JUDGEMENT

Anathema, for all their guises, have a very clever way of evoking feelings of despair, and hope all at the same time and this is no exception. Judgement is mostly a song based album and is probably their most straighforward arrangement wise, which normally for me (and most of you I presume) would deter me from rating this as their most essential album but believe me this is not the case. The opener, Deep, is an insight into the insignificance if a human life (thats the way i see the lyrics) and is relatively up tempo and Anathema in hopeful mode to contrast such dark subject matter and has a great melody, you just have to hear this song and i promise wou will want to hear the rest. The first three tunes are like a trilogy as they all segue into each other, Pitiless contains a small acoustic part which re appears in Forgotten Hopes. Another standout is One Last Goodbye and is the sort of song you may or may not especially want to hear after the loss of a loved one, with its wonderful, emotionally cathartic melody. The production is immaculate, the lyrics are thought provoking and are in a similar vein to Roger Waters at times (Yes they really are THAT good!). The music on the whole atmospheric, melodic with a crunchy guitar sound bordering on metal at times. Anathema have come a long way in their relatively short life, from doom/death to a kind of Gothic Floyd, not progressive in the generic sense (ie. sound like Genesis) so complex time signatures and anologue keyboard solos won't be found here, but this will appeal to progessive fans and those who like music for emotional content, as it did me. The only thing that could be a drawback for some is that this album is emotionally demanding, for this reason i find it compelling. Anathema's pinnacle to date.