Anathema - Weather Systems

I've spent several hours pondering this opening sentence. Up to now, this is the best I've come up with. How do I start describing Weather Systems, the new album from Anathema, undisputed masters of emotionally engaging prog? Since my pre-ordered copy dropped onto my doormat a little under a fortnight ago, it's been on constant rotation on my iPod. I've woken up to it, dozed off to it, used it to relax during the hectic work day and as background music during the evening. From the opening bars it grabs you, puts you in the right place to take note and listen.

Is this album a masterpiece? Of course. A worthy successor to We're Here Because We're Here? Most certainly. In fact, I might even stretch to saying that I consider it a better album. There is certainly a heavier rock presence to be felt, and the orchestration is simply stunning. It is a different emotional beast; while We're Here ... was tentatively upbeat, sorrow, anguish and even anger flow too through the vocal tenderness of Vincent Cavanagh and, with a far greater presence than on previous albums, Lee Douglas.

Lee's feminine counterpoint to Vincent's vocal style works really well. The parts she sings alone are beautiful, and when the two come together, the duets are superb. Her rendition of Lightning Song makes it a highlight of the album.

The songs that makes up Weather Systems flow together to provide consistency, but the songs themselves lift and soften, quiet for a calming introspection, building to breath-taking crescendos before falling again. It is, in truth, a very exhilirating album to listen to. While the dips are tranquil, almost soporific, the anticipation of the next stirring peak is energising and, when it arrives, immensely satisfying.

The Storm Before The Calm is the longest, most interesting song on Weather Systems. At just over nine minutes, it's a complex, multi-faceted, progressive beast of a track. And it is where the aforementioned anguish and anger shine through the most. Opening with a trippy, echoey introduction backed with an even paced, pulse-like drum beat, it builds in whirring, buzzing electronic noise giving an unmistakeable impression of a mind in turmoil. The confusion is palpable, the sounds, melody and beat whorling through the listeners mind before, suddenly, it stops, shifting to a softer vocal, a piano melody, and a moment of clarity. The song builds, the orchestra picking up and lifting it to a pinnacle of emotional outburst, then slowly trails off. Not so slow as to drag, nor so quick as to finish too soon. It drifts to a gentle, natural conclusion, a feather-light descent to a peaceful ending.

While Weather Systems is a spiritual successor to We're Here Because We're Here, it has a different aesthetic entirely. In some ways, influences from other genres seems evident. As the music flows, with its lifts and falls, the impassioned intensity reminds me of the works of Sigur Rós. The back and forth between Lee and Vincent's vocals at the end of The Storm Before The Calm is reminiscent of Arcade Fire's interplay between Win Butler and Régine Chassagne. Arguably those two bands should be embraced as much by the prog community as the indie rock community, the breadth and complexity of their work being far greater than their counterparts.

Weather Systems ends with a voiceover describing a near death experience, tying together the emotional weight of the record and bringing it to a peaceful, contemplative and altogether philosophical close, whether you believe in such things or not.

This album represents a tour de force of progressive rock. It is a culmination of Anathema's journey from Hindsight to We're Here Because We're Here, to the reimagination and reorchestration of Falling Deeper. It is an oustanding musical achievement.

Weather Systems is available directly from Kscope in a special digibook edition with a DVD containing a 5.1 surround mix of the album.

Metal For Art's Sake

Over the last month or so I've discovered several bands who have produced albums purely for the love and passion of metal. These albums are not intended for the mass commercial market, but rather for the satisfaction of the artists, the pleasure of metal fans, and the pushing of the boundaries of metal itself.

All of these albums are available at no charge, but throwing some money at these bands can help secure this new surge of creative, proficient, and above all excellent metal.

Colosso - Abrasive Peace

Colosso is the brainchild of Max Tomé, Portugese song writer, musician and singer extraordinaire. The aim of the project was to produce a "no boundaries" death metal album, and in that he has certainly succeeded. Joined on the album by Dirk Verbeuren (Soilwork, Aborted, Scarve, Bent Sea) on drums, this album is really quite an accomplishment.

Opening with the sound of, I imagine, an evil robot just before it eats your brain, the album swiftly kicks into gear with hard hitting riffs combined with slower, ominous chugging and some top quality riffs beneath the earth shattering vocals. There's no lack of atmosphere and the more experimental sections are well put together. When the barrage of mind abuse abates for a moment, the melodic instrumentals are almost serene, before your ears are blown out again by another thundering explosion of death metal. Highly recommended for fans of technical and experimental death metal with a taste for the atmospheric.

