Ranking the Albums: Anathema
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2024
- Join Pete Pardo & Nick Franco as they rank the albums of British atmospheric rock act Anathema. #anathema
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"judgement" is a masterpiece in my opinion, my favorite in their discography!
The first eight tracks are like one continuous song, it has to be one of the most perfect stretches laid down.
Out of the 1000’s of albums I own, Weather Systems is in my top 10 … a masterpiece.
A big thank you to Nick and Pete for this retrospective of this much loved and missed band.Some beautiful and at times mesmerising music.Judgement and weather systems are my favorites.
One of the greatest bands ever! Their whole catalogue is amazing, but falling deeper (re-recordings) is truly outstanding, the sunset of age is probably one of the most touching tunes I ever heard. Timeless music that keeps me with goosebumps every single time
I wish they would have included that one in their ranking. I know it doesn’t really fit, but it’s not really a compilation either. It is so amazing 😊
Glad you guys did this. I've dipped into their catalogue a little bit over the years, but never put in a lot of reps. As a fan of bands like Opeth and Katatonia, these guys are always coming up, so I'm stoked to get in there more now!
My ranking of Anathema
1. The Silent Enigma
2. Serenades
3. Eternity
4. Alternative 4
5. Judgement
Kind of like mine:
1. The Silent Enigma
2. Alternative 4
3. Eternity
4. Serenades
5. Judgement
1. Judgement
2. Weather Systems
3. We're Here Because We're Here
4. The Silent Enigma (if you consider this album death/doom then it's the best all time in that genre)
5. Eternity
6. A Natural Disaster
7. Alternative 4
8. Distant Satellites
9. The Optimist
10. A Fine Day To Exit
11. Serenades
I almost put Weather Systems number one because I download that album to my iPod in 2012 right before I deployed to Afghanistan, and I listened to it over and over while I was over there. I really felt at peace listening to it, and is a special album because of that. However Judgement is such a juggernaut of a record imo. When Judgement came out I my teenage mind could not understand why they weren't bigger than what they ultimately became. Pete gave some great theories in the video but still.
I am so glad you guys did this. This band has always been special to me and it's nice to see them get some love.
Thanks to both Nick and Pete for covering this band. Any chance of review/rating My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost?. The other two of the British doom bands early 90's.
The Peaceville three
Nick has mentioned liking My Dying Bride, but I don't think Pete likes anything with any gothic influence. Paradise Lost are mentioned so rarely on SOT, I don't think anyone likes them on the channel 😢 Which is shame, as they are my favourite band.
It was SoT and specifically Mr Pardo that introduced me to this band around lockdown in 2020 and I cannot thank you enough. I love this band and had tickets to see them live when they pulled the plug. Their music is absolutely beautiful and helped me get through that dark period.
Lee Douglas’s voice is sublime and never fails to make me cry. Which is why I also listen to their music alone. Nick had it right, these are healing songs. Natural Disaster and Untouchable Part 2 always makes me cry.
Great show guys.
I encourage everyone to search for the video of Danny and Anneke performing Untouchable. It’s just the two of them and a piano and it’s absolutely amazing.
I love that video too. It’s probably in one of my playlists.
One of my favorite bands, constantly changing and evolving. I see three distinct phases. The death/doom metal phase of the first three albums. The moody and atmospheric prog of the next five, with "A Natural Disaster" (my favorite) perfecting that sound. And then starting with "We`re Here Because We`re Here" the albums began sounding over produced with a middle-of-the-road and almost saccharine feel - a kind of prog-pop. It seems when they found hope and optimism they lost the dark edge of the music. Still beautifully crafted albums, but I miss the gloom and despair. My ranking:
1. A Natural Disaster
2. Judgement
3. A Fine Day To Exit
4. Alternative 4
5. We`re Here Because We`re Here
6. Eternity
7. The Silent Enigma
8. The Optimist
9. Weather Systems
10. Distant Satellites
@@erorufurakku6378 Never owned it.
The post "A Natural Disaster" stuff bores me so much. Same for me with the later Amorphis and Opeth stuff. If I want boring pop-prog, I'll listen to Pink Floyd.
