Anathema - We're Here Because We're Here

It's been a while since Anathema released an album. 2003, in fact, so many people have been waiting for quite some time. But the time has finally come, and We're Here Because We're Here is finally out.


In all honesty, I'm quite late to the party. I first heard of Anathema a couple of years ago when they played a very intimate gig at Sheffield O2 Academy. I plonked myself front and centre, no more than 3 feet from the band, and just absorbed the atmosphere emmanating from the tiny stage. It was spectacular, and I've been a fan ever since. I had to buy the new album.

But has this long wait been worth it? Unquestionably yes. This is one of those albums that just works. It's obviously had plenty of time, effort and emotion poured into it, and the band have even been quoted as saying it's their best yet.

A slight change in direction, while not nearly as remarkable as previous shifts in style, and even genre, has meant that this album is more positive than previous offerings. Gone are the laments, the heartache and woe. Instead, a wistful, contemplative, yet cheerful melancholy. The sort you might feel on a quiet summer's eve when the world is at peace, and everything, just for that moment, is okay.

It would sound wrong if I said there were no stand-out tracks on this album, but truthfully there are none. They are each as finely crafted as the next. In this case, it is intended as nothing but praise. Of course, the tracks are distinct, and unmistakeably Anathema. Thin Air, with it's rising, ever optimistic riffs, or the heavier Angels Walk Among Us lead you through to the epic finish, Hindsight.

Throughout the album new age or spiritual references are thrown in, either as spoken text or in the lyrics. But there is no impression of this being a spiritual album. Rather, it's used to enhance the almost Zen like worldview put forward. "We know things can be crap," they seem to say. "But it's going to get better. And that's awesome."

Listening to the music provides a wonderful experience, but this is also type of music that you don't have to listen to in order to hear. The feelings come through the melody, the riffs, and tempo and immerses you in an ambience that doesn't shout out for your attention. Instead, it works it's way into your subconscious without you even noticing.

On listening, this album sounds all at once new and fresh, but comortable and familiar. Like the tranquil déjà vu of the moments between waking and sleep; a fuzzy, dreamlike world of peace and safety.

In Hindsight, the last track on the album, snippets of the song that inspired the album title can be heard. "We're here because we're here because we're here because we're here ...", sung to to tune of Auld Lang Syne. Almost a hundred years ago, it could he heard across the trenches of World War 1. Sung to boost morale and act as a rallying call for the soldiers as they experienced the attrocities of trench warfare, it seems oddly placed, in a way. But it has a deeper implication here. We're here because we're here. So let's make the bloody best of it.