Anathema Discography: #2 Serenades (1993)

"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

In Memoriam: Petri Walli (1969-1995)

On this day 20 years ago Petri Walli of Kingston Wall committed suicide by jumping off a church tower in Helsinki. Although he lived a short life and released only three albums with his band, his legacy lives on.
Kingston Wall was a Finnish psychedelic prog trio that was active from 1987 to 1994. They were known as an energetic and unpredictable live band, whose shows were largely based on improvisation and jamming, and the album versions only served as skeletons for new arrangements. They also held special Freak-Out Club events in Helsinki, which featured guest musicians and special cover songs. Kingston Wall had a huge following in Helsinki, but in smaller towns their audiences were less enthusiastic, although since the break-up they've found a lot of new fans who appreciate their work.

Kingston Wall's albums got released in Japan and they played one show in Estonia, but Finnish music exporting was very minimal at the time, so the band's dreams of getting to tour the world and becoming huge never came to fruition. In fact, some foreign record labels started showing interest just weeks before Walli's death, but the band had been put on ice due to inner conflicts in December 1994.

Walli's life and the circumstances that led to his suicide were largely veiled in mystery until last year, when a biography by Finnish rock journalist Viljami Puustinen was published. The book paints a picture of Walli as a positive and determined, yet cocky person. Before Kingston Wall's third album Tri-Logy (1994) he delved into Ior Bock's mystic stories, which also influenced the lyrical content of the record. Later on the band's break-up and his disappointment with Bock led him to become depressed, and this combined with his use of drugs shook his mental health, finally pushing him over the edge.

Walli was influenced by Jimi Hendrix, tuning his guitar a half step down just like his hero and covering "Fire" on the first Kingston Wall album. Led Zeppelin also had an impact on him - a few lines of lyrics in some KW songs have been directly lifted from Zep. However, Walli also enjoyed more danceable music, as evidenced by the Donna Summer cover "I Feel Love" on the second KW album. He also had a techno phase after that, the influence of which can be heard on the final record.

I bought the whole Kingston Wall trilogy four years ago. These three albums are classics of Finnish progressive rock and have influenced bands like Amorphis and Von Hertzen Brothers. My personal favorite is the second album, which is the most melodic and progressive of their works. I have to admit that Walli's vocals were always the weakness of the band's music (hence it's not surprising that their music is largely instrumental), but he was a very talented guitar player who had a knack for playing awesome solos. According to some acquaintances Walli had sworn he'd only release three albums and die before reaching the age of 30, but I can't help thinking that if he had got some help for his mental condition and the band had carried on, some great things might've happened.

However, instead of speculating we should enjoy the music that did come out: the three Kingston Wall albums have finally been released on vinyl and there's also a new DVD called Kingtime. I haven't watched the DVD (or KW live videos in general), but I hope to get my hands on it at some point. I'll review all the three KW albums sometime soon, but until then I'll let the music speak for itself:

"Look out world it's time to die
No more crying with my mind"

 

Barren Earth - On Lonely Towers (2015)

"Love is the hand that wrecks my flesh
Love is the eye that stares silent upon my aching wounds"

Finnish progressive death/doom group Barren Earth has released its third album, which is the first to feature Faroese singer Jón Aldará, who replaced Swallow the Sun frontman Mikko Kotamäki last year. On Lonely Towers sees the band stepping in a more progressive and complex direction.

The band's musical ingredients haven't changed drastically, but the effects of the line-up change can be heard, obviously the most in the vocals: Aldará is a great growler with a voice reminiscent of Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt in the late 90s and early 00s, but his clean vocals have an operatic and dramatic quality, and his range is much wider than Kotamäki's.

After the beautiful intro "From the Depths of Spring" the proper opener "Howl" kicks in; mostly a mid-tempo song, it gets doomy in the middle, yet also includes a cool wah-wah solo by Sami Yli-Sirniö and blastbeats, which are a new element in the band's sound. "Frozen Processions" is the most typical Barren Earth song on the album and also the most accessible. "A Shapeless Derelict" includes a haunting cello intro and is rather doomy, but also enters pure death metal territory towards the end. Video track "Set Alight" is the most memorable song on the album despite its 7½-minute length and tricky instrumental section, as it includes a catchy chorus and great melodies. Unfortunately On Lonely Towers is brought down by the unnecessarily long title-track and the forgettable "Chaos, the Songs Within". I wish they would've included the interesting bonus track "Sirens of Oblivion" - which includes a sax solo! - on the album instead of those two. Luckily the album ends on a high note with the epic "The Vault".

