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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Music Review - Captain Beyond - Captain Beyond

   I wouldn't have found the good Captain here if it wasn't for the podcast Tell 'Em Steve Dave, on Kevin Smith's Smodcast Network. Captain Beyond was a 70's Supergroup of sorts. Lead singer Rod Evans was the original lead singer of Deep Purple, and preformed their hit song Hush. After three albums with Deep Purple he was let go and they brought in Ian Gillan and they became the superstars they are today. Rod went on to form Captain Beyond with former members of Iron Butterfly and Johnny Winter's band. Captain Beyond is pure 70's Prog Rock. They dig into these large concepts of places and ideas and spread them out through the songs. It's trippy, and a rockin' good time.

   A lot of the songs on the album flow together, which adds to the experience of listening to this album as a whole. The first three tracks, Dancing Madly Backwards (On a Sea of Air), Armworth and Myopic Void are all one related concept. As well as tracks 6-8, Thousand Days of Yesterdays (Intro), Frozen Over, and Thousand Days of Yesterdays 9Time Since Come and Gone), leaving tracks 9-13 to form their own concept, which you can get the idea of just from the song titles; I Can't Feel Nothin', Pt. 1, As the Moon Speaks (To the Waves of the Sea), Astral Lady, As The Moon Speaks (Return) and I Can't Feel Nothin', Pt. 2. This With these three long form concepts taking hold of the album, the two stand-alone tracks 4-5, Mesmerization Eclipse and Raging River of Fear can get lost, and that's a shame because they're great catchy tracks. The album focuses on space, the concept of loneliness, the moon and the sea. Clocking in at just over 35 minutes for this 13 track album, Captain Beyond just sails on through and plunges forward, and before you know it, you've finished.

   It's a quick album, which is surprising for a 70's Prog Rock album. It explores all sorts of interesting concepts, but before it lingers anywhere too long it's onto the next subject. My favorite tracks have got to be the Thousand Days of Yesterdays section, aka songs 6-8, especially Frozen Over. That riff really just grooves with me. Sadly, original guitarist Larry Reinhardt and original bassist Lee Dorman, both from Iron Butterfly, died last year. Reinhardt had been trying to get Rod Evans to return so they could do an original band reunion. We'll only ever have this self-titled album that contained the original line-up of Captain Beyond that was on this record. Their next release had them replace drummer/songwriter Bobby Caldwell, and their third and final album had another 2 members of Iron Butterfly and Rod Evans was replaced. So here we have it, 35 minutes of a band that could never lock into one lineup and would never return to the magic that was captured in this recording ever again. It's a hidden gem I think fans of 70's Rock and Prog Rock should check out.

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