Favorite Anathema Album?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Mirror Image, Jun 12, 2017.

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  1. Mirror Image

    Mirror Image 200 Years Of Anton Bruckner Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
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    Anathema is one of my favorite prog bands (if this label is even necessary for them). Their emotionally charged music really cuts through me like a knife and I really love the direction they’re going in. I never have cared for their early ‘doom metal’ work. All of the members are brilliant, but I have to give a special nod to Daniel Cavanagh. He really is the heart of Anathema and is actually their principal songwriter. Anyway, the reason for creating this thread is to discuss our favorite album of theirs. For me, it’s a toss-up between Weather Systems and Distant Satellites as both represent two sides of a musical coin for them. Weather Systems is more uplifting, dreamy, and just feels less anguished than Distant Satellites, which feels a bit more experimental, darker, more introspective, but each of these albums have this powerful emotion that is expressed in equally persuasive ways. Your turn!

    Postscript: I didn’t include The Optimist into my consideration just yet as I’ve only heard the album twice all the way through, so it’s still too early for me to give it a proper rating or really see how it fits in with their previous work.
     
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  2. Harry42

    Harry42 Forum Resident

    My favorite studio album is also Weather Systems. But the album i like the most is Universal.
     
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  3. Mirror Image

    Mirror Image 200 Years Of Anton Bruckner Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    Universal is a GREAT live album. I guess I was referring to their studio albums. I should have been more specific.
     
  4. seg763

    seg763 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ
    just getting into this band, listening to The Optimist, when I have the house to myself I will check out the surround mix at the appropriate volume level.
     
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  5. ifihadafish

    ifihadafish Forum Resident

    It's either Alternative 4, Judgment, A Fine Day To Exit or Weather Systems - a mark of quality through many years in between and technically different genres too. (With big nods to The Silent Enigma, Eternity and We're Here Because We're Here (should include Hindsight in this too) - however their debut was returned to the shop for being so far removed from The Silent Enigma for me - and thankfully they took it back).

    One of the best British bands of the last 20 years without doubt.

    I've heard awful reports about The Optimist. Could be from similar minded folk where Distant Satellites was only half good - the other half being awful (in my opinion) - but will still buy and try it.

    The Storm Before The Calm - possibly their best song ever - or certainly one that gives me goosebumps on every listen.
     
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  6. Mirror Image

    Mirror Image 200 Years Of Anton Bruckner Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    The Optimist is quite good. I wouldn’t say it’s an absolute favorite, though. Distant Satellites and Weather Systems are tied for me, because I love them both equally, but for completely different reasons.
     
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  7. sathvyre

    sathvyre formerly known as ABBAmaniac

    Location:
    Europe
    JUDGEMENT is such a nice album !!!
     
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  8. Thatfabulousalien

    Thatfabulousalien Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Space
    Well MI, I'm here because I'm here now :D
     
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  9. riskylogic

    riskylogic Forum Resident

    I like all of their stuff, but WHBWH is still my favorite. Just listened to The Optimist for the first time. It's definitely not awful, but it didn't carry me away either. It's less derivative than the previous two, so I'll give a few more listens to see how it settles.

    I also very highly recommend Falling Deeper. It's a string-laden rehash of their early stuff that is just gorgeous.
     
  10. Mirror Image

    Mirror Image 200 Years Of Anton Bruckner Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    I definitely do not agree to the opinion that Weather Systems and Distant Satellites were ‘derivative’. If anything, they were more inspired than anything else I’ve heard from them with the exception of We’re Here Because We’re Here, which is a fine album.
     
  11. riskylogic

    riskylogic Forum Resident

    I like both WS and DS a lot, but I think they are the same vein as WHBWH. My first impression of The Optimist is that it breaks the mold they were in for the last three albums.

    Just noticed they are coming to the US in August.
     
  12. Mirror Image

    Mirror Image 200 Years Of Anton Bruckner Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    I listened to We’re Here Because We’re Here again last night and found it to be quite good, but not as good as Weather Systems or Distant Satellites. Weather Systems and Distant Satellites are like musical twins, but, like twins, they’re actually both quite different despite whatever is on the surface. The music on Weather Systems, for me, is more uplifting and hopeful in it’s emotion whereas Distant Satellites is more introspective, moodier, and hides in the shadows a bit more. As I mentioned previously, both albums represent a different side of the same musical coin.
     
