OCEAN WITHOUT A SHORE

As is fairly well know now, this is the band that rises from the ashes of the dear departed Liverpudlian band Anathema. That was started as a metal band by the 3 Cavanagh brothers who then decided to develop a more 'alternative' style of music on albums such as 1999's Judgement (probably their most popular) and carried forward on the next 2 albums A Fine Day To Exit and A Natural Disaster. The sister of drummer John Douglas was added to the line up and she was to prove the magical added x-factor for arguably their finest albums We're Here Because We're Here and Weather Systems (my favourite). This seemed to be a peak that was hard to build on with it's wonderful mesh of post metal, pop and prog in evidence. A couple of further albums followed but eventually this wonderful band had to call it a day. However the new material has now re-surfaced on this Daniel Cavanagah lead re-birth of the band (sort of). Also features Daniel Cardoso on keys, so in fact it now becomes a 2 piece band. This for me is almost as good as the Weather Systems album and is currently in my top 5 albums for the year, only beaten so far by A Swarm Of The Sun (more post metal!), Neal Morse and Geordie Greep. Highly recommended if you like Anathema in general. 4.9 stars rounded up.