"Dawn breaks open like a wound that bleeds afresh
In bleak misery, the lifeless lie in squander"
Anathema's first full-length album Serenades picks up where The Crestfallen EP (1992) left off, but the album format also leaves more room for experimenting and deviation from the standard death/doom of the latter release. Serenades was released a few years after Paradise Lost had already laid the foundation for the subgenre with its first two albums, but is nevertheless considered a classic.
"Lovelorn Rhapsody" opens the album with oppressive tritonus chords - I'd love to see the face of a casual Anathema fan who has only listened to Weather Systems (2012) and starts listening to this CD with no idea of the band's musical roots! The song title is slightly ironic for such a crushingly heavy song and it's funny to hear Darren White growling at the top of his lungs: "I hear your voice, it sings so softly"! The song quickly takes a more melodic turn, and I could see non-metal fans enjoying the beautiful chorus. However, after a few minutes the tritonus chords return, except this time in a fast, slightly punky tempo accentuated by double bass drumming. There's some solid riffing to top things off, and overall the song is a great opener and mood-setter for the record.
"Sweet Tears" was the video track of the album and got plenty of airplay on MTV's Headbangers Ball in Europe. Danny Cavanagh is the star of the song with his sad leads - at the end of the chorus there are harmonized leads AND a solo on top of the rhythm guitars, which must've made this song a pain in the ass to pull off live! Unfortunately the rhythm guitar work is rather monotonous and White's attempts at melodic singing don't work.
"J'ai Fait Une Promesse" is the obligatory acoustic ballad - Ruth Wilson once again appears on female vocals, this time singing in French. However, according to Darren White the French lyrics, which were translated by a school friend of the band's, are grammatically incorrect and hence weren't printed in the booklet. Luckily I don't understand French, as the melodies are beautiful, and even the major key ending doesn't feel out-of-place.
"They (Will Always) Die" is identical to the version on The Crestfallen EP, the only difference being the orchestral keyboard outro. As I said in my review of the EP, this song is a highlight of Anathema's early days and their whole career. "Sleepless" is undoubtedly the most popular song on the album and the only one that remained in Anathema's live set after The Silent Enigma (1995) era; it still gets played occasionally. Out of the proper full-band songs on the album it's an anomaly, with clean guitar verses reminiscent of post-punk like The Cure. The chorus relies on pinch harmonics and there's an explosive guitar solo by Danny. I can see why "Sleepless" became a live hit, although it's not among the very best of the album.
Danny Cavanagh has said that in the early days he basically "wrote instrumentals for Darren to growl over", and "Sleep in Sanity" has clearly been written with this method. The song is based on sweet guitar harmonies, while the vocals are scarce and White repeats variations of "It is not I who sleeps / It is you who sleeps" over and over again. While I like the song, I think it would've worked better as an instrumental, but I guess they wanted their vocalist to have something to do on stage during it. "Scars of the Old Stream" is an ambient instrumental with reversed guitars and spoken word bits. I have only one word to describe it: filler.
"Under a Veil (of Black Lace) brings the doom back. I enjoy the first half of the song, but towards the end it starts to get a little tedious, although Darren White's lyrics are beautiful, as is the acoustic interlude in the middle. "Where Shadows Dance" is another filler instrumental, although this time including the full band. The ambient track "Dreaming: The Romance" closes the album, but to be honest I pretend it doesn't exist, as I've never been able to sit through its entire 20-minute length - boooriiing...
The bonus tracks on the digipak reissue come from the We Are the Bible 7" single, which was released exclusively to members of Peaceville's Collectors Club. Both of them were improvised live in the studio during the recording of Pentecost III in 1994. "Eternal Rise of the Sun" is based on a Eastern-flavored theme by Duncan Patterson, while "Nailed to the Cross" ends with "666", which became a part of Anathema's live set and was played even many years later on certain occasions. Both of the tracks are rather repetitive and hypnotic, and ultimately not very interesting.
Serenades has its fair share of highlights, but the biggest problem with the album is that there are way too many filler interludes - they prove that Anathema wasn't a standard metal band, and it may have been cool to experiment in the studio, but they make the record feel unfocused and fragmented, and only "J'ai fait une promesse" is worth listening to. Darren White's "clean" vocals are another weakness and it's no wonder he didn't stay in the band for too long when their music started to change. Despite these shortcomings, I think Serenades is the best classic death/doom debut from the early 90s I've heard. However, it's clear that while Anathema were pretty good at what they were doing, they were still finding their feet and looking for ways to expand their sound.
Rating: 3.5/5
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