On Lonely Towers is a decent album, but only "Set Alight" and "The Vault" match the melodic greatness of its precedessors. Almost all the songs on the album are over 7 minutes long, and the shortest tracks are at the beginning of the album, which makes the rest of the record feel unbalanced and homogenous. However, Aldará is a great addition to the band and On Lonely Towers shows a lot of potential. I can see the next Barren Earth album being a great release if they finetune and refine the sound of this record.

Rating: 3/5




 

Anathema Discography: #1 The Crestfallen EP (1992)

"All emotion is consumed by an inner silence
All grief is unassuaged by disconsulate tears
I want for nothing, I live for nothing
I am waiting to die but I am afraid of dying"

Over the course of the next couple of months I'm going to review every Anathema studio release in this blog. The band has been around for 25 years, so this year they've played special "Resonance" shows with a setlist spanning their entire career and released a box set documenting their middle era. I'm also seeing Anathema live for the second time this August, with Dream Theater, so could the timing be any better? Anathema's style has changed a lot over its 25-year career, from death/doom to atmospheric and progressive rock with orchestrations and electronics, and I'll go through every step of that evolution.

Anathema is one of the pioneers of the genre of death/doom, and the band's first release, The Crestfallen EP, represents that sound: heavy guitars, growling and slow tempos. "...and I Lust" is a decent opener with wailing leads by Danny Cavanagh and cool harmonized guitar riffs by him and his brother Vincent. Vocalist Darren White's poetic and dark lyrics make it clear that this isn't the right album for you if you're in the mood for something cheerful: "Pain is a far away land / Misery, a lifetime's journey".

"The Sweet Suffering" may be the least melodic Anathema song ever, and therefore not very memorable or nice to listen to. It includes oppressive riffs and call-and-response vocals; White even uses some high screams in this song besides his standard death growl. "Everwake" is a total departure, a sweet acoustic folk track sung by Ruth Wilson. This song also started the tradition of having an acoustic ballad with female vocals as track #3, which would continue for a few more releases.

According to Danny Cavanagh "Crestfallen" is the first song he wrote for Anathema. This, along with the mournful guitar harmonies and the fact that it's the slowest song on the EP makes it a true classic of death/doom - Danny has even claimed that My Dying Bride ripped off the song's main riff on its first album. Despite this classic status "Crestfallen" isn't one of my favorites, as it starts to drag on towards the end and keeps its plodding tempo for 10 minutes. "They Die", on the other hand, is one of my all-time favorites from Anathema, managing to keep the sluggish pace more interesting and ending with one of the saddest melodies I've ever heard.

For some reason the CD I own (Pentecost III/Crestfallen) includes earlier recordings of "Crestfallen" and "They Die" from a 7" single, instead of the versions from the original EP. Whoever was the genius that came up with this idea gets no understanding from me, as the sound of these recordings is horrendous, Darren White's growls are so indecipherable that it sounds like they're coming from under water, and the playing is pretty sloppy - even some mistakes have been caught on tape. It would've been ok if the tracks had been included as bonus material, but having them replace the EP versions makes no sense to me. Well, at least there's the novelty of hearing faster versions of both songs that are closer to standard death metal - "Crestfallen" is three minutes shorter than on the actual EP!

The Crestfallen EP was recorded at the same sessions as Anathema's first full-length album Serenades (1993), which is the reason for the very similar (if not identical) production. It's glaringly obvious that the band decided to save the best songs for the album and only give the EP as a little taste of what was to come. Even the two highlights of the EP can be found as similar versions on later releases - "Everwake" on Falling Deeper (2011) with added orchestrations and Anneke van Giersbergen's vocals, and "They Die" on Serenades with a different ending. In other words, The Crestfallen EP can only be recommended to completists, but the reissue combines it with Pentecost III (1995), so the good news is you won't have to buy it specifically.

Rating: 2/5

Somewhere Else

Hey guys,

as you may have noticed, there are links to my FB and Twitter at the top of the page. Please show your support and spread the word by liking/following me over there! :) In addition to sharing my reviews I'm posting other music-related stuff as well, such as interesting articles, funny videos and other stuff I come across in the wonderful world of the Internet.

