The silent visions of Anathema
Once again taking a crash-dive into my musical past… 1995 is the year written on the back cover of the “the silent enigma” cd recorded by former British doom / death metal heroes Anathema. Ten years ago… obviously, “t.s.e.” must have been quite an incredible piece of work (art), given that it still is fascinating me even after all this time. In the years to follow, Anathema recorded cds like “eternity”, “alternative 4” or “a fine day to exit” including a vast amount of great songs, great moods, great ‘musical pictures’, illustrating the development of the band out of the doom/death metal genre into creating music more calm, more introspective, perhaps also more “rock-like”, more accessible to a wider audience. They’re still great, after all… but to me, none of their latter releases is able to reach the intensity, the power and the musical depth of “the silent enigma”, balancing between dense, melancholic, emotional parts and the slow-motion power this sort of doom metal stands for. This way, tracks like “restless oblivion”, “sunset of age”, “cerulean twilight” or “black orchid” still shine, and probably always will. One of the best metal records done so far, I guess…
web:
photopit.com (besides featuring tons of other shots) also features a vast amount of Anathema live pictures