@@gwts1171 I can`t fault the execution of those later albums, they just don`t hit me the same way.
@@gwts1171 100% in agreement
Wow did not expect Alternative 4 at the bottom!
One of their best for sure.
I don't know the all discography but "A natural Disaster" is one of my desert island album
So glad you did this - going through my divorce in 2012, Weather Systems and We’re here because we are here we’re such an inspiration and lifeline at that time. Incredibly powerful and moving and life affirming.
1. A fine day to exit
2. A natural disaster
3. We're here because we're here
4. Judgement
5. Eternity
6. Distant Satellites
7. Weather Systems
8. The Silent Enigma
9. Serenades
10. The Optimist
11. Alternative 4
1. Weather Systems Fav Track- Internal Landscapes
2. Judgement Fav Track- Deep
3. We're Here Because We're Here Fav Track- Thin Air
4. A Silent Enigma Fav Track- A Dying Wish
5. The Optimist Fav Track- Endless Ways
6. Eternity Fav Track- Sentient
7. Alternative 4 Fav Track- Empty
8. Distant Satellites Fav Track- Dusk (Dark Is Descending)
9. A Fine Day to Exit Fav Track- (Title Track)
10. A Natural Disaster Fav Track- Balance
11. Serenades Fav Track- Sleepless
Really hard to rank these, literally their entire catalog is gold. As of right now though, this would be my ranking but it tends to change frequently :)
Well done guys at last you have ranked these albums fantastic band.your comments about each one are spot on
Great description of this band guys! Definitely a “listen while alone” band for me.
Weather Systems is my hands down favorite! “Untouchable Parts 1 and 2 are absolutely stunning! The first time I heard it I couldn’t believe what I heard. The second time I had tears in my eyes.
Such beautiful work for sure.
1) Judgement
2) Alternative 4
3) A Natural Disaster
4) We're Here Because We're Here
5) Weather Systems
6) Eternity
7) A Fine Day to Exit
8) The Silent Enigma
9) Serenades
10) Distant Satellites
11) The Optimist
It was nice to get up this morning and see that Sea of Tranquility did an Anathema video for the sunday special. This is a band I listened to a lot especially in the final years of highschool. For that reason, the albums that are most special to me personally are probably Eternity, Alternative 4 and Judgment. Those albums helped me get through my first serious taste of crushing melancholy and depression. of course, I didn't really know much about the world yet and hadn't touched the depths of despair that can come later in life, but at that time, those albums were just The Thing for me. it wasn't that the albums themselves were depressing -- they just fit the mood I was in perfectly, and I think in some ways, Alternative 4 most of all.
By the way, the person doing the poem at the beginning of "Hope" is, in fact, Roy Harper himself. I always thought that was a neat implied connection at the time between Anathema and the Tea Party, a band I was really into before Anathema (and who I am still really into now) -- they both had Roy guesting on their stuff for a while there around the same time period.
never really thought of a grunge connection myself -- to me, Anathema always sounded very English, and they were following in similar footsteps to Radiohead, who did indeed start off more "grungy", whereas Anathema started out as, well, doom-death. Speaking of that, I'm sure one of you two knows already (and it's probably already been mentioned in the comments), but there is an EP between Serenades and Silent Enigma that is basically the length of a full album, has Darren White on vocals, and is basically a bridge between the two other releases. Personally, I always kind of liked Silent Enigma a little less than Serenades, for reasons that I won't go into now, but they are both pretty cool albums for sure.
My problem with later albums is kind of something Pete touched on here -- they're really mellow, and it's sort of too ambient for what I often want from this band. I am happy they didn't stay in the realm of lumbering doom-death, but I do like their music to have just a little more kick to it. I'm not really a big fan of those long-sustained synth string keyboard tones they always use, and I wish Daniel's shining talent as a lead guitar player were more to the forefront. I should probably listen to some of that stuff again though. I remember the crushing disappointment I felt when A Fine Day to Exit came out....since then my opinion has softened a bit, especially after listening to other people talk about how much that album means to them and the really powerful experiences they've had while listening to it. I get it, but for me, it marked a change in either the band, or in me, and those albums just didn't resonate as much as that special trio of Eternity/Alternative/Judgment. I will say though that I appreciate the band seeming a little less down in the dumps. There does seem to be quite a bit of hope on their later albums as well as melancholy, and the balance is probably reflective of a better place the band was in mentally. Too bad the book is probably closed, now.