-Ville

Classic Album Anniversary: Marillion - Afraid of Sunlight (1995)

"Heaven only knows we live in a world
Where what we call beautiful is just something on sale
People laughing behind their hands
As the fragile and the sensitive are given no chance"

Afraid of Sunlight is Marillion's 8th studio album and was released exactly 20 years ago. I can give a little bit of background for those who read my review of Misplaced Childhood but aren't familiar with Marillion's history: in the time between these two albums frontman and lyricist Fish quit the band due to disagreements with the other members and being under too much pressure from outside the band. He was replaced by Steve Hogarth, who came from a pop/new wave background and had a very different voice and writing style. As a result the fanbase was divided into those who only like the Fish era and those who enjoy both new and old Marillion (such as myself).

Afraid of Sunlight isn't a concept album like its precedessor Brave (1994), but a lot of the lyrics on the album deal with the pitfalls of fame and were inspired by real famous people, such as Mike Tyson and Elvis Presley. My personal favorite song on the album, the poignant "Out of This World", is about the case of Donald Campbell, and it inspired a diver to look for Campbell's remains and the wreck of his boat, and they were finally discovered in 2001. The power of music can be influential in very concrete ways sometimes! Opener "Gazpacho" mixes upbeat music with dark lyrics in an ironic way. The single and video track "Beautiful is... well, beautiful. Other highlights include the title-track with its emotionally charged vocal performance from Hogarth and the album closer "King" with its rocking vibe and powerful crescendo at the end.

Unfortunately the album is a mixed bag with some misses besides the hits. "Cannibal Surf Babe" is a lighthearted, fun track in vein of The Beach Boys, but it also feels totally out of place on the album, both lyrically and musically - it's a little bit like Marillion's equivalent of Rush's "I Think I'm Going Bald". "Afraid of Sunrise" is connected to the title-track, but it feels kind of redundant on the album. "Beyond You" isn't a very exciting song and it's been mixed in mono, which sounds kind of wrong to me, as I'm used to stereo.

The filler tracks prevent me from placing Afraid of Sunlight in the upper echelon of the Marillion discography, but it also includes some of the band's greatest songs ever, and the lyrics by Hogarth and co-lyricist John Helmer are brilliantly crafted and possibly the best on any of the post-Fish releases.

Rating: 3.5/5

Gavin Harrison - Cheating the Polygraph (2015)

Rearranging classic songs from a different genre is often a recipe for disaster. When metal bands cover pop songs, they usually get lazy, just adding heavy guitars, plus maybe some screaming and a guitar solo. Then there are the half-assed acoustic/unplugged versions that rock bands often make of their songs that were ballads already.

When Gavin Harrison announced that he would release a collection of reworked big band versions of Porcupine Tree songs, I had a good reason to be slightly skeptical. However, as someone who has never really listened to jazz I was also curious to hear a new take on songs I love. Furthermore, my doubts faded when I read a press release where Harrison said he'd worked on the album for 5 years with "some of the world's best contemporary jazz players", so I knew this isn't just a quick cash grab, but a project he had put a lot of effort into.

On Cheating the Polygraph several Porcupine Tree classics have experienced a makeover: the guitars, keyboards and vocals have been replaced with big bang instruments, such as trumpet, saxophone, trombone, etc. However, the only thing these versions have in common with the original songs are the structures and themes, as some songs have been combined into medleys, the tempos are more varied and the songs get a totally different feel because of the rich details of the instrumentation. The songs may seem unrecognizable at first, but you'll notice familiar themes, such as the guitar solo to "Sound of Muzak", if you listen attentively enough.

Harrison and bassist/arranging partner Laurence Cottle have done a great job with the arrangements, and the songs are never parodies or funny in any way like some remakes of rock and metal songs on YouTube (check out the reggae version of Symphony of Destruction, for example). The dynamics of Porcupine Tree's songwriting have also been retained: the parts that were heavy in the original songs still sound loud, while the quiet moments have less things going on. The way the horns replicate the guitar riffs in "The Pills I'm Taking" is just perfect, and the aggressive breakdown before the final chorus is still there. There are also extra instruments adding color, such as the marimba on "Hatesong/Halo", played by Harrison himself.

My only tiny gripe with Cheating the Polygraph is that a few of the transitions in the medleys sound a little awkward to my ears, but maybe that's just me. It also remains to be seen how often I'm going to be in the mood for jazz/big band music and listen to these versions instead of Porcupine Tree's originals. However, this is a great release that can be recommended to anyone who likes either Porcupine Tree or jazz, or is an open-minded music listener in general.

Rating: 4/5