THE SILENT ENIGMA

Crushing emotional weight. With their second album, Anathema took their despondent Doom Metal into the darkest depths of agony while broadening their songwriting and sharpening their overall approach. Bleak, foreboding soundscapes merge with devastatingly heavy outbursts of anguish revealing the beauty of pain.

After the Pentecost 3 EP, original vocalist/lyricist Darren White was given his walking papers (along with his working title for this album, Rise Pantheon Dreams) as the band felt his approach was not fitting for their future destinations. As Darren went on to form The Blood Divine, guitarist Vincent Cavanagh would become his successor while brother Daniel and bassist Duncan Patterson would handle all music and lyric writing. I admittedly was a bit skeptical upon hearing of White's departure, but Vincent's performance on this album would silence all fears. Utilizing an array of vocal deliveries ranging from tormented screams of anguish to morose clean singing, Vincent Cavanagh was much more convincing than Darren White, at times coming across a bit like Tom G. Warrior of Celtic Frost. "Restless Oblivion" opens the album with a beautiful, serene passage that is soon disrupted by one of the heaviest riffs the band has ever written. There is a feeling of utter bitterness present throughout these songs, and "Restless Oblivion" harbors this for much of its duration. Other examples can be found within "Sunset Of Age", "Cerulean Twilight" and the most bitter song in the Anathema discography, "Nocturnal Emission". " Shroud Of Frost" is one of my all time favorite songs by this band, a bleak cry for an answer to this earthy existence...when Vincent shouts lines like...." Help me to escape from this existence, I yearn for an answer, can you help me?"...you can't help but feel the despair deep within. The song fades out in a stream of tranquil serenity, bleeding into "...Alone", an acoustic piece with female vocals performed by Michelle Richfield of Dominion.

Anathema's darkest hour, The Silent Enigma proved to be a very positive answer to the questions surrounding them in light of the departure of Darren White. A more satisfying Doom Metal album I have not heard. Indeed, this would be Anathema's final venture down such a path.

"....there is no song, just a delusion of silence..."