To be honest I always considered Pentecost III as a full length album based on the length of it. Only in the last several years did I realize this was only considered an EP.
I came across the song RELEASE on a compilation about 20 years ago, this band is my 2nd favourite band ( DREAM THEATER are no1) agree with Pete it's all about the vocals, really hope if they don't return, would love LEE to make some music with ANYBODY, she is my favourite female singer of all time ❤❤❤❤❤❤
Another group I did not know one song prior to Pete’s announcement/ I’ve got 4-5 spins under the belt with each album , except one ☝️, which after one full spin , I knew it was not my cup of tea. For right now , I know my top 2 and my last 2 (10-11). 1 - 9️⃣9️⃣. JUDGEMENT 2- 1️⃣2️⃣. Weather SYSTEMS. 10- 9️⃣5️⃣. Silent ENIGMA 11-9️⃣3️⃣. SERENADES. I will post 3-9 tomorrow after more listens. Again, Pete thank you for these, makes me dig “ into groups that I otherwise would not. 👍💯
3- 0️⃣1️⃣/ A fine day to EXIT. 4- 9️⃣8️⃣ - Alternative 4. 5- 0️⃣3️⃣- A natural DISASTER. 6-1️⃣0️⃣ -Were here because we’re HERE 7-1️⃣4️⃣- Distant SATELLITES 8- 9️⃣6️⃣- ETERNITY. 9- 1️⃣7️⃣ the OPTIMIST But , absolutely wiggle room. No right answer/ it’s just fun. Thx again Pete &. Nick 👍💯
I love Anathema. For me, late or not, they really pushed the boundaries musically in a ex doom metal band context. Their counterparts like Paradise lost, Tiamat, My Dying Bride, went full modern gothic mode, and now back to metal. Anathema never looked back and managed to create a style for writing tunes, developing whole song out of single chord / harmonic progressions. Troubled minds and broken hearts were always combustible for this band, a tragic and melancholic view of existence.
Nice to see some love to Anathema. Amazing compositions, fantastic musicians, superb feel and incredible singers. I´ve seen them twice and they were awesome. My top 3 is identical to Mr. Pardo: We´re Here Because We´re Here, Weather Systems and Distant Sattelites. Hope they might come back someday.
Thanks for the ranking show Nick & Pete :) made me realise how long it has been since I listened to Anathema as there has been far too much NEW music to discover in past year or so and there's only so many hours in a day. Think I'll have go listen to them now
Weather Systems is still my all time favorite! It's just special! Love Silent Enigma as well!
Wow! 6 Minutes in and already Nick has got rid of my number one. I love Distant Satellites - it was my record of the year that year.- possibly their proggiest/least metal. Glad to see that Pete has it much higher.
I think I've heard Nick mention Anathema before but it's nice to be reminded he's a fan. Love this band.
He's the only dude I've heard mention them.
WHBWH and Weather Systems are my faves too, also love Falling Deeper. So sad that the band was destroyed by lockdown and Danny has attempted suicide, I really feel for the guy, he wrote such great songs.
Lockdown was not designed to help people, that's for sure. So many mental health casualties, including this gifted soul from Liverpool. Let's hope he can find his way back 🖤
Excellent ranking show, great to hear Nic's personal insight of Anathema music, this is a mark of a great band how their music affects you emotionally. Anathema one of my favourite bands, I came in later with Judgement, to me it's the later albums, best being Weather Systems, followed by Were Here Because, although you can't beat the likes of a song like Fragile Dreams. Lucky to see the twice, also recommended is Danny version of Untouchable Part 2 with Anneke Van Giersbergen.
