Music Review - Anathema - We're Here Because We're Here

An earlier album from Anathema, Judgement, is one of my favorite of all time, and I've written a review of it, which you can check out here.

The Cavanagh brothers and the rest of the guys behind Anathema have been releasing a steady stream of solid albums. Each time experimenting, tweaking with their proven formula of catchy-hook laden riffs with deep, emotional lyrics. On 2010's We're Here Because We're Here, the main change is the use of piano and choral vocals, which, while present on previous albums, is really prominent here. In fact, the album opens with  Thin Air, with upbeat, beautiful guitars, a driving beat, and a vocal that is just as full of emotion as ever. While the vocals aren't as haunting as they were on Judgement, they still carry just as much emotion, weight and depth. The piano work is a nice addition and the ethereal choral vocals really put the song over the top. More nice piano work on Summernight Horizon, as well as beautiful female vocals that compliment the Cavanagh's. The album is representitive of Anathema as a whole. The songs change album to album, but you always have this feeling of underlying despair wrapped up into this dream-like optimism. It's like if a band like Coldplay actually had heart. Songs like Dreaming Light and Everything have a wonderful uplifting energy to them, with great vocals, guitars and piano work from the Cavanagh brothers.

Anathema started as a Doom Metal band in the early 90's, and even though they sound nothing like that style of music now, you can still sense that sensibility in their music. In Doom Metal, the vocals or the riffs will just have this weight to them that feel heavy, like they have a weight to them. Anathema kept that part of their early days with them, the vocals can come in like the singer is lifting a burden off his shoulders, or a guitar riff can just strike you to the core. These days, Anathema are much more akin to Prog-Rock, but make no mistake that a part of their Doom past doesn't stay with them. We're Here Because We're Here makes a conscious effort to sound light, musically. Much more bare piano and light-as-air vocals, strings, even the lyrical content. We're Here to me seems to be taking the positive approach to something incredibly dark, death. This album sounds like what I might imagine someone thinking to themselves in their last moments one Earth. On Thin Air, lyrics include "And it feels like we're already flying, But the air is too thin and we're dying. The clouds all around take us higher, The world far below is on fire. I hold out my hand just to touch you."

Granted, this theory of mine is just a theory, but I feel like the album supports this, especially with the spoken word piece in Presence. The thoughts of someone about to die. Someone coming to terms with who they love, who might not love them, how everything will be over soon and they'll live forever. It's all over the album, in songs like Everything and especially Angels Walk Among Us. In taking to much more positively-styled lyrics over say, songs from Judgement, Anathema have, in my opinion, made the most powerful album about death that I have ever heard.


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