Warthur Alternative 4 finds Anathema's Pink Floyd influence beginning to overwhelm them, and to be honest in a way which I can't say I enjoy. When the band use the echoing stutter effect on the vocals as used on Animals multiple times within the first few minutes of the album, I can't help but see it as hero worship overriding good compositional taste - it just comes across as them tossing in Floyd references for the sake of it without consideration of whether that's really what the composition calls for.

Their post-punk influences also seem to be rather muted and less distinctive and interesting, and on the whole the album just puts me to sleep. It'd be rude and inaccurate to call them doom metal's answer to Coldplay but the thought did cross my mind; still, people really keen on the idea of a Floyd/doom crossover might find more to enjoy than I did.

Warthur Of all the bands in the "Peaceville Three" of Anathema, My Dying Bride, and Paradise Lost - pioneers of both a death/doom hybrid sound and, later, gothic metal, Anathema are by far the group I enjoy the most. On Eternity they play an intriguing blend of doomy gothic metal with gothy indie rock which puts me in mind of The Chameleons - in particular, Vincent Cavanaugh's lead vocals put me in mind of the vocals of Mark Burgess of Chameleons fame, and both bands tend towards a similar "wall of guitars" sound. I think the reason I like Anathema more than the other two boils down to them showing real taste and discernment when it comes to the alternative rock and gothic rock influences they weave into their music; Eternity is a good case in point.

Conor Fynes 'Falling Deeper' - Anathema (8/10)

Anathema first re-recorded unplugged versions of their existing music with the album 'Hindsight'. Contrary to my expectations, I not only loved that album, but it became one of my favourite albums from this former doom, now-atmospheric rock group. Like most of my most loved modern artists, this is a band that keeps doing brilliant new things, and the second 'unplugged' release from these Liverpudlians proves that they have nowhere near exhausted their passion for making some of the most emotive music in recent times. Instead of merely doing a sequel to 'Hindsight', 'Falling Deeper' does something rather different. Anathema's latest sees them mellow out their music like never before, now to the point of being rightfully called ambient music. Although the turbulence of these doom classics has been squeezed out of them, they are now more beautiful and touching than ever.

In place of guitars or drums, Anathema rely mostly on gentle piano, and a fully realized string section to bring these new renditions to life. 'Hindsight' certainly changed most of its songs up into something new, but they were always recognizable in relation to the core material. 'Falling Deeper' is such a radical departure from the death-doom metal style that most of the songs here bear only a slight resemblance to the originals, to the point where one could even call this album a set of fresh material that pays homage to their early work over anything else. To call 'Falling Deeper' 'unplugged' would be misleading, seeing as the arrangements here are generally more complex than the originals, which were mostly led on by one or two guitars. The strings and piano instantly create a template with which to create some beautiful music, and Anathema do not disappoint. Each track here is very moving in a cinematic sense, and there is even a running flow to the music that assures the listener that once they fall into the trance of the music, they won't be roused out of it by some out-of-place track break.

There are vocals here as well from the Cavanagh brothers, as well as well-known Dutch vocalit Anneke Van Giersbergen, who coincidentally ranks among my favourite female singers. As opposed to letting the vocals take run with melodies, they are instead used almost as if the voices were no more an instrument than the violins or piano. The highlight 'Kingdom' is perfectly indicative of this, with soothing vocals doing more for the texture of the music, rather than taking hold of the listener's attention. This is most definitely ambient music, and that can also mean it is not something that is necessarily going to mesh with every whim and occasion. This is romantic, beautiful, soothing music to put on while either relaxing and reflecting, and to that extent, I may not like the homogeneity of this release over something like 'Hindsight', or one of the brilliant full-lengths they have done recently. For what it lacks in dynamic or variety though, Anathema nails down the one angle they aim for here, and once again, I have fallen in love with the music this group makes.

Bartje1979 Actually, Falling Deeper is not a studio album, it is a compilation of old songs newly rearranged in an orchestral and mostly acoustical way. Where Hindsight (2008) contains rearrangements of songs from their post-Eternity era (1996-now), Falling Deeper contains rearrangements of songs from their early days (1990-1995).

Three songs from the Crestfallen EP (1992) are featured, namely Crestfallen, They Die and Everwake. Sleep In Sanity and J'ai Fait Une Promesse are originally from Serenades (1993). The other songs are originally from the 1995-releases Pentecost III (Kingdom and We The Gods) and The Silent Enigma (Alone and Sunset Of Age).

When I initially started to write this review, I wanted to make song-by-song review, in which I wanted to make a comparison of each track with its original song. Although, it would give a wrong impression of the album. As a whole, the album is a beautiful and atmospheric piece, with acoustic arrangements and angelic female vocals. Some tracks, like Kingdom, are unrecognizable compared to its original. Is it better? Is it worse? Sometimes it is inevitable to make a comparison, but forget the past. This is the new sound of Anathema. Together with Hindsight and We're Here Because We're Here, Anathema are writing a new chapter in their career. A promising chapter and I can't wait to hear their next studio album.

Now back to reality. I just listened to this album and the last song, Sunset Of Age, reminds me how great The Silent Enigma actually was. I think I am going to listen to that album now.

UMUR "The Crestfallen EP" is an EP release by UK doom/death metal act Anathema. The EP was released in 1992 by Peaceville Records.

Back when this album came out I was very much into the Doom/Death metal scene of the early nineties. I considered acts like My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost to be the best thing that ever happened to music. Time has gone by and I´d say my horizon is a bit broader these days, but I still regard those two acts as the best the early nineties doom/death metal scene could muster. Early Anathema is in the same genre and this EP in particular. The problem with Anathema is that they are not quite as intriguing as the aforementioned bands. They were in their early years kind of second division Doom/Death metal if you ask me.

This is of course their debut release (Allthough only an EP the playing time is 33:26 minutes) and maybe I shouldn´t expect too much, but even in those days I remember I wasn´t too impressed with the music on this EP. That might be due to the fact that I already had Anathema´s full-length album debut "Serenades (1993)", which is a far superior release.

Part of the problem with "The Crestfallen EP" is the pretty lifeless sound production which never brings the songs to life. Lead vocalist Darren White really isn´t the best vocalist either. He sounds out of his league here. tired and strained. All this really adds up to an EP that is below average. The musicians aren´t too tight either so what can I say. Hmmm...1 or 2 stars? I´ll have to give this 1.5 stars even though my nostalgic heart has a hard time doing it.

This is not an especially recommendable release. If you want to listen to early Anathema, I´d recommend a purchase of "Serenades (1993)" instead. It´s a worthy purchase with a much better production and some really good songs in the UK Doom/Death style of the early nineties.