As one of the three British bands that popularized
doomdeath in the early nineties, Anathema has come a long way indeed. The trio
of Anathema, My Dying Bride, and Paradise Lost all played a similar style in
their early careers, but have since diverged, with My Dying Bride sticking the
closest to the original style, Paradise Lost wandering into more
radio-accessible territory, and Anathema more or less taking the middle road. By
the time of 1999's Judgment Anathema was less a doomdeath band and more a
dark metal band, with mostly clean vocals but retaining some of the brooding,
heavy riffing of the past. The succeeding albums have seen the band striking out
into new territory, with A Natural Disaster almost completely non-metal
of any kind, instead adopting a serene, ambient, introspective rock style
(others have noted similarities to Radiohead and Pink Floyd). On its own merits,
it's a beautiful album, though certainly those who only know the band from the
Serenades days would be more than a little surprised with this new
direction.
Shortly before the release of A Fine Day to Exit, Dave Pybus announced his departure from the band to join - ironically - Cradle of Filth. He was replaced by touring bassist George Roberts and then by Jamie Cavanagh.
In March of 2002, Daniel Cavanagh announced his departure from the band, joining Duncan Patterson's band Antimatter. But he came back to Anathema and in 2003 the band released A Natural Disaster and started an European Tour. This album took experimenting a bit further showing that their biggest source of inspiration is Pink Floyd.
Today the music of Anathema lost all connection with the doom or metal genre, but has a more atmospheric and progressive tone. It owes more to the like of Radiohead, Jeff Buckley and especially Pink Floyd, a major influence for the band.
Due to the closing of their label Music for Nations, the next album release is scheduled for 2006.
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