The Optimist is easily, and by far, my favourite Anathema album, and though the artwork is not a particular favourite of mine, I love how appropriate it is for the album. This is an album I love to listen to while driving, and especially at night. Ironically, it feels less like a journey, and more like a destination. In a way it’s the junction where the journeys of two albums meet: A Fine Day to Exit (conceptually), and Distant Satellites (musically). As both are favourite Anathema albums of mine, it came as no surprise just how much I love The Optimist.

The Optimist was released in the same year as Danny Cavanagh’s solo album, and it seemed that most people preferred Monochrome to The Optimist. Now there’s nothing particularly wrong with that (and I do very much like Monochrome), but the amount of times I heard words to the effect of “this is what the new Anathema should have sounded like” was overwhelming.

Personally, I think if Anathema had released an album like Monochrome, rather than The Optimist, that would have been a massive step backwards. I don’t dislike Monochrome at all (it’s a great album), but I find The Optimist far more interesting and rewarding. It’s also a perfect follow-up from both A Fine Day To Exit and Distant Satellites. I think a lot of people gravitated toward Monochrome, because it was reminiscent of WHBWH and Weather Systems era Anathema. And if those people hadn’t particularly enjoyed DS, then I can see why they’d choose to look backwards. I on the other hand, loved the direction DS was taking the band on, and The Optimist is the logical landing point.

Anathema have always been a band to look forward. They have constantly evolved throughout their career, and had already progressed beyond WHBWH/WS with DS. I personally think the sound of DS is fairly uniform, and not nearly as disjointed as many people think. I think DS actually flowed quite nicely, and was actually quite circular. It’s some of the best sequencing on any Anathema album.

Although it initially might appear to begin with a more WS sound, before becoming increasingly less organic and more electronic, the similarities between the tracks in general can best be heard by listening to the first track after the last. If you didn’t know better, I don’t think anyone would think The Lost Song, Part I, sounds at all out of place after Shelter.

The flow of TO, though, is even better. The flow and sequencing of this album are amazing! All the “different” sounds of DS are so much more fully integrated throughout the album, that there really shouldn’t be any complaints about TO being an album of two halves. It’s inarguably one glorious whole.

I also love how the concept is executed, and though it is not necessary to know A Fine Day prior to listening to TO, it does add tremendously to the experience. I love the variety throughout the album. The lush orchestration. The electronica. The jazz (now that came as a surprise, but a particularly welcome one).

One of the best things Anathema has done over the years, is give Lee Douglas a greater presence. She has a truly beautiful and surprisingly powerful voice, and she really does raise the bar on most any track she sings on. If I’m honest (to go back to Monochrome for a moment), that was my biggest struggle with Danny Cavanagh’s album. I don’t think Anneke did as good a job as Lee would have, and for a long time I found it hard not to miss her voice. I think Lee’s best performances have been on DS and TO.

As TO is likely to be the last Anathema album we might ever hear, it’s a grand one to go out on. I honestly don’t know how they could have followed this, let alone topped it. In my mind, the band never made an album better than this one.

Thanks for the music!