Krokmitën - Alpha-Beta

The embodiment of metal as art, Krokmitën's album Alpha-Beta consists of precisely one track. At 46 minutes long it's an imposing beast, but quite honestly the time flies when experiencing this masterpiece of experimental metal. There is an accompanying lyric video with psychedelic imagery to befuddle the mind and is available for download in 720p high definition, should you feel inclined to dedicate your entire brain to this metal leviathan. The music is also available as a single massive MP3, or as a set of 19 MP3s intended to be played on "gapless" capable players, which all should be. These 19 chapters, as they are referred to by the band, have their own titles and are also present on the CD.

The concept of the album is the man-made creation of the antichrist, from what I can glean. It's certainly an interesting concept, and is carried well by the album. Musically it is, understandably, relentless. There are breaks and instrumental passages, and progressive elements are certainly present, but the entire duration of the song is an immersive death metal experience. The drum work is atmospheric and carries the character of the album, often at the forefront as the jarring, crunching guitar riffs strike the senses again and again. The album is intended to be listened to from start to finish in one go, and so it is better to experience the complete work as one mind-expandingly brilliant piece of music.

As an aside, the artwork is really quite wonderful, too. I can heartily recommend getting the desktop wallpaper. It's certainly made my monitors stand out in the office.

Lithium Dawn - Aion

Last up is Lithium Dawn with their debut album Aion. Rather than the experimental death metal nature of the preceding two, this is instead some of the best independent prog metal I've heard in a very long time. From the ominous intro track to the intricate drum and cymbals, the beautiful guitar tone with djent overtones and great melodies, I was impressed as soon as I heard it. The vocals are certainly worth a mention; emotive, strong, yet soft when required, they don't need growls or screams to be powerful. Delving deeper showed great lyrical talent, too. One of my favourites is:

I've made my mistakes
Never paid my dues
I've left the box open
I've left the screws loose
I don't want any answers
I've asked for too long
I've danced all your dances
I've sang all the songs 

The overall concept for this album is that of a man made immortal, seeing the downfall of man, feeling the deep loss and anger and ultimate acceptance. Each track takes the listener through a chapter of his experience, from initially realising what is happening, through war and destruction, and through personal loneliness, loss and anguish. All of this is told through both lyrics and through the music. Punctuated by classic prog riffs, wailing guitar solos, and epic instrumental passages.

There doesn't seem to be a vast amount of information about this band around at the moment, but I predict we'll be hearing more about them. They've had a mention on got-djent.com and were very well received on Reddit's /r/metal community, which is where I found the link. Keep these guys on the radar, they're going places.

Sanguine - Self-titled

My first experience of Sanguine was on the New Blood stage at Bloodstock 2011. First impressions were simple "Crikey", followed swiftly by "she's got quite a set of pipes!" That was in reference, of course, to lead singer Tarin Kerrey's startling mix of clean, screamed and growled vocals that took me quite by surprise. I picked up a copy of their EP, Live, Consume, Drive and enjoyed it immensely. Six months later and I discover that the band was ready to release their eponymous debut album. I secured a signed copy of the CD, being still a fan of the physical medium, and eagerly awaited its arrival.

Sanguine's sound is primarily alt-metal, although throughout the album they pull influences from all over the place. From gothic to death to ... dance? Everything gets the Sanguine metal treatment. This eclectic mix of genres comes from the band's stated intention to break down the walls between genres, as exemplified by Tarin Kerrey's statement in the band's bio:

"Sanguine are on a mission to break down the walls that divide the genre's and show the world that you can be anything you want to be - as long as it has fire, passion and kicks ass!" Tarin Kerrey

Listening to the album for the first time, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Sanguine are completely bonkers. The ridiculously catchy Contagious, for example, with its infectious silly lyrics. Then there are straight up rock tracks like Simplify, Anger Song and Live, Consume, Drive, providing the aforementioned kick-ass metal vibe. Things are taken down a notch, in a sense, for Given Up, the more balladic A Place That You Call Home and the utterly miserable In The Sky. There's even a place for the band's seedier side in Bangkok Nights.

But it never lets up, with growled backing vocals from Nick Magee, distortion and synthesisers providing ambience, and of course the metal triumvirate of guitar, bass and drums driving proceedings with great riffs, memorable melodies and a selection of songs that always surprises, never rests on a particular style or repetition. Every song is totally different, and memorable in its own right.

