Mb + 1.9Gb + 2.98 Gb | Recovery: 3% | Covers: in archive | Release: Kscope (KSCOPE206), 2012 | Note: Not Watermarked

After Falling Deeper, Anathema’s orchestral detour into greatest hitsville, the Liverpool band return with a true follow-up to We’re Here Because We’re Here. What Falling Deeper accomplished was to make the band comfortable with the string arrangements of Dave Stewart; they’re used abundantly — and to great benefit — on Weather Systems (produced by Christer-Andre Cederberg with Daniel and Vincent Cavanagh). Guitarist Daniel has written a set of songs that are more daring, harmonically ambitious, and poetically sophisticated than anything he’s previously attempted. Vocalist and occasional keyboardist Vincent arranges them for drummer John Douglas, vocalist Lee Helen Douglas, and help from Cederberg on bass. Piano, acoustic, and electric guitars continue to dominate Anathema’s latter-day sound, but strings are now an immense part of their textural architecture. Anathema’s brand of 21st century prog embraces pop’s grandest scales and accessibility without mindless kitsch, shallowness, or phony detachment. This material, which is lyrically on the heavy end of the emotional scale, is offset by the sheer beauty of the compositions and orchestrations. The album explores the range of human emotions regarding death — the acceptance of its inevitability and the transcendence of the fear it engenders — which illuminates these nine songs. According to Daniel’s lyrics, it’s the ferocity of love that both bridges the mortal divide and renders fear impotent. While on the surface the piano and acoustic guitar intros on most of these songs may seem to be repetitive, they are merely feints, serving as guideposts to vast interiors, musically, sonically, and lyrically. It’s a gorgeous whole, but there are standouts. The two parts of “Untouchable” feature Vincent and Douglas on alternate, contrasting leads. The first part is mostly driven by guitars and drums with strings added for depth; the second is drenched in strings and becomes the first part’s mirror image. “Lightning Song” features Douglas. Her crystalline vocal helms the track as it gradually gathers intensity until explosive electric guitars transform it into an anthem, yet she rises above to carry it home. “Sunlight” begins quietly, but its drums and electric guitars gather into a storm force, yet the hook remains transparent. Closer “Internal Landscapes” — introduced with ambient electronics and a field recording of a near-death experience — breaks free from its initial weightiness with its sheer musicality and honest emotional expression from Vincent and Douglas. Weather Systems stands with Anathema’s finest work. They’ve not only escaped the limitation of expectations, they’ve exceeded them. (more…)

Anathema – We’re Here Because We’re Here
Artist: Anathema | Album: We’re Here Because We’re Here | Style: Alternative Rock | Year: 2010 | Quality: DVD-Audio (MLP 5.1 48kHz/24Bit, MLP 2.0 48kHz/24Bit, DTS 5.1, LPCM 2.0 48kHz/24Bit) | Bitrate: lossless | Tracks: 10 | Size: 5.61 Gb |Covers: in archive | Release: KScope | Peaceville, 2010 | Note: Not Watermarked

Anathema are one of the select few bands that actually progress with each album, honing their songwriting skills to provide a better means for their musical message — but a six-year gap in the recording schedule that preceded We’re Here Because We’re Here still left many fans wondering, where do they go from here? Turns out, it was in the right direction. The most easily recognized change is the increased emphasis on piano, which is the leading instrument on most songs, but if this description brings the likes of Coldplay and Fray to mind, the music does not, for the simple reason that Chris Martin, let alone the horde of his mainstream rock imitators, can never rival the immense emotional charge of Anathema’s music. The cathartic effect is further amplified by the music’s elaborate but clear arrangements, with pianos, strings, shivering vocals, and quietly wailing guitars blending together into elegant and dramatic songs with a rich sound of mini-symphonies — and clever hooks hidden in the textures. Vibe-wise, it is prime Anathema, with the mood tethering on the brink of despair, but always resolving into optimism or at least dreamy, elegiac resignation (to speak of maturity again), the way no one seems to be able to do since Sunny Day Real Estate threw in the towel a decade previously (though the two bands have little in common stylistically). We’re Here Because We’re Here is not perfect — the polished production smoothes out the hooks, making it easy to glide on the surface instead of immersing oneself into the music on the first listen. But still, this is Anathema’s most mature and complex effort to date — exactly as could be expected of the band’s new album. (more…)