ANATHEMA — Serenades (review)

Album · 1993 · Death-Doom Metal

3.5/5 · 2020-08-09
UMUR

"Serenades" is the debut full-length studio album by UK, Liverpool based doom/death metal act Anathema. The album was released through Peaceville Records in February 1993. Anathema formed in 1990 under the Pagan Angel monicker, but soon changed their name to the current one. The band released the "An Iliad of Woes" demo in 1990 and the "All Faith Is Lost" demo in 1991. In 1992 Anathema released the "They Die/Crestfallen" single and "The Crestfallen" EP. The time was ripe for releasing melancholic doom/death and artists like Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Cathedral, Enchantment, and Katatonia had simultaniously layed the groundwork for an album like "Serenades" to succeed. And "Serenades" did end up a successful release for Anathema, helped along by the airing of the promotional video of "Sweet Tears" on MTV´s Headbangers Ball.

"Serenades" predominantly features freshly written material, but the band have opted to re-record and re-title "They Die" from "The Crestfallen (1992)" EP. It´s titled "They (Will Always) Die" on "Serenades". Considering the amount of minor releases from the band´s early days Anathema had plenty of (or at least some) writing and recording experience before entering the studio to record their debut album, and that´s audible. The band are well playing and although not all material on the album are equally intereresting, there are some high quality songwriting ideas here and there. "Serenades" opens on a particularly strong note with the trio of tracks, "Lovelorn Rhapsody", "Sweet Tears", and "J'ai fait une promesse". Three very different sounding tracks. The former is a slow doom/death track with heavy riffs and a dark atmosphere. It´s quite epic and atmospheric and towards the end of the track Anathema play a little faster and enter death metal territory. "Sweet Tears" is a heavy, mid-paced (...well slow mid-paced), and groove laden 70s influenced doom metal track (the main slide guitar riff is killer), featuring a catchy and melancholic lead guitar melody and loads of heaviness, and "J'ai fait une promesse" is a beautiful atmospheric track with female lead vocals (and gorgeuos harmonies) by Ruth Wilson. Darren White has a raw throaty semi-growling delivery, which isn´t always pretty to listen to, but mostly suits the music well anyway. He also occasionally speaks and sings some clean type vocals.

The goth (The Sisters of Mercy and The Mission come to mind) influenced "Sleepless" should be mentioned as a highlight too while the short "Scars of the Old Stream" and "Where Shadows Dance" and the 23:22 minutes long instrumental closing track "Dreaming: The Romance" aren´t particularly interesting. The latter even crosses into tedious territory pretty quickly. "Serenades" features a heavy and detailed sound production, which suits the material well, but overall the album is a bit of a mixed bag. Some tracks are high quality doom/death compositions while others have a tendency to outstay their welcome or plod along with very few climaxes to speak of. Compared to some of their contemporaries (mentioned above), Anathema weren´t fully up to par on this release, but it´s still a quality release in the genre and a 3.5 star (70%) rating isn´t all wrong.