Yet another fine band I learned about via the Internet...

"We, the Gods" (CDR compilation; mp3 source)

1. "The Lord of Mortal Pestilence" (7:34)
2. "In the Name of the Father" (9:04)
3. "Echoes of Terror" (5:18)
4. "At One With the Earth" (5:30)
5. "Crestfallen" (7:09)
6. "All Faith is Lost" (8:01)
7. "Nailed to the Cross/666" (4:08)
8. "Eternal Rise of the Sun" (6:34)
9. "Sleepless '96" (4:30)
10. "One of the Few" (1:50)
11. "Better Off Dead" (4:21)
12. "Read Between the Lies" (3:34)
13. "Goodbye Cruel World" (1:41)
14. "Transacoustic"--instrumental (3:48)
15. "Horses" (1:10)

My first post-Napster mp3 collection, so called because I downloaded nearly all the songs from Audiogalaxy, Napster's successor. The first eight tracks all come from various demo recordings made prior to Serenades, and while those demos also contained early versions of a few other songs like "Memento Mori", those were pretty much impossible to find with Audiogalaxy's crappy search function! (I did luck out and find an early version of "Crestfallen", which was recorded without keyboards and sounds quite a bit different.) The demo songs all have this distant, cavernous sound like they were recorded in an airplane hangar or something. Kinda gives a creepy vibe to the music, I think.

The second half, from track #9 onward, sees a major jump in the musical quality, since they're all taken from CD source. I find the '96 version of "Sleepless" to be a decent improvement on the original, with some female vocals thrown in. Tracks 10 thru 13 are all cover songs from various tributes -- "One of the Few" and "Goodbye Cruel World" by Pink Floyd, "Read Between the Lies" by Slayer (which sounds more like Slayer than Slayer's version!!!), and "Better Off Dead" is by Bad Religion, I think. (I forgot to look for "Welcome to Hell" from the Venom tribute CD, which is on the buy list anyway, so whatever.)

"Serenades/Crestfallen" (2CD)

Impressive debut CD paired with their first EP on a bonus disc. The music is solidly in the same vein as early Katatonia (and wouldn't you know it, both bands followed the same musical path on future albums...) Already, the moody goth-rock undercurrent is present, especially on the relatively quiet song "Sleepless".

There's another version of this title that compresses everything onto one CD, at the expense of the 23-minute ambient track "Dreaming", which defeats the purpose, needlesss to say...

"Pentecost III"

1. "Kingdom" (9:31)
2. "Mine is Yours to Drown In (Ours is the New World)" (5:39)
3. "We, the Gods" (9:58)
4. "Pentecost III"--instrumental (3:54)
5. "Memento Mori" (8:14)
6. "Horses/666"--unlisted, end of track #5 (3:05)

As is often the case with sophomore albums, this one's a big disappointment -- slow, plodding, directionless doom metal, which basically all sounds like one big-ass song. And not a very good one, either! Definitely a collection-filler.

"The Silent Enigma"

1. "Restless Oblivion" (8:03)
2. "Shroud of Frost" (7:31)
3. "...Alone" (4:23)
4. "Sunset of Age" (6:56)
5. "Nocturnal Emission" (4:20)
6. "Cerulean Twilight" (7:05)
7. "The Silent Enigma" (4:24)
8. "A Dying Wish" (8:11)
9. "Black Orchid"--instrumental (3:40)

I just gotta quote John Chedsey's review from his wonderful Satan Stole My Teddybear page: "Word of advice: do not attempt to listen to this album for the first time while on a long road trip. The dirgey nature and slow, plodding songs will cause you to nod off and drive into a semi-truck...." Those words perfectly sum up this album, which I guess could be called the ultimate in "wrist-slitting music": slow, dirgey, doomy, depressing, downright pure ennui. Ironically, it's got the same vocalist as Serenity, but he sounds pretty good here (mostly because the vox are either growly or spoken-word.) Definitely recommended for all you other suicidal freaks out there. :)

"Eternity"

1. "Sentient"--instrumental (3:00)
2. "Angelica" (5:50)
3. "The Beloved" (4:44)
4. "Eternity part I" (5:35)
5. "Eternity part II"--instrumental (3:11)
6. "Hope" (5:55)
7. "Suicide Veil" (5:10)
8. "Radiance" (5:52)
9. "Far Away" (5:30)
10. "Eternity part III" (4:43)
11. "Cries on the Wind" (5:01)
12. "Ascension"--instrumental (3:20)

This was the first Anathema CD I ever heard, and when I listened to "Angelica" in-store, I very nearly threw it back -- the vocalist can't sing his way out of a paper bag!! My interest was peaked, though, when the heavy guitars of "The Beloved" kicked in. It was a tough call, but I decided to buy the damn thing anyway (obviously). This is a very MOODY album -- I'd heard the band referred to as doom metal before, but this is more moody than doomy. The only real problem is the vocals -- since buying it, I've learned that this was the first CD that Danny Cavanaugh sang with a clean voice, and his lack of experience shows. On the heavy tracks he seems to fit in okay, but on the slower ballads, he fucking SUCKS!!!

The best news is...this CD was stickered as $6.99, but when the clerk scanned it, turned out to be marked down to a mere $1.99!! GOTTA love the Wherehouse...

"A Fine Day to Exit"

1. "Pressure" (6:45)
2. "Release" (5:47)
3. "Looking Outside Inside" (6:22)
4. "Leave No Trace" (4:46)
5. "Underworld" (4:10)
6. "Barrier" (5:52)
7. "Panic" (3:30)
8. "A Fine Day to Exit" (6:49)
9. "Temporary Peace" (18:28)

I skipped a couple CDs here, so the musical change from Eternity is quite a big shock -- they're not even metal anymore! In fact, I definitely hear a strong Pearl Jam influence on many songs, despite people telling me I'm crazy when I say that. :) And thankfully, the lead singer finally got some vocal training, so he can actually carry a tune now. The long-ass time length on "Temporary Peace" is totally misleading...the song's actually about six minutes long, followed by five minutes of ambient ocean noises (with some weirdo chanting "What about faith, what about chickens?" over and over again...mondo annoyance factor), followed by a few minutes of silence, and ending with an acoustic song that sounds exactly like early Pink Floyd (and might be a genuine cover song, for all I know...is there a Floyd song that goes "All I Need Is You" in the chorus?)

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