I watched it earlier. I choked up because Danny is such a genius, his playing and singing .... he's so incredible and to know that he is in such hell these days mentally, really made me sad for him and the rest of Anathema/Cavanagh family. My daughter looked up on Reddit that he is deeply involved in a 12 step program to get over addiction and his mental issues. Here's hoping he succeeds and comes back to music and life and hope. Anneke was fucking amazing, as usual. Do you know I once bought her Peanut M&M's outside of Albany NY? I gotta write a book :)
Thanks for this! I am new to the band, taking a chance on a sampler at Laser's Edge (a cheapie) of the K-Scope material and fell in love. So I immediately got all of the albums released since Judgment. Hard to absorb all of this dynamic, emotional music in a relatively short time frame. My top 4 would be Judgment, Distant Satellites, Weather Systems and We're Here Because We're Here. Am going to check out the early albums after getting a better sense of them from this show.
One of the greatest bands of all time.
Might be good to have an episode with their live recordings.
On stage their music came really to my soul and heart.
Been listening since 1996 (like Nic) and ’alternative 4’ will always be my number one. One of my most listened to albums of all time. I think Nic put it very well when refering to us who love ’sad shit’ when discussing it. We live and breathe these kind of albums.
This is cool was only listening to A Fine Day To Exit yesterday such a great band !
A fine Day to exit is my favorite.
Me too ❤
I have a few of their blu ray concerts and they are fantastic
My Rankings from what I have listened to:
1: Judgement (1999) 8/10
2: Alternative 4 (1998) 8/10
3: A Fine Day to Exit (2001) 8/10
4: Eternity (1996) 8/10
5: We’re Here Because We’re Here (2010) 7/10
6: The Silent Enigma (1995) 7/10
7: A Natural Disaster (2003) 4/10
First four are very close and virtually interchangeable in my rankings. A Natural Disaster is the only one I don’t like for whatever reason.
Awesome that you guys are covering this amazing band. Hoping they reunite. Didn't they disband because of the pandemic? Wondering if they could reunite now that things are somewhat back to normal.
Search the Internet and you'll find out why they'll probably never play again.
Weather Systems is one of the finest albums I've heard in last two decades. Astonishing.
What a journey I will never forget seeing them loads in London when they first signed to peaceville had the privilege of meeting Daniel and Danny a few times the last time was at the listening party for the last album. What an amazing discography they have. Judgement and alternative 4 are just masterpiece’s, but my favourite is the silent enigma hands down for so many reasons. Let’s hope they can get back together again in the near future and start working on new material. Legacy band no questions! 🤘🏻
@@erorufurakku6378 yes mate I did I’m from Fulham it was amazing to see them on my doorstep 🤘🏻
WHBWH is their masterpiece imo, still sends me! Many thanks for this one Pete and Nick, peace.
1. The Silent Enigma
2. A natural Disaster
3. We're Here Because We're Here
4. Eternity
5. Judgement
6. Alternative 4
7. Weather systems
8. A fine day to exit
9. The optimist
10. Distant Satalites
11. Serenades
Sea of Tranquility thank you!
I'm more of a fan of their death doom stuff but all of it is still great
Ranking:
Eternity
Judgment
Crestfallen
Pentecost III
Serenades
Alternative IV
The Silent Enigma
Distant Satellites
A fine day to exit
A natural disaster
We're here because we're here
The optimist
Weather systems
Anathema is among my favourite bands. And it's funny how taste in music and preferences can be so different. "Alternative 4" is close to my favourite album of their's, certainly not right at the bottom.
It's my number 2!
They are a bit like the band Katatonia. Big difference between the early and later stuff. 1. Alternative 4 2. Distant Satellites 3.The Silent Enigma 4.We're Here Because We're Here 5. Weather Systems ..Judgement would probably up there, but I feel I have not listen enough yet on that album
" Judgement " is probably my second favourite album of all time. Look forward to listening to this later.
Alternative 4, Judgement, AFDTE, A Natural Disaster. This band has at the very least 4 masterpieces.