Sanguine has already seen some success with their earlier work, and this debut album demonstrates that the length and breadth of this band's creativity is just getting started. Well worth a listen, and even sing along, if you can match those epic vocals.

Get a copy direct from Sanguin at sanguineband.com

Illuminatus Is No More

After raving about Illuminatus's new album, Glasnost, not so long ago, I was very annoyed to find the other day that they have split up. That would explain the empty gig list, I suppose. The band have published a farewell post on their site.

Here is the band's last video for You'll Never Know What This Means from Glasnost.

The Huntress - Boobs

Thanks to the wonders of modern media, I now have a passing familiarity with a female fronted heavy metal band that goes by the name Huntress. I say passing familiarity, because thanks to the usually obsession of press with anything remotely naked, I hadn't actually heard them until seeing them mentioned over 6,000^* times in Metal Hammer (the closest metal has to a "lads' mag") and on various blogs.

Surely they must be amazing, to have garnered such attention? Surely I was in for an auditory treat the likes of which I had never heard before? Not so much. Straight up heavy metal, for the most part, but with a woman singing it. A mostly naked woman. That'll be it, then ...

Indeed, what started with a mildly suggestive photo one month has blossomed into a three page spread of blood soaked (oh yes, plenty of the red stuff) semi-nakedness. To say they don't wear their marketting gimmick on their sleeves would be disingenuous. It's boobs people want, and it's boobs they are peddling. And metal, I guess. But mostly boobs and blood.

I'm sure I may be a little biased, being smack bang in the middle of the target demographic (male, metalhead, enough disposable income to purchase albums for spurious reasons), but frankly the whole thing is getting to the point of annoying. We get it. She's mostly naked and, thanks to a quirk of gender selection, has boobs. There are loads of great bands out there, trying to get exposure, working the gig circuit, producing their own records, releasing via Bandcamp. Those are the bands that need promoting. But, it seems, the stuff that still sells is the stuff with the naked chick in it. Blah.

It's a shame, really. I'd have probably given them more of a decent listen had I heard the music before I was subjected to the media boob-fest. Anyway, they have a new album coming out this month, Spell Eater. The video of Eight Of Swords is out now for a peruse. If you like female fronted heavy metal and/or boobs, check it out.

^* estimated

An Evening With Magenta

The night of March 31st was an opportunity to embrace my lighter side and indulge in a bit of prog. Rob Reed, Christina Booth, Chris Fry and the rest of the gang presented An Evening With Magenta at the Montgomery Hall in Wath-upon-Dearne, in association with the Classic Rock Society. The evening was set to be a long one, incorporating three sets into the four hour gig, so we found some seating. I might be one of the youngest at your average CRS gig, but I still didn't fancy standing still for four hours.

Satisfactorily ensconced at the top of the seating with a very good view of proceedings, the evening started out with the very first Cyan gig this century.

The set also included songs from other Rob Reed side projects, such as Chimpan-A. An unfortunate side effect of the Chimpan-A music, though, is that it's very soporific. We sat blissfully dozing as the band tickled our ears with influences from Mike Oldfield, Yes and Genesis. A thoroughly relaxing start to the evening.

After a short break for more beers and a trip to the loo, the second set came up. This time it was the turn of Chris Fry and his brother Dan to promote their new album of instrumental guitar tunes. With a distinctly Spanish feel, the music seems somehow familiar and quite tranquil. I didn't expect the evening to be quite so soothing. But I'm not complaining!

Following another short break, in which I popped out to the foyer and picked up Paul Cusick's latest album, P'dice, the stage was set for the "headline" act. If they can be called that, considering it's the same people who'd been on for the preceding two hours. Magenta took to the stage proper and played a wide variety of material from all their albums, from the most recent, Chameleon, to the days of Seven and the always fantastic Metamorphosis.

During the Magenta set, the band played the song Red. Throughout this song, the stage was awash with red light. Those who have attempted gig photography with a digital camera before will know that red light plays havoc with the sensor, overwhelming everything and creating some utterly weird effects. Tonight was no different. But, given the song title, I decided to just go with it and see what I could get. Here is the result.

Pretty freaky, but pretty cool. Certainly fitting for the song!

All in all a very relaxed, pleasant evening of good music and banter. Certainly the most easy going gig I think I've ever been to. The band were on form, everyone was happy, and the evening passed much quicker than I could have expected.

Here's hoping the usual selection of Wentworth ales returns for the next gig though. I like Guinness, but it's no WPA!