ALTERNATIVE 4

Alternative 4 finds Anathema's Pink Floyd influence beginning to overwhelm them, and to be honest in a way which I can't say I enjoy. When the band use the echoing stutter effect on the vocals as used on Animals multiple times within the first few minutes of the album, I can't help but see it as hero worship overriding good compositional taste - it just comes across as them tossing in Floyd references for the sake of it without consideration of whether that's really what the composition calls for.

Their post-punk influences also seem to be rather muted and less distinctive and interesting, and on the whole the album just puts me to sleep. It'd be rude and inaccurate to call them doom metal's answer to Coldplay but the thought did cross my mind; still, people really keen on the idea of a Floyd/doom crossover might find more to enjoy than I did.