Not to mention Eternity, Weather Systems... Jesus
Came in on eternity also still my fave also like alt 4
#1 The Silent Enigma (1995)
Gothic Metal masterpiece. I agree they were often a little off with the times, especially with post-90s stuff, but they were in a right time and place with this particular album! 1994-1998 were the peak of gothic metal wave. It stands with the very top tier classics of that style and era like "Draconian Times", "Wildhoney", "The Angel and The Dark River", "Mandylion", "Irreligious" and "October Rust"
Natural Disaster was the first album I bought of theirs and because of the cover. I liked enough tracks to decide to buy another album and that was Alliterative Four. It was good but something felt derivative or perhaps too forced in the depressive direction. I just remember feeling like the song writing felt like they wanted to be as depressing and full of despair as possible. I couldn’t relate and moved on to explore other bands. Still, I always felt there was probably an album or to more I could probably like as I did Natural Disaster. That’s why I’m watching this video, to hear what you guys think of the albums. It’s cool you both know so much about the band, too. I hope to pick two or three albums more to add to the fold when the video is done.
40:53 new shirt print: "I love sad shit" 😊
Alternative 4 is my #1 🤘🤘
I became aware of Anathema when they released Universal. I really enjoy that era of the band. The early stuff isn't as easy for me to connect with and the last two albums felt like they were running out of steam. My ranking is an abbreviated one but I quite enjoy these albums:
05) The Optimist
04) Distant Satellites
03) Hindsight
02) We're Here Because We're Here
01) Weather Systems
11. Optimist
10. Serenades
9. Natural Disaster
8. Silent Enigma
7. Distant Satellites
6. We’re Here
5. A Fine Day to Exit
4. Alternative 4
3. Weather Systems
2. Eternity
1. Judgement
Judgement is probably my favorite (One last Goodbye is one of the most striking ballads for me in any genre) but I also prefer Natural Disaster over A fine day to exit, although both albums have some excellent stuff.
Interesting discussion. I only got into Anathema last year. My favourites are "We're Here Because We're Here" and "Weather Systems". I'm not into death/doom metal nor growling vocals, so the first 2 albums don't interest me. The first album I own is "Judgement", which for me is the start of the really good stuff. My 3rd favourite album by them in fact.
I'm a fan of their middle period.
I like Alternative 4 and A natural disaster, Judgement is very good and i love A fine day to exit.
But We're here because... never grabbed me. Not my cup of tea.
Same with their live performances. Really great in the early 2000's but saw them a couple of times after that and the new material left me cold. They misses their early spark.
They did do a cool live retrospective at the Roadburn Festival.
Never heard the early albums.
I thought I was the only one here that loved WHBWH until I saw this show.
Great ranking show. Now kind of in the same vein, how about a ranking of Antimatter. Excellent diverse catalog.
Weather Sytems should have been the soundtrack for the film What Dreams Mat Come. Would have worked
Surprised to see Weather Systems that low for you Nick, just I see WHBWH and that album as one. As an aside Pete would love to see an Agalloch album ranking one day, hopefully Nick and Ryan can jump in for that one? All the best.
Nick is deaf from listening to unreadable Finnish death garbage.
Anathema were really a great band. Hope there will be a successor band at some point. Not gonna rank the complete catalogue, my top 5 are:
1. We're here because we're here (one of the most beautiful and uplifting albums ever made), 2. A Natural Disaster, 3. Judgement; 4. Distant Satellites, 5. Eternity.
Agreed, it's an absolute stunner! Found Nat Disaster very patchy, loved Weather Systems a lot more. Interesting how they changed so much.
@@seekah1 Weather Systems would be my #6....;-)
10/10
1. Eternity
2. Judgement
3. Silent Enigma
4. Weather Systems
8/10
5. Distant Satellites
6. We're here, because we're here
7. A Fine Day To Exit
8. A Natural Disaster
9. Alternative 4
5/10
10.The Optimist
11.Serenades
"Sleepless" was covered by Cradle Of Filth..
There are only four of their albums that I like at all, so I'll give my rankings for those. I have tried many times to get into their other stuff, but just can't do it. No hate - it's just not my thing.
4) Eternity
3) A Natural Disaster
2) Serenades
1) Silent Enigma
Hi, I have albums 2 to 7….going to have to catch up!…sad to hear about the band calling it a day BUT we have 11 albums to listen to , how many great bands split after 2 or 3!!!! Great ranking thanks😃
Miss this band!