  13. Lukamus

    Lukamus Well-Known Member

    I can't decide between Weather Systems or Distant Satellites. So many great, emotional and melodic tunes on both albums.
     
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  14. realgone

    realgone Forum Resident

    Location:
    Singapore
    I would say Judgement.
     
  15. bunkaroo

    bunkaroo Forum Resident

    It's definitely Distant Satellites for me. Several songs on there have had incredible significance to me in the past few years based on life events and have continued to resonate. That said, everything they've done since We're Here Because We're Here is incredibly moving and for me leaps and bounds above anything they did before.
     
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  16. Mirror Image

    Mirror Image 200 Years Of Anton Bruckner Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    I couldn’t agree more! Distant Satellites is a truly special album.
     
  17. Snow2

    Snow2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Long Eaton
    I think that their last 4 albums have all been special - really starting to enjoy The Optimist.

    But pride and place for me goes to Weather Systems - a real emotional tour de force. Love Lee's vocals and the whole dynamics of Lightning Song - probably my favourite Anathema track.
     
  18. Dusty Chalk

    Dusty Chalk Grounded Space Cadet

    Sorry, I'm older school than new school. I don't go all the way back, but I go back to A Fine Day to Exit. The problem with that album is that it's a difficult listen, so I don't listen to it as often as some others I've listened to. It's just the kind of album that grabs me by the ears and requires me to listen to the whole thing, start to finish, in one sitting. Albums I've listened to more: Eternity, Alternative 4, and Judgement.

    I'm also particularly grateful that Duncan Patterson spawned Antimatter -- I can listen to those first four albums and the Alternative Matter compilation on repeat...and have. I remember one particularly long train trip where, when I got to the end of the sequence on my iPod, instead of choosing something else to listen to, just started over. The equivalent of "stuck in my CD player".

    I can't listen to the new stuff, it's been spoiled for me. Don't read this if you don't want it spoiled for you, too:
    It's just loops.
     
  19. Mirror Image

    Mirror Image 200 Years Of Anton Bruckner Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    Not sure I agree with this. Are rhythmic, repeated patterns a part of their mature sound? Sure, but this is a part of the charm for me. Incredibly hypnotic.

    I wonder if you’d say the same thing about Gamelan music?
     
  20. Dusty Chalk

    Dusty Chalk Grounded Space Cadet

    I didn't say it (sorry, I wrote something to that effect in the original draft of the post, must've edited it out), so I won't defend it. It's obviously an oversimplification. I kind of resent the person for putting that thought in my head, because now I can't unthink it. And I really wish you hadn't responded openly, because the thought festers.

    I think the last time I enjoyed it was when I saw the two brothers open for Blackfield with just an acoustic guitar and a looper pedal. Riveting version of "Closer" with a completely different riff underneath. Or maybe it was "Balance". I don't remember. I was too busy being mesmerized.

    Actually, according to this, they didn't play either. Huh.

    I do listen to a lot of very repetitive music (Philip Glass, et al), so I don't have a problem with it, inherently.
     
    Last edited: Aug 3, 2017
  21. Mirror Image

    Mirror Image 200 Years Of Anton Bruckner Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    Hey, man, no worries if you thought of later Anathema as ‘just loops’. I was merely just offering a rebuttal. As long as people are respectful with their dismissals of this music or that music, I’m completely okay with it. Good to hear you enjoy this band, though. They certainly are unique.
     
  22. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    Judgement
     
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  23. carlwm

    carlwm Forum Resident

    Location:
    wales
    Weather Systems by a whisker from the albums either side.

    I've got The Optimist but it hasn't sunk in yet. All of their albums take several listens to truly get to grips with, for me, so I have high hopes.

    Not heard anything earlier than We're Here. By all accounts, they had a very different sound on previous records.
     
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  24. Mirror Image

    Mirror Image 200 Years Of Anton Bruckner Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    I have very little interest in their early work since metal is far from a style I enjoy. Weather Systems is a tremendous album, but so is Distant Satellites and it is this reason why it’s a toss-up, for me, between the two.
     
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  25. riskylogic

    riskylogic Forum Resident

    A Fine Day to Exit and Natural Disaster aren't as ethereal as WHBWH onward, but they definitely weren't metal either.
     
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