Oh, how the things change... A once-great doom metal band from Liverpool turned into a rock band. I could, again, raise the debate about changing band's name if their style changes considerably, but whatever. The band in cse, Anathema, didn't change their name, but their path of transition has been pretty smooth. The transition achieved the point, where the past was past and now is now, some years ago. I count the way that this is already 4th post-metal album from Anathema.
I have comprehended the attractiveness of the first post-metal album, 'Alternative 4' (1998), but none of the latter ones. It took me years, when I decided to buy this, the band's 7th full length album. I find 'A Fine Day to Exit' (2001) to be such unexciting album, that picking up 'A Natural Disaster' was like playing on a mine-field. And guess what..? BOOM!
A line between simple music and tedious music is marginal. Here, Anathema sadly lie on the wrong side of that line for a big part. The familiar weeping guitar on 'Harmonium' lift up my expectations, but fuck it, the song doesn't go anywhere. The theme goes on and on, until the end, even though bass and drums enter at some point. The genuine example of anticlimax. "Floating music" is perfect idiom for this. 'Balance' tries to begin for a few minutes, and when it does, guess how? Yep, rock drum beat and distorted guitar enter the song. And soon the song ends... Another anticlimax. 'Closer' follows similar pattern, only the climax is even more anti! 'Are You There?' is a bit more solid song, an elegiac slower. 'Pulled Under at 2000 Metres a Second' harks back to the days of 'Alternative 4', because of its pure energy and heaviness and is the hardest effort from the band. My definite favourite of the album. The title track offers some variation too, because of its female-only vocals. The music itself has some kind of lounge rock feel to it. 'Flying' is another song, where nothing much happens, as well as on lounge rock piece 'Electricity' (not really an appropriate title for this song, really). 'Violence' is another growing song, with the ending, that is... You probably guessed it: Another anticlimax! After the "crushing" rock burst, the piano part starts. Anathema haven't been able to create a song that is repeating yet works perfectly like King Crimson's 'Epitaph' for example. Sadness or beuaty heard here isn't even close to what Anathema have been able to submit in the past. At least there's some good themes going on in these songs, and performances are adequate. The vocalist Vincent Cavanagh's fragile voice is one of the highlights of the album, even though he reminds quite a lot of Arena's Rob Sowden, of course in a good way.
Travis Smith's art is seen a lot nowadays, and the stuff featured here has undergone quite a degradation from his usual quality. Only the front cover has something special in it. Soundwise this is good; organic, revealing and spacey is more than suitable. The lyrics are printed in one sentence, so to speak, and that's where my interest ends.
I read somewhere, that Daniel Cavanagh needed to get these songs off his chest, and they all com from a certain point of his life, which caused a lot of hurting. I personally have trouble to find any kind of suitable mood, when 'A Natural Disaster' could work. The music on it simply does not affect me in any way, but only randomly, 'Pulled Under at 2000 Metres a Second' being the sole exception to the rule. Generally, I find this too tame and also being something I can't connect with. Maybe I'll grow up some day... Sometimes this works as background music, sometimes when listened with thought. Sometimes it does not at all. A weird experience, let me tell you. So, I give this a wavering.........
Rating: 6 (out of 10) ratings explained
Reviewed by Lane
07/10/2008 22:36
