aaamusic | On 23, Oct 2011

Sleek, graceful, sombre, Anathema have hit “the zone”, whatever that may be with their latest effort, ‘Falling Deeper’. This isn’t so much an album as an evocative ocean of melodies. Sonically lush to the point of overwhelming yet restrained in its display of any producers’ fingerprints, you don’t dip your toes into this post-rock styled beauty, you have no choice but to immerse yourself.

 

New listeners could well take ‘Crestfallen’ as your typical power metal opening track: a grandiose instrumental that seems like the soundtrack to a big-budget, big-ideas fantasy film. But it is not. This is Anathema’s statement, a welcome to their world, where majestic string arrangements, archaic woodwind tones, multi-layered keyboards and courtyard-sized rock drumming are not just the ornamentation, but the world entire.

What is a constant high point in ‘Falling Deeper’ is the atmosphere: track after track not only create a mood, but feel as if they speak whole stories to you, even without vocals. The mournful string sections of ‘J’ai Fait Une Promesse’, for example, has a feel of some fantasy epic such as Lord Of The Rings in its sprawling vastness and emotive power, as the piece doesn’t simply cycle through sections like a song without words, but flows between moods and details, like the dramatic swell of crescendo with its fully orchestral lift contrasting with its hushed tender piano ending. Further cinematic tenderness is in the surprisingly soft and heart-tugging ‘We The Gods’, reminiscent of Brain Eno’s ‘An End’ in its glacial warmth and compelling raw melody.

‘They Die’ feels like what could indeed be a death scene, or some kind of dramatic denouement in an epic plotline. In places the unity of melody, harmony and emotion reach a level that feels almost preternatural, and the addition of hollow wind synths adds an eerie feel that leads tantalisingly onto the chilling final piano notes. And yet somehow this leads seamlessly onto the poised, dark yet vitalistic ‘Everwake’. The deployment of operatic vocals here do risk cheapening the instrumental side with an unavoidable neo-folk/Evanescence vibe, and the lyrics feel a little superfluous, but thankfully such instances are few and far between, and the woodwind tones add a pastoral tone that even if perhaps not as palatable as previous uses, make the song seem more coherent. ‘Alone’ occasionally suffers similar issues, but is overall the better track: an expanse of shimmering synths offset the finger-picked acoustic guitar that is far forwards enough in the mix to give the illusion of a truly isolated instrument. The climactic buildups can get a little cheesy in their construction, but the second one feels a lot more natural in its grim percussive marching stomp, despite annoyingly deliberate-spooky vocals fading in and out.

I can’t help but feel ‘Sunset Of Age’ is a bit overworked. Again bringing in aspects of power metal bombast played in an utterly po-faced manner, with neo-folk to boot, it gets a bit too big, like Muse unleashed on the Royal Philharmonic, but that said, the sheer lunatic enthusiasm is tempered by clear compositional skill here, and the result is an uncertain yet by no means unpolished behemoth that straddles orchestral, metal and pop in one huge step. The guitar solo adds saw-toothed bite to it, the torrential string section adds sheer force, and the piano seems almost accessibly pop in melody at times. Perhaps too disjointed to merit a rating of excellent, but in and as of itself fascinating to experience.

 

‘Falling Deeper’ is a difficult beast, requiring repeated listens to really “get” what Anathema are trying to do, but the fact that I not only need but want to hear it again in its entirety stands as testament to this album’s complexity and its enjoyability, a massive orchestral rock experience tucked into a 38-minute runtime.

 

Katie H-Halinski