HINDSIGHT

Not a studio album as such, this album is a collection of some of Anathema's finest songs stripped down to their bare esseantials with mainly just a paino, accoustic guitars (with the odd bit of electric lead guitar thrown in to make it all the more atmospheric), vocals and the odd bit of added drum percussion, the coolest thing i think in this instrumentation is the addition of a very somber like cello on a lot of the songs, it really adds that extra ambience for what already is a very mellow and ambiant collection of songs from these guys.

Now the key to this album of course is atmosphere, and boy do they deliver, most songs just start off with a bit of paino until each instrument gradually makes its apperance as the song builds up and towers above all, an example of this is the opening track FRAGILE DREAMS, and the epic ONE LAST GOODBYE, of course three of my favourite songs from the last album i reviewed 'A Natural Disaster' make their appearence on this being more mellow than i could ever imagine, i love the way Danny Cavanagh really messed around with the song ARE YOU THERE? making the song even more beautiful than it was (if thats even possible) there are some songs that i wish wernt on this album if im honest and kinda bring a damper on this great collection, the first 6-7 songs i have no problem with, i would have easily bought the album with just those songs on it, but when it gets to track 8 TEMPORARY PEACE, i just wasnt a fan of the arrangement and would rather have it the old way, same with the last two songs (even though they didnt really do much to the song FLYING);

Fragile Dreams - 8/10 Leave No Trace - 8/10 Inner Silence - 9/10 One Last Goodbye - 10/10 Are You There - 10/10 Angelica - 8/10 A Natural Disaster - 10/10 Temporary Peace - 6/10 Flying - 8/10 Unchained (Tales Of The Unexpected) - 7/10

My Conclusion? I have not been a fan of Anathema for that long and have only heard one full studio album and a bunch of songs from other albums, but just one the full way through, but i enjoyed the majority of this album and if your a fan of the band i bet you would too.