A Fine Day to Exit is their best album.
'Serenades' number 11. Fucking hell.
Last place for Serenades and Alternative 4...oh man
From the debut to Judgement, everything was top-notch. Pentecost III might be the best.
Pentecost III is a great ep 👍
Great band I thought their last album the Optimist was a huge disappointment. I saw one of their last shows in London before the pandemic. I think they only played two more shows after that before everything got shut down. Unfortunately it's going to probably be the end. Sad.
"A Fine Day to Exit" is #1 for me, followed by "Eternity." PS: I Really dislike the later shuffling of the track orders.
At first, I didn't like the band, but then, when my musical taste became more mature. I discovered the beauty of this band. And maybe, as in the case with The Gathering, first two albums not my kind of musics. And the last three albums were not, as good as, let say “Weather system”, but not without good songs nevertheless. I can't name #1. I mean Alternative 4, A natural disaster and Judgment, they all great.
I didn't get into Anathema until the past 10 years, love their prog era.
Me too...
I know you put A Fine Day to Exit as number 8 but It was the first album I bought from this band and it's still my favorite. That dark gloomy feel that you speak of doesn't resonate with me at all. I think it is a slow build from start to finish and a complete masterpiece.
I would agree - one of their best. I actually find it tough to separate that one & Weather Systems/ Distant Satellites/The Optimist (I have all 4 in a tie for top spot). Also not into that super-gloomy/dark music either...
The Paradox Twin are a similar band, sort of Porcupine Tree ish.
Great band! I tried to get Pete to listen to them once before, they have a song called Sea of Tranquility FFS!
We're Here Because We're Here is an absolute masterpiece.. strangely enough I found Weather Systems very average and uninspired compared to WHBWH (apart from Untouchable 1 & 2 and The Storm Before The Calm which are great).
Agreed. It was a shame they couldn't match that amount of power again. Still some gems to be found on there thankfully.
Dream pop prog rock death metal titans
I have not heard of Anathema. Will listen. Thanks guys!
Alternative 4 number 11. 😢 💔
Good band - well at least from the late 90's on. Not into their early stuff at all (their "death-doom" period as WIKI puts it), you can keep those "death grunts"...The Silent Enigma sees them switch singers (THANK YOU!) but still a bit too heavy for me/same with Eternity. 1998's Alternative 4 is the first time they piqued my interest & by Judgement you've got something - more in the prog vein (mixed with other styles). 2001's A Fine Day To Exit is really good, for me their first end-to-end good album. This is from someone not at all into doom or death metal (or really anything too dark) so YMMV...My album ranking:
1. Four-way tie: A Fine Day To Exit, Weather Systems, Distant Satellites & The Optimist
2. We're Here Because We're Here - fine record
3. A Natural Disaster & Judgement
4. Alternative 4
5. The first three
Universal (Live In Plovdiv, Bulgaria) from 2013 is an excellent live album
I'm not a fan of the later work. For me, the best work they done was the song The Sweet Suffering.
No mentions of Ariel and Universal?! 😂
I absolutely mentioned Ariel. Maybe check ya facts before you run to the keyboard and the laugh emojis
Loved the first 5 albums, 6 and 7 are pretty good, then they just became dull imo.
Sorry, Serenades at the bottom? it's a doom/death masterpiece and Alternative 4 could be their best album and one of the best albums ever made. I'm shaking my head. The band lost me after A Natural Disaster. It's funny to hear how so many people connect with the later albums, I just find them dull and uninteresting.
Jesus christ, guy, Alternative IV was my number 2. Whaddaya want I'm not a doom death fan.
1 - Serenades
2 - Pentecost III
3 - The Crestfallen E.P.
Anything other than that was drivel that should have been called something else, not Anathema.
These are all great releases of early 90s gothic-death metal, but I think they fully made it on The Silent Enigma, a definite classic of gothic metal.
Jesus wept. And now Pete puts 'Alternative 4' as the worst album. You both really need to take a long hard look in the mirror ;)
Outstanding band, outstanding episode. Thanks.