Search - Anathema :: Eternity

The best music ever made

bernalga | Mexico City | 10/29/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Straight and to the point: I own close to 300 cds, and this, my friends, is the best of all of them. By a long shot. From the intro track "sentient" to the outro track "acension" (both godly instrumentals) this CD is pure perfection. It is like a book that you open.. it catches your interest right away... it brings you to emotional highs and lows... and finally comes to a glorious conclusion. Duncan Patterson, bassist of the band at that time, a musical genious, and an important influence in me, has written much of the material in this album. This is where Vincent Cavanagh finds himself trapped between the passionate growls from The Silent Enigma (previous album) and the soft, harmonious vocals seen in Alternative 4 (latter album). This experimental mixture of singing and growling is, in my view, what makes this album so unique. The Cavanagh brothers are in an all-time emotional downhill caused by the death of their ill mother. The consecuence: the most depressive lyrics you will ever read. If you understand this album, you will definately cry more than once listening to it. Halfway though the album appears a cover of Roy Harper's "hope". Almost identical to the original in structure, Anathema's version differs only in one thing: it's got 100% Anathema's sound. But the loyalty to the original version is such that you can picture Roy Harper as the puppet master, pulling the strings and playing his own song through the band. When "Eternity pt3" arrives, you can feel that the end of the album is coming. It's impossible to explain why, but this song's overwhelmingly powerful chords spell climax like you have never heard before. Then, "cies on the wind" sets the tone for the perfect ending for this album: "acension". When the music fades out.. you are not left wanting more.. everything has been said.This is the concept album by definition. I don't even see the CD as a collection of songs. It is one entity... this is not one of those CDs from which you take a few songs to make your "best of". This CD itself is a "best of".. actually it is simply "best". It has been made to be played from start to finish, uninterrupted. You will never use the "random" option in your stereo. This is Anathema at their best. But be warned: its not an easy album to get into. There are those who say that it's the band's worse album to prove it."

Brilliant

dirg77@aol.com | 02/09/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is, quite simply, a brilliant work from a great band. Nothing on it really stands out, but rather, the whole album itself. The songs compliment each other excelently. Personal favorites are "Far Away" "Hope" and "Angelica." A lot of people say this album is boring, but i dont think they picked up on the raw emotion in it. At the end of Eternity II i literally felt like i was being accelerated, it was kind of like a high...and any band that is capable of doing that deserved 5 stars"