ANATHEMA — Alternative 4 (review)

ANATHEMA — Alternative 4 album cover Album · 1998 · Metal Related Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
The Crow
"Alternative 4" is, in my opinion, Anathema's masterpiece.

I just think is their most cohesionated work, their most perfect one... Maybe not in musical skills, but in composition. Taking the style of the previous "Eternity", perfectionating it, and adding a lot of melancholy, a sense of desperation in almost every song, and some of the most beautiful cello arrangements I've heard in a rock album.

Musically, there was a big progression since "Eternity", where Vincent sang to really well... But in "Alternative 4" he improved his vocals dramatically. He is even better in the most recent efforts, but in this album he sang deeply, dramatically and adding a lot of sadness to the great lyrics. The rest of the band was also very inspired... The guitars are really rich in comparision with their previous album, and it's obvious that Duncan Patterson is the main compositor... His bass is very dominant in almost every song, having a lot of protagonism through the album. Like in the dark tittle track.

The keyboards (specially the piano sounding ones) are also very important here. This is the main difference between "Alternative 4" and the later "Judgement", where the guitars are the absolute protagonist, specially the acoustic ones... "Alternative 4" is maybe harder, with a stronger layer of bass and keyboards, and not so progressive. Is the most gothic and sad Anathema's album, and because of that it can be a bit difficult for the usual prog taste.

Maybe this album has not a track so impressive like One Last Goodbye from "Judgement", and is not so variated like "A Natural Disaster"... But every track included here is excellent. There is not a single second of bad or average music to be found in "Alternative 4". And this is the reason I give this album five stars. It's just the only flawless album Anathema has released.

Best tracks: all of them.

Conclusion: like I said before, "Alternative 4" is Anathema's best release, the one they have still to top... Really melancholic and incredibly beautiful. Their most gothic one and their most cohesionated collection of songs. Maybe is not their proggiest, so if you are looking for an usual prog album you'll not find here... But if you want to discover one of the most deep and captivating albums released in the 90's, please give "Alternative 4" an opportunity.

My rating: *****

This review was originally written for ProgArchives.com
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