Anathema’s ‘best-kept secret’ days are over

About six weeks before Chrimbo arrives, only ‘big names’, compilations and occasional live albums are released. Still, certain quality trickles through and we’ve already had albums by The Creatures, Basement Jaxx, Yello, Jah Wobble (on Monday)… Add to that Anathema, a band with its seventh full recording on offer, ‘A Natural Disaster’.

It hints at being a concept album but fear not, it ain’t. It is about personal experiences of the principal member/songwriter/singer/guitarist Danny Cavanagh, and here comes the quote: “A collection of songs that reflect personal experiences, thoughts and feeling that have been building up for the past few years. A journey of Light and Shade, Love and Hate, Yin and Yang.” So, not about our dying planet? Derch…

Wherefore, it is a set of compositions that travels life’s spectrum, it steps high and hovers low, explores depths and touches on epic sights, descends into solitary sounds and explodes like a volcano. It is solemn and joyous, dark and rocking, loud and as gentle as a butterfly’s flutter… This Liverpudlian fivesome create pastoral, ornate, often obsessively detailed songs while exploring huge emotional vistas, from melancholy to resignation to [mooted] triumphs… We all are losers, in the tragic end.

There are dynamic changes, variety of paces, arrangements that soar toward heavens but regain altitude at sub-sonic speed; minimalism evolves into orchestral-like blasts, Spanish-like guitar dominates the ‘Childhood Dream’ followed by serrated-cum-frenzied sounds of ‘Pulled Under At 2000 Metres A Second’ that could be the most menacing sounding track, although the closing monolith that is ‘Violence’, at 10:45 duration, is near by with its enrapturing elegy.

The title track is so dreamy and permeable it truly recalls Pink Floyd at the height of their creativity. Other pieces of understated brilliance are nearly all the remaining tracks, with ‘Flying’ almost being a blues-folk-rock with trancey finale to worry Radiohead. Coldplay should listen to ‘Violence’ and stop toying with their youthful/bedsitter angst

Anathema continue on their own no-wave/no-trend/no-bull-but-music way and that could be a slight problem in the world where uniformity rules, replicas are applauded and celeb-age is all the daft rage.

It is said often but never enough that if this band were American they‘d be having Linkin Park supporting them. Anathema can rock as hard as Metallica, go emo much better than Red Hot Chili Peppers and with more cred than Jane’s Addiction. We can only hope that justice, taste and truth will prevail, as a pessimist would say. Anathema have earned fame a few times over during their 13-year-career.

8/10