Anathema: Distant Satellites
By Michael J.W. Stickings
Well, my temporary hiatus from blogging continues -- simply put, other priorities and commitments, but I hope to be back at it soon -- but I had to come on this evening to post a couple of clips from one of my favourite bands, Anathema, which this past week released its latest album, Distant Satellites, on the great Kscope label.
And, yes, it's an amazing album, perhaps not quite as good as its predecessor, Weather Systems, but that's only saying that a great album isn't quite as great as its truly great predecessor. As the band has explained it, "Distant Satellites is the culmination of everything Anathema been working up to so far in our musical path. It contains almost every conceivable element of the heartbeat of Anathema music that it is possible to have." That seems very much to be the case, though there's also am electronic element that is quite a bit more pronounced here than on previous albums, the driving sound on the title track, which is quite rave-y (in a really good way), and the first single, "The Lost Song Part 3," one of the clips below.
I just hope by "culmination" this great band doesn't mean it has reached the end of its endeavours, or that it has nowhere to go from here. I've been a fan for a long time, and there's some amazing stuff on the earlier albums, but on Weather Systems and now on Distant Satellites Anathema has really come into its own, finding its identity and sound after a somewhat tumultuous history of personnel changes and after many years of transitioning from a metal band that bears little to resemblance to the band of today to one of the leading lights of progressive (or "post-prog") music, a band deserving of much greater notoriety and success than it has received thus far, particularly on this side of the Atlantic. I cannot do Anathema justice, I fear, but there is hardly any other music in the world that touches me so deeply.
And so here, without further ado, is a quotes clip featuring "Distant Satellites" and the first single off the album, "The Lost Song Part 3." (I'll post clips of even better songs, including "The Lost Song Part 2" and "Ariel," if and when they become available.) Enjoy!
Anathema - Distant Satellites (Quotes Trailer) from Kscope on Vimeo.
Anathema - The Lost Song part 3 (from Distant Satellites) from Kscope on Vimeo.
And, yes, it's an amazing album, perhaps not quite as good as its predecessor, Weather Systems, but that's only saying that a great album isn't quite as great as its truly great predecessor. As the band has explained it, "Distant Satellites is the culmination of everything Anathema been working up to so far in our musical path. It contains almost every conceivable element of the heartbeat of Anathema music that it is possible to have." That seems very much to be the case, though there's also am electronic element that is quite a bit more pronounced here than on previous albums, the driving sound on the title track, which is quite rave-y (in a really good way), and the first single, "The Lost Song Part 3," one of the clips below.
I just hope by "culmination" this great band doesn't mean it has reached the end of its endeavours, or that it has nowhere to go from here. I've been a fan for a long time, and there's some amazing stuff on the earlier albums, but on Weather Systems and now on Distant Satellites Anathema has really come into its own, finding its identity and sound after a somewhat tumultuous history of personnel changes and after many years of transitioning from a metal band that bears little to resemblance to the band of today to one of the leading lights of progressive (or "post-prog") music, a band deserving of much greater notoriety and success than it has received thus far, particularly on this side of the Atlantic. I cannot do Anathema justice, I fear, but there is hardly any other music in the world that touches me so deeply.
And so here, without further ado, is a quotes clip featuring "Distant Satellites" and the first single off the album, "The Lost Song Part 3." (I'll post clips of even better songs, including "The Lost Song Part 2" and "Ariel," if and when they become available.) Enjoy!
posted by Michael J.W. Stickings at